Takeda Sharpening using Takeda hand held water stones.

     Hi there, I just wanted to share an experience, something I have done for the very first time today, a different sharpening method. (This is not about me changing my technique or anything, that is not going to happen, it was just for this particular knife, the Takeda)

     Takeda knives, made by the famous Takeda San are quite something, they are known for their height, they are high, the quality of the steel, blue Aogami super and the incredible thinness of the blade. They are also very light, surprisingly light. They look, as a friend who sells them says, "They look like they were forged in Mordor".

   Takeda San uses a different method than any other sharpener, he uses a stone combination that he holds in his hand, so the knife is kept stable and he runs the stone over the knife edge, completely opposite to normal freehanding. (You can see him do this on YouTube if interested, pretty easy to find by searching for "Takeda Sharpening"

     Takeda gives great directions in the video so I followed those to the letter and used the sharpie to mark the target area. There is no Angle to worry about here, nothing like that, you just remove the marks by holding the stone and going back and forth over the bevels. The grey stone is 400 grit and the brown is 1200 grit. 

    I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do, but I was pessimistic about it, not sure if it would end up as sharp as I am used to. So I was ready to go back at it with my normal approach. 

   So it is just back and forth many many times until all the sharpie is gone and you just flip the knife and go at it again. It took me about 15 minutes and was very fun to do, very exciting to see if this would produce an edge that I would be pleased with.

   I completed the process with a natural water stone, a nagura for my full sized stone, the nagura in the photo above is cut from the same full sized natural stone, so it's about 8,000-12,000 grit.

    So how was the edge?........it blew me away, I was extremely surprised at how sharp the knife was, easily shaving arm hair.  Now this doesn't mean I can't make it just as sharp or sharper with my regular stones and method but using this method keeps the knife in it's original state, it looks and feels the same as when it was new.  To sharpen it by freehand, the angle is very very acute but easily done as well..

Just sharing, thanks for looking

Peter