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(Mostly) kitchen knives free hand sharpening videos

Small Sebenza 31 Magnacut cinematic detailed log Day 1,
Out of the box Cutting Performance Demo

[YOUTUBE]1x4t8maa58s[/YOUTUBE]

Totally honest, real world user review video series.
Filmed on November 14th. 2023
(it was delivered on 13th.)

This is kinda typical for Chris Reeve knives.
Sebenza 21large(S35VN), Sikayo(S35VN), Green Beret(4V), and Sebenza 31large(S45VN), they all came with more or less the same kind of edge.
I’m planning to sharpen in this weekend.
(And I’ll make a video about that.)

Shot on Fuji X-T4, with vintage Canon FD 35mm f2 concave, with Metabone speed booster.
Cinestill 800T film simulation
(Yes, “the color & the look” was intentional. Probably not the best practice for informational/instructional type of video, but I wanted to make this video cinematic.
That’s why I shoot with vintage (full manual) lenses.
I’m an artist. I don’t choose the easiest way.)
 
Small Sebenza 31 in MagnaCut sharpened!
(My 1st time sharpening with MagnaCut steel)

[YOUTUBE]cRQITkiVkQE[/YOUTUBE]


Perhaps, one of the most dramatic change from “dull as hell stock edge” to
“most aggressive cutter you ever saw” kind of transformation.

I’m perfectly happy with this knife.
(It’s a Plain Jane Small Sebenza 31, in MagnaCut. The only “extra” is the “double lug”.
So you can open with either your right hand or left hand.)

Everything on this knife is for function, there’s nothing for fashion.
And, after sharpening, it cuts better than many of the bigger sized blade.
 
MagnaCut Sebanza 31 small, “Quality of the cut”

[YOUTUBE]6LUaH-FVplE[/YOUTUBE]

Let’s talk about “Quality of the cut”.
Perhaps, one of the most important aspect of the knife (if not the most important) but no one talks about it on Youtube.
(Making a table top review video after receiving free knife from the manufacturer and flipping around 10 min., then cutting open Amazon package is more economical.
Doing unrealistic torture test is more eye catching and get more view counts.
That’s what really matters for the most Youtubers.)

Regardless, this is FAR MORE important than “manila rope cutting then copy paper cutting” edge retention test.

Murray Carter once said, there are two kinds of “cutting”.
One is to cut and save (such as food prep, wood carving).
Another is to cut to throw away. (cutting down the card board boxes, bushwhacking)

For the “cut and save” type of cutting, quality of the cut is extremely important.
For “cut & throw away” type of cutting, not so much.

Instead of batonning, cutting wires, people should try to cut something that’s delicate, easily falls apart. (It is more challenging, because it requires skill, rather than brute force.)
 
Sebenza Large VS Small, Cutting performance comparison, making breakfast


[YOUTUBE]Sb0OzcjyNn4[/YOUTUBE]

Cutting performance ≒ Edge geometry & Blade profile.
NOT the type of steel. Not heat treatment. (Although, they are important.)
“Geometry has the most impact on the knifes cutting performance”, says Dr. Larrin Thomas.

So, let’s take a look at the cutting performance, in a “real world usage” style.
(Do you chop nails with your knife on dally basis? Cut thick manila rope, batoning firewood every day?)

Of course, we know that large Sebenza would perform better, so it’s not about “which one is better?”.
(Asking which one is better in this type of scenario is, like, comparing full size 1911 and Detonics Combat Master at 25-yard, slow, or timed fire (1 round per second.)
Of course full size 1911 will win.
HOWEVER, usual gunfight occurs at 7 yards or less, lasts 7 seconds at the most and is less than 7 shots. )
It’s more about “How much less of a performer is the Small Sebenza? And “Is it still usable in a “real world situation?’.
 
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[YOUTUBE]SrXSItq5Elw[/YOUTUBE]

Sunday morning food prep with Strider PT, which does okay job with cutting meat & tomatoes. But, sucks when dealing with things like carrots, apples,etc.
Still, it is fun to play with the blade.

“So passed a day in the life of a P.I.
Not exactly a typical day but not totally untypical either.
What makes a man stay with it nobody knows. You don't get rich, you don't often have much fun. Sometimes you get beaten up or shot at or tossed into the jailhouse. Once in a long while you get dead.
Every other month you decide to give it up and find some sensible occupation while you can still walk without shaking your head. Then the door buzzer rings and you open the inner door to the waiting room and there stands a new face with a new problem, a new load a grief, and a small piece of money.”
- Raymond Chandler "The Long Goodbye"
 
PRO Sushi chef shares knife sharpening tips, Ep 1, “Daily maintenance under 4min.”

