I have watched hours and hours of sharpening videos produced by everyone from amateurs to master bladesmiths. In my opinion, your instruction and methodologies are the best on RU-vid
I made the same conclusion after watching a lot of videos, Ryky is also very friendly and calm while doing his videos, the quality of the content is very high. Even if videos take a while it´s like a meditation to watch these. sometimes it´s also just a fine adjustment that makes the final difference that´s why I subscribed and always coming back to Burrfection =)
I really am glad I found this channel. 20 years ad a chef, and 100s of chefs have told me the "proper" way to maintain my knives. And I've always felt the same way you do. I'm not a pro. In just always looking for a "better" way. And trial and error is necessary. Thank you for sharing you technique.
Heyho Ryky! Props to you for emphasizing that you are a non professional sharpener and that you and we as well should always keep our eyes open, not to be blinded by proclaimed professionals. I learned a lot from your videos and you are great at explaining why you do the things the way you do. Got myself a tojiro shirogami gyuto, dp-3 hq nakiri and gyuto to start with. Keep it up and continue to drop your knowledge and experience on us! (:
So I stropped my miyabi Birchwood gyuto and went to slice through the corner of some paper really fast like it did from the factory and it didn’t cut it!! Came back to this video and payed attention to what I might be doing wrong. I was applying too much pressure and rolled the edge. I had forgot with the strop it’s little to no pressure at all. The “let the knife guide itself” tip was very helpful for me as well as going slow and just paying attention to my movements. Put the knife to the paper and it’s just as sharp as it was out of box!!! Problem solved!! I am so happy that I was able to figure it out because I was worried that I would never be able to get the factory Miyabi edge back. I love my premium equine leather strop with the hinoki base by the way. It works beautifully. Thanks!
Thank you for the disclaimer. There is no one right way. I do not see that the "experts" agree in technical practice. Learning is a process; the result is the of all that you know. Each must discover what work best for them. Very respectfully to all.
Just starting your video and would like to immediately tell you that I DO appreciate that you are not doing this "the right way" but rather the way that you've found works for you. You go as far as to say you don't care about doing things "the right way" which (obviously to some degree not entirely) I love and agree with. There isn't necessarily always a "right way" and sometimes better methods and "things" are developed BECAUSE somebody did it a different way and found that it, in fact, works better than "the right way" or the "original way". Whether this is true or not for knife sharpening, I appreciate that you take that approach. I'll continue enjoying and learning from your video thanks! I have many different steel blades and am regularly finding new ones to acquire, including cooking knives, axes and hatchets, a straight razor for shaving, hunting and utility knives. I'd like to learn how to keep these well maintained and I highly doubt I'll buy or make unique sharpening tools for each and every one, and that each edge will require a slightly different method and technique that I will discover for myself. Thanks for the video!
I’ve just been using the heel of my hand as a stropp to de-burr and ordered my first actual stropp from Lancelot Leather, trying to learn as much as possible before it arrives so Thanks for the vid 😎
Very honest, thank you for that. I agree, I use many different techniques, some work but are quite unorthodox bit as long as they get the job done. Love your videos, youve gotten me to branch out from collecting folding knives to kitchen knives aswell.
I made my own , cheaper if I mess up lol , I cut the 1st 2 pretty bad , I have had them.now for about 6 months 4 of them all made of Granadillio wood 2 18x3 cow hyde 1 with Harold's green 1 with Harold's red 2 12x2 Rolled buffalo 1 with Dmt 1.o micron 1 with dmt .5 micron All of them leave a near perfect mirror finish after chosera 3000
I have adjusted your methods a bit to accommodate arthritis in my wrists. It works. Thanks for demonstrating on the Dalstrong Shogun Kiritsuke! I recently acquired it and I use it as my primary all purpose knife for nearly everything, generally with a push cut. The only pressure I have needed to cut with it is just a tad more than the weight of the knife for root vegetables. For meat I use a push, pull, push, pull and that takes me through a 2" piece of beef with no pressure.
right on. glad you found a method that works with your needs. i've been playing with the kiritsuke and there is a cut demo video coming out soon with it. it's a lot of fun to use
Comment: Ryky. You need to stop bashing yourself about not being a professional sharpener or even not knowing the correct techniques. When you said that I paused this video and as you suggested, looked for other sharpening videos. I spent about 10 or 15 minutes looking for the "Masters". What I found was, most of their techniques were the same, but what they lacked was a solid explanation of the sharpening process (i.e. repairing/sharpening, polishing and stropping) and how you progressed through those stages. In my opinion they assumed was too much and just jumped right in. In your basic sharpening videos you provide so much detail, I have watched most of them several, because I see something new almost everytime. So that being said, stop bashing yourself and be confident you have built one of the best sharpening (I know you do other things) channels. :-) You are providing a great service to those of us who are new to hand sharpening. Keep up the great work.
