Cherish the burr!

Today, I worked on adjusting the edge of a carbon steel blade. I mentioned it briefly in ‘Dating with the Edge’ before, but I’ve come to realize that, just like with INOX Honyaki knives, it’s better to leave a bit of a burr on carbon steel blades too. Completely removing it using newspaper or a leather belt makes the blade incredibly sharp – paper practically melts, and cutting through things like fish becomes a breeze. However, it becomes slippery on my fingernail and even on the fish fillet. While ‘slippery’ might sound exaggerated, it loses that grip, that bite.

I used to think that carbon steel blades would bite even if the burr was completely removed, but I’ve found that it can get so sharp it’s almost frightening if you leave the burr intact.

Now, about the degree of this burr – I’m not talking about a visible one like a thin aluminum foil; it’s about leaving an invisible (you wouldn’t see it unless you held it up to light) kind of burr. That’s the key!

However, I should clarify as it might be misconstrued: you can still cut with the burr completely removed!! In reality, there are steel types that naturally dig into the material and compatibility with different sharpening stones is also a factor! But I have a feeling that the edge retention rate might be slightly compromised. That’s what I think, at least.

Considering all this, it might even explain why blue steel seems to hold its edge longer compared to white steel.

hibishugyo

• 2009-01-06