[YOUTUBE]jXBf0p4FSJs[/YOUTUBE]

#1 DON’T focus on the edge. Don’t try to create sharp edge. It is a result, rather than a goal.
#2 Focus on NOT to deform the bevel & profile, not to upset the geometry.
#3 when everything is done correctly, there will be sharp edge line, without you trying hard. DON’T over think. Don’t over complicate things that are rather simple.

Takes less than 4 minutes, with one of the SLOWEST cutting stones (Amakusa (natural) stone).
 
PRO Sushi Chef shares knife sharpening tips Episode 2 “The importance of Ura-Oshi”

[YOUTUBE]pLL756iwuic[/YOUTUBE]

You can get the same result as my last video, WITHOUT that natural stone! (Amakusa)
SO LONG as you understand the importance of “URA” (back side of the blade).
Yes, it is far, FAR MORE important, for the best cutting performance, than pretty mirror finished bevel.
(Remember, in this video, I haven’t touched the KIRIHA (bevel), at all.)

It’s a long video (for my channel), but worth watching, if you’re into Japanese knives / working chef.

[the part nobody probably cares]
Inspiration (of picture creation, color and atmosphere)

“Sabotage” (2014) Last gunfight scene

“The good The bad and The ugly” (1966) Angel Eyes “When I’m paid, I always follow my job through.” scene

“Sicario”(2015) “La hora de conocer a Dios / Time to meet God” scene

I’m the only one on Youtube who’s stupid enough to go through all the time consuming trouble to create images I like, when making knife sharpening video!
 
PRO Sushi Chef shares knife sharpening tips Episode 3 Regrind Strider SnG Part1

[YOUTUBE]7Vp6rHEv6_4[/YOUTUBE]

“The most aggressive cutting Strider SnG ever shown on Youtube”

“How to regrind” explanation & demonstration video Part1.
Using Strider SnG as an example, showing

Before & After cutting performance difference
Regrind demo using Atoma 150 grit

DSCF1960 by T K, on Flickr

DSCF1961 by T K, on Flickr


_DSF0019 by T K, on Flickr
 
PRO Sushi Chef shares knife sharpening tips Episode 4 Regrind Strider SnG Part2

[YOUTUBE]taPun7CGOJQ[/YOUTUBE]

In this episode, I show “Atoma 400 & 1200, Shapton 2000, then News Paper strop, leather belt strip, and leather strop with compounds (aluminum oxide and chromium oxide).
I also explain “why regrinding (making the edge thinner) dramatically increase the cutting performance.
 
[YOUTUBE]VtY2AfSOArk[/YOUTUBE]

What is the best way to buy Yanagiba?
And why I have so many Masamoto knives?
 
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Made a quick follow up video.

Yanagiba Horror Story [Pro Sushi Chef knife story 2]

[YOUTUBE]5awgtg6N3K0[/YOUTUBE]

Quick follow up of the previous video, regarding “bent / curved Yanagiba blade”.
There are two big reasons that Yanagiba blade gets bent / curved, after being used for certain amount of time.
These examples are user error. Don’t blame the blade smith and / or the seller.
 
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Just uploaded a new video.
(Back to knife sharpening, from the "slice of the life story".)

[Pro Sushi Chef’s knife sharpening tips #x] Knife sharpening station set up/Before you start/sink bridge and lighting

[YOUTUBE]1Er-_ivzJWM[/YOUTUBE]

Youtube algorithm probably doesn't like this 3-5 minutes format.
(Too short to run advertisement, although, they might do it, regardless the run time of the video.)
But, who cares.
(At least, I don't care. I don't care about view counts, subscriber numbers and popularity.)
 
[Pro Sushi Chef’s knife sharpening tips #6] Ultimate stone & steel talk

[YOUTUBE]m1uwhBERw5c[/YOUTUBE]


Customers DON’T choose the type of steel, the hardness of the edge.
The blade smith picks up the most suitable options for the job.

Well, that’s how things worked out back in the day, the days before the internet.

These days, I’m (sort of) moving away from what’s trendy.
I’m not really interested in artisans’ kitchen knives at this moment.
(Trying not to purchase things I don’t need.)

I don’t need fancy powered metal gyuto.
(I have R2 gyuto, slicer, etc, etc. NON of them are in my working knife rotation.)

The knives that are out of stock most of the time has no meaning for those who need knives for their work.
 
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Best cutting performance sharpening [Pro Sushi Chef’s knife sharpening tips #7][Graphic Warning]

[YOUTUBE]ULB2B1l-7SI [/YOUTUBE]

Cutting performance, NOT the edge sharpness
Don’t focus on the edge sharpness.
Stop cutting paper.