I always like seeing different ways of doing things because there are defiantly more than one way of accomplishing a sharp edge. As a general contractor for years I'm a firm believer that there are many ways to a quality result in all types of trades. I enjoy and have learned many new ways from watching your videos to get a good edge on my knives!
I first saw this motion several years ago from another individual, a superb sharpener. I use it on a finishing stone to prevent the tip digging into the stone as you mentioned.
I AM LEARNING. GREAT JOB AND INSTRUCTION. YOU ARE DOING WHAT WORKS AND PROVING IT. LOVE IT. LOVE YOUR OWN STYLE.. I DONT WORRY ABOUT SO CALLED EXPERTS. GREAT JOB. AND WE KEEP LEARNING MORE TECHNIQUES TO GET THE JOB DONE.
This is exactly what I wanted to know before I bought a leather strop as I only have the chosera 800 and 3000 stones, Do I have to have a leather strop to finish? Thank you for your opinion on it. I just recently found your channel and appreciate you so much. In my opinion you are absolutely an authority and expert on the subject so thank you for your videos they are helping me learn so much.
Great video. I haven't done any stropping yet but you are making it tempting. It appears to me that when you J strop you actually contact the blade with the leather more than the other methods so may be getting a quicker result.
Young MAN, I was born with a knife in my hand. I'm proud of you defending your methods. As a native of the America's we have different kinds of material including wood! Wood Stropping is actually 'Blade' in the softwood,(only good for the tip to half of the spine). So you tell those folks as you did, to go away or they can complain to me! I am a Blade-Master. ENJOY my friend!
Great video this method works great and really fun to use. It’s much easier to get the first 1/4 of the blade sharper with this method! I do not care what “your suppose to do” either keep coming up with these great ideas and sharing please it is appreciated!
Hello Riki Really like your videos, do you have any tips regarding being able to use strop without it moving as I don't have room for a wooden vice, and have looked online but No luck yet . I'd very much appreciate any ideas you may have . Best wishes Tony.
Thanks for the explanation ! I got my strop leather today, just one question: Do you strop everytime you swith to a higher grit stone or just specifically that stone you used in the video ?
Nice ! I think that the knife (first one) is not a single bevel kiritsuke - is a bunka double side :) only the tip is a "kiritsuke like" like takobiki are made in Tokyo area. good luck Mrs Ryky.
QUESTION: what is the correction in the amount of pressure to exert when the hardness of a steel changes? I mean, do you change the pressure you exert if you strop a harder/softer steel? And what about common steels like stainless with 53-55 HRC hardness? Thank you Riky!
A bit late to comment, but your videos have made me wonder whether it is possible to remove scratches from the sides of a knife using stropping compound. I have a kitchen knife that I scratched when I first started getting into sharpening (long before I found your videos).
Dear Ryky, dude, I'm been watching your YT channel and everyday a new lesson is learned. My question is. My best sharpening results is with a Santoku, extreme sharp, but I can´t repeat the same result on a Chief and a Boning Knife. All your sharpening videos I have watch it's always Chefs or Santokus or similar blades. Well, I have no idea WTF i'm doing wrong.
Hey, this may be a dumb question. But what does stropping do to the edge and why is it a good idea to do? Also can you use water on a whet stone or should you use a specific liquid
Hi! Thank you for your videos. today when I saw the position in which you were working suggestion I would give you would be to change the strop position leaving it horizontal. that way you only have to change the grip. Thanks again.
Hi Ricky, can you please advise why one would need to strop on both a high grit stone and leather strop? Is a leather strop for purposes of a quick touch up or to be used after a high grit stone?
