I still count my strokes. What I mean by that is I count how many strokes I use to get a burr, and I do the same amount on the other side. Just to make sure I don’t sharpen one side more than another to maintain my 50/50 blade even. I hope this idea is correct.
There are many variations between people's push strokes vs their draw/pull or whatever terminology you wanna use. #1 People no matter how good they are usually use different pressure for one than the other, usually the push. #2 They will deviat on their degree of angle from one side to the other atleast a small amount. #3 Their stroke pattern will not match exactly which means some part of the edge or all will have more contact time on the stone. Sharpening by feel and taking steps to notice as soon as possible when the burr is achieved would be the best way to sharpen if you are doing it professionally or on expensive knives. Will counting be the end of the world? No. Honestly I would say pay close attention building the first burr by checking periodically to prevent to many unnecessary strokes. Also hone often to prevent having to resharpen as much in the first place
I think what you said is true James. If the purpose of sharpening is purely to sharp your knife with minimal steel wear, then absolutely stop when you feel the burr. However if you want a knife to be symmetrical on both sides for double sided bevel knives, then counting strokes would be preferable. But of course if you have a single bevel knife on Japanese knives, symmetry is not an issue. I think it depends on what the sharpener is trying to achieve and also take the pros and cons of what technique they're using (I saw other comments below talking about how they want their knives to be symmetrical and even, but never mentioned other types of knives and different aspects/situations, just want to put out a complete comment :) ).
when u say Stroke, u mean one movment either upword or downword? or just as u push the blade upword that means it is one stroke, push it down to start point means second strok?? right?
I count strokes to make sure that both bevels are worked on equally. The problem with stopping after developing a burr is that you're assuming the knife has symmetric profile already. What if the knife doesn't? I have come across this problem on a couple of my knives.
What’s your suggestion regarding counting strokes after achieving a burr on both sides on the stone you begin with. Ex- burr on both sides starting on Chosera 800. I move onto Chosera 3000. I don’t try to recreate a burr on this stone. I simply sharpen on both sides until no burr is felt on either side. I move on to a naniwa 8000. I will use a stroke countdown method on the 3k and 8k stones. Finishing on each with rotated edge leading strokes. Any suggestions?
Heyyy I just Bought a whole bunch of things that I’m interested from your sharpening range, but no leather in your webstore... I understand the purpose of leather strobe but don’t know which type to buy and what are those little coloured cubes with the leather for exactly? It almost didn’t look safe to use on kitchen knives hahahaha. Btw on top of my yaxell ran knives that I’ll practice sharpening with...I recently bought a kurosaki R2 santoku and a kagekiyo blue1 gyutohhhhhhh... instantly increased difficulties for someone with zero sharpening experience 🤣 what stones should I use for sharpening R2 material really ？