This is NOT “Daily maintenance” kind of sharpening.
This is a guide to create max performance edge.
You probably need to do this every 3 to 6 months, if you are working in the restaurant business, but, don’t have to do that often.

In the later video, I’ll show my work knives cutting performance (NOT necessarily the edge sharpness) and overall explanation about how “I” do it.
 
Convex Stone, Tactical Yanagiba Sharpening [PRO Sushi Chef’s knife sharpening tips#8]

[YOUTUBE]KIWhLPODvGk[/YOUTUBE]

[description]
Why “Convex” stone surface? How does it work? And, how do I approach “kiriha”? Real world sharpening tactics explained.

About 98% of Youtube knife sharpening tutorial video tells you …

Keep the same “blade – stone face” angle (Lock your wrist)

“Right angle” = Lay flat the blade and slowly tilt it up, until the apex of the edge comes in contact with the stone face

In my book, they are both “wrong”.
You don’t have to agree with me.

I’m an outsider.
I’m what Cain was to Able.
I am, … different.
 

Convex Stone Ep.2, How I use it, Usuba sharpening demo [Pro Sushi Chef knife sharpening tip #9]

[YOUTUBE]3KZZEg1I7OU[/YOUTUBE]

How do I use Convex surfaced stone? How “convex” are they? Real world “tactical” Ususba sharpening.

This is NOT a tutorial video.
This is just a one man’s story.

BUT, at least, his story is based on his own, real world experience(unlike most guys on YT whose opinion is based on things they’ve learned by click of the mouse), which isn’t always pretty and happy ending.

Life goes on.
Things change, including one’s opinion.

DSCF2409 by T K, on Flickr
 
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Single & Double bevel differences; Answering the viewer’s questions

[YOUTUBE]52WsN4_YLPI[/YOUTUBE]

Video answer to the viewer’s question.
The different characteristics of Single and Double beveled knives.
And, perhaps more importantly, how big is the difference?
Is is big enough to make a real world difference?
Is is something just luxury?

"The Proper" or "actually useful" info about "single-beveled"(片刃) knives is virtually non existent outside of Japan.

BTW, did you notice the juice at 3:09?
It's protein and water (mostly water, actually) released from the albacore's muscle fibers.
Pretty interesting…
 
BEST sheath for Japanese kitchen knives (Get something functional, rather than fancy for fantasy)

[YOUTUBE]8x-ss7kjA_k[/YOUTUBE]


[Disclaimer] There’s no firearm in this video!

Yes, it looks … not that great. (I’m talking about newspaper sheath.)
HOWEVER, newspaper sheath is better than wood sheath, if the knives are used infrequently. (Or, for long term storage.)

Edge Mag is probably the worst thing.
Plastic edge guard with felt lining is the second worst.

Simple plastic edge guard, kydex sheath, wood they are okay.
Still, I wouldn’t use them for long term storage, if the blade is made out of non stainless high carbon steel.

Leather sheath are gentler on the edge, BUT will cause corrosion / discoloration if you keep the (non stainless) knife in there for long time.

Wood sheath is good for edge protection also, and better than leather sheath in terms of corrosion problem.
But, they are still not good option for long term storage.

[inspiration of the opening]
Dirty Harry 1971 Don Siegel
Magnum Force 1973 Ted Post
 
Carrot Katsuramuki with Sugimoto Slicer, Global Yanagiba, and mini tip “How NOT to cut yourself”





[Disclaimer]
I take absolutely no responsibility if you cut yourself while trying to do katsuramuki with carrot, cucumber, daikon radish, or whatever.
You try it with your own risk.

“The purpose of art is to communicate what the artist is feeling through their medium of work”

A lot of people start Youtube in order to boost their ego, in pursuit of money, fame, or maybe they didn’t start that way, but they run their channel that way.
Look at so called online knife / EDC community.
You see the endless list of similar contents.
That’s because everybody is emulating, everyone is after view count.
Because what they want is success.

They are not artists.

They are business people.

They have nothing that they want to say, they want to share with you through this medium.

So, instead of making the contents they want to make, they are making contents that will most likely get the audience attention, the video gets more views.

I make videos the way I want to make.

Sugimoto Slicer is highly recommended, if you want something high performance that is at reasonable price. NOT recommended if you want something collectable, something to look at.
 
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What’s in my knife case June 2024 / [Mini Tip] How to choose Deba size






Finally, I start working again!
And, not just one but two jobs!

I need to pack my knife case for the new jobs.

I want to cover the most situation, BUT I don’t want to over pack.

How do I choose what knives to bring, what knives to leave at home, and what small gadget I need to bring?
 
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