As long as you're not ruining the integrity or geometry of the blade, do what works best for you....experimentation is how you learn....a lot of the nay-sayers obviously don't understand the mechanics or science of sharpening/stropping...just ignore them and keep doing what you do...you're doing just fine
Do you have any comments on stropping curved swords such as a katana? This would be a modern blade using modern steels with relatively sharp edges that need some touch-up. Understand this may be a little out of your wheelhouse, but would appreciate some thoughts.
I have a couple of bushcraft knives with scandi grinds and I can't get the hang of stropping the tip of the blade without gouging my strop. Heel to belly is so sharp I could split a gnat's pube down the middle but the tip still has the factory machine marks.
If you find yourself digging into your strop, you are either applying too much pressure, or your hands isn't steady enough on the return stroke. The same could happen when you use high grit stones. The edge simply goes the path of least resistance and your sharpening tool ends up losing. Don't fight with your knife.
Hi Ryky amazing job and first comment. I feel that you're my brother from another mother as we have the same passion for knives and expirementing but only difference is i dont have the nuts to make videos instead i am a bulk catering chef where sharp knives and edge retention are important. I have hundreds of japanese knives just like you with almost the same collection!!! But only use whetstones but now... you changed my life and possible future arthritis with leather :). I promise i will buy more from your channel soon as i live in Australia and kind of impatient waiting for something 45+ DAYS! Would you know the estimate time if i oredered most of your strops and a knife from burfection site? Love your work and stay safe!
Hi Burfection, awesome video! just a question.. can I use this J strop technique to "deburr" before moving up to a higher grit stone? Thank you so much
I've noticed that your fore arms are almost level, and you rock your whole body to maintain the angle. You mover your arms the most at the end of the stroke. Your left arm seems, a bit more level, but it doesn't matter, you rock your whole body. I've been sitting, which I assume is the root of the problems. I move my arms in the sitting postion, and would guess that makes it difficult to maintaining the correct angle. Is standing, and rocking the trick? I was assuming that sitting would be more stable, but it appears not to be the best method. Seeing you practice makes it clearer. Thanks.
if you watch Murray sharpen you can tell he applies the same pressure with his strops when he sharpens too? His own knives hitachi steel is hard? IS that the reason.. I was wondering about the pressure too even when he stropped on stone and then newspaper it looks like Murray really goes to town on the pressure haha thoughts?
Ryky, I’ve been trying to practice stropping, but I was diagnosed with MS a few years ago and have lost a lot of ability in my left hand. Can you strop with just your right hand, and if so, do you have any pointers?
Jonathan Bass pretty sure if you work on your technique, itll be just as effective as with two hands + style points stropping with one hand. Careful not to wreck your leather doe
Lots of different techniques. But honestly the CHEAPEST way is to shave a piece of 2x4 with either a plane or a table saw and charge the soft wood with compound and run your knife. MDF is better for straight edges. You can also use a smaller piece of flat softwood and strop the wood against the knife instead of the other way around. Both works fine.
I can’t see which side of the leather I should be stripping on. There is a soft side and a hard smooth side. Also do I apply the stripping compound to the soft or hard side? I have two strips, one that is similar to a belt and another that is a stiff rectangle of leather, which piece of leather should I apply the compound to? Do I strip on the hard or soft side of the stiff leather rectangle? These two leather pieces and compound came with my wet stones.
You can use both sides, or one side only. If you use both, the idea is that one side is used 1st (the “rough”) side. Then after some passes on the rough side, you turn over to the smooth side. The smooth side is usually used for regular daily stropping
I experience some strange thingswith stropping: most times i strop my knives at the same angle or a bit lower like on the whetstones and beeing not satisfied with the results. If ithen do a few pulls on even an higher angle than i´v done on my whetstones, my knife is a good measure sharper and smoother. Although it should be duller because of the rolling of the edge - right? Has anyone a good explenation for that behaviour? :-?
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Stropping on a stone is the perfectly correct way to do it, unless the stone is way too coarse. Then strop on a leather . You also avoid ruining the strop.
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I copied my sharpening style from Murray Carter and it is is similar to to Ryky's but check out Michael Christy or Dean O if you want to see really different styles. The way Michael sharpens should never work and it looks so difficult that I wouldn't even try it but it works for him and he gets his knifes stupid sharp.
Terry Pullen I was going to mention Murray Carter. His edges are insanely sharp and he says that they are not metallurgically a "perfect" edge but they are very sharp and strong. I actually stopped using leather strops after learning how to sharpen the way Carter does