I got a call yesterday from one of the sushi stores whose knives I service. They wanted me to sharpen a sushi knife. No, I don’t service them that often, those guys can sharpen their knives well enough. I get the call when their sharpening no longer works. Anyway, I went there and it was the same knife I had sharpened 1 week ago. They wanted it sharpened again…..

I was a little unsure of why, but I was in a rush the last time and admittingly, the knife was sharp, but the beauty was missing. So I set out to fix that problem this time.

The hollow ground back side of the knife was already perfect, so I started with my Shapton Pro #320 to even out the bevel, which had become uneven from their sharpening, and what I didn’t really do well the previous time. It took about 15 minutes to get the entire bevel even, but I stopped just before getting to the edge. I know a lot of guys like to sharpen the bevel flat, but I find the edge to be too fragile, so I always add a slight angle at the edge.

I then went to the Shapton Pro #1,000, #1,500, and #2,000. With each stone, I changed the positioned of the knife so by #2,000 grit, I was pulling the knife in a horizontal motion across the stone. At this point, I wiped off the burr that had formed by pulling the back of the knife flatly across the stone once.

I moved on to the #5,000 and #8,000 Shapton Pro. This is where I started to be more concerned about the aesthetics of the bevel rather than the sharpness. I spent a some time on both stones to really get the shine going. The knife came out looking much better than when I started.

I stopped at the #8,000 stoe because that is the highest grit the store has. The knife looked really nice, and I think the sushi guy just wanted his knife to look better since he is the senior slicer. I didn’t charge (they did just buy the #8,000 stone last week), and ended up taking an assortment of sushi home for lunch!