Let’s Evolve?!

Yesterday and today, I had a bunch of knives to sharpen—Gin-san, Shirogami, Aogami, and INOX steel. Since I had mostly carbon steel knives yesterday, I decided to sharpen them all with natural whetstones! This time, I used Hideri and Oohira stones. Thoughts: It was quite a challenge (lol). Maybe it would’ve been somewhat easier if I had used Suita stones, but I was surprised by the low grinding power of the natural stones. They should be saved for the final finish! Today, with yesterday’s struggles in mind… I stuck to artificial stones only (^^)ｂ. I pulled out stones that I thought had worked well in the past, but as expected, that was in the past… Once you’ve experienced a great edge and sharpening, even if it meets the standard, it feels off (^^; You think, “Shouldn’t it cut even better?” After sharpening about 10 knives and still feeling dissatisfied, I switched to my recent favorite stone and sharpened again (awkward smile). I was like, “This is it! This! This is the cutting edge!” It felt satisfying. I wonder if this sense of sharpness will change with the emergence of new stones or new steel types? At this point, I sometimes wonder if we really need sharper knives. Maybe knives with better edge retention are more desirable?

Hibishugyo

2007-06-14