Knife Sharpening Using Traditional Methods: Sushi Restaurants and knives

Monday 8 September 2014

Sushi Restaurants and knives

I don't have any friends who are interested in knife sharpening, I have lots of folks that I share stories with on a Forum and I learn a lot there but there is not one person I know personally that I can sit down and discuss scratch patterns with.......can you imagine that? (I do have a lot of friends interested in having sharp knives though)

So when the Sushi Restaurants started opening up here in Halifax and surrounding areas I made a point of going to visit with the goal of striking up a conversation with a Japanese Chef/knife sharpener and we would go over how he sharpens his Yanagiba......like the one pictured above.

For those who do not know, this is a traditional Japanese knife,it is sharpened on one side only, so this single bevel knife is treasured by sushi chefs, and most other kitchen knife fanatics due to the insanely sharp edge it is capable of taking and holding. Now the process of sharpening it is different that other knives but with time and practice, one is rewarded with a superb slicing instrument, it's just very cool.

I saw the one pictured below in a store in NYC for $3,500, these are hand made knives.

Yanagiba,

So back to my goal......after a year it has yet to happen, I have not found a single Yanagiba that was sharpened properly, in fact I never found a chef who knew it was called a Yanagiba. I do not mean to criticize anyone, heck at least they have one, I don't....yet. I think it is a case of them just not being taught, they know how to cook Sushi very well and that alone is something to be proud of, it is quite an accomplishment but the actual sharpening process is done like any other knife, they don't follow the technique required to bring a Yanagiba to it's full potential.

Efforts on my part to show them or anything like that have gone to waste, I have yet to meet any Sushi Chef who would give up his knife to me, I can't blame them of course, this is often the only knife that they have and as long as they can keep it relatively sharp they are happy. They can sharpen a knife, they have the skills just not the same degree of passion/obsession that I have about sharpening I guess. Basically, they are too freaking busy.

So if you are a Sushi Chef and have one of these knives and you sharpen it, good for you, seriously but if you ever want to just sit down and discuss sharpening, I'm a phone call away.....assuming you are in the local area of course. I will sharpen your knife in front of you for free if you like.