Nakiri used like a cleaver( warning: you will cringe)

DeadboxHero

DeadboxHero

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Mar 22, 2014
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A friend/co-worker contacted me and shared her troubles.
Her husband had used her Shun VG10 Nakiri to chop some Turkey bones, haha Oops!


Whoa!

In his defense,
I can understand where he was coming from.

The Shun Nakiri is super sharp and it looks like a cleaver.

Haha but it is certainly not a cleaver



Here's my response.



It took about 10 minutes freehand on the worksharp.

It never got warm.

Afterwards , I finished out the grind on a coarse 320 diamond plate on the worksharp GSS

Lastly
Finished on a 3k Suehiro stone then a loaded leather strop

Ready for the kitchen


In the end, it was very convenient being able to use each tool.
Belts for gross removal, diamonds to set the bevel even, waterstones to sharpen and polish, and a strop for a razor sharp finish.

Four steps total.


It's not often an addiction helps a friend :)
 
It should have been able to take that cutting. Something could be amiss with it's heat treat. It's shape does look like a cleaver. I wouldn't purchase one. DM
 
]It should have been able to take that cutting.
I wasn't there to see what kinds of bones and sizes that were chopped
But The shuns comes with very very thin grind which is why the performance is so amazing.
Bones are a no no with any knife that's super thin and hard and its not what a Nakiri by any brand is ever used for

Something could be amiss with it's heat treat.

The chips are spherical not square

It also grinded well, took a great edge and displays no damage chopping carrots fast and hard on a cutting board.

it's shape does look like a cleaver.

Indeed

I wouldn't purchase one.

It's a very specific knife,
Not for everyone.

DM

Thanks for sharing Dave :)
 
ouch - bet he won't do that again.

i thought the chips in my Ran Santokus were bad.
just polished mine out with a coarse 2"x6" diamond stone in my edge pro - took maybe 15 mins, a few quick passes with a finer diamond stone then a quick strop a degree higher with balsa/BRKT green and they have a toothy sharp edge that glides through chicken with ease
 
Echo63 said:
ouch - bet he won't do that again.

i thought the chips in my Ran Santokus were bad.
just polished mine out with a coarse 2"x6" diamond stone in my edge pro - took maybe 15 mins, a few quick passes with a finer diamond stone then a quick strop a degree higher with balsa/BRKT green and they have a toothy sharp edge that glides through chicken with ease
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Hahaha right?

Nice progression, sounds delicious.
 
David Martin said:
It should have been able to take that cutting. Something could be amiss with it's heat treat. It's shape does look like a cleaver. I wouldn't purchase one. DM
Click to expand...

Nakri are traditional Japanese all purpose vegetable knives. Red meat, let alone bones, was not originally on the menu for them. But many people in this country seem to think anything rectangular is a chicken whacking bone chopper. I see light weight Chinese cleavers with major dings in the edge from this all the time.
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
Nakri are traditional Japanese all purpose vegetable knives. Red meat, let alone bones, was not originally on the menu for them. But many people in this country seem to think anything rectangular is a chicken whacking bone chopper. I see light weight Chinese cleavers with major dings in the edge from this all the time.
Click to expand...

Correct!

Most don't take the time to educate themselves with the proper use of a task specific knife and this is the result.

DeadboxHero,

Nice repair! I would recommend a higher finish with most Nakiri's but for a Shun that's a good stopping point.
 
Jason, Awe , so a Nakiri would benefit more from a higher finish?
Nice.
I stroped it with a 1 micron and .5 micron cbn to really make the edge slide through those veggies.

Sidehill gouger, yea those Chinese cleavers are the chef knives in that region. Talk about great hand clearance.


Here a quick comparison between a cleaver and a Nakiri


The Nakiri is on the right, super thin

This cleaver has the same stock thickness as a chef knife, but maintains the thickness almost all the way to the edge.
 
Most of the time I finish at 8K or 10K but the steel needs to be hard. A stropped 3K edge would be fine on that knife, the steel is not very hard.
 
Jason B. said:
Most of the time I finish at 8K or 10K but the steel needs to be hard. A stropped 3K edge would be fine on that knife, the steel is not very hard.
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Good looking out Jason,

It's all in the details.

I got a chance to try out a snow white 8k

I fell in love. What a great stone!
 
Most of the knife chipping I've seen over the years tends to be spherical in shape. I can't seem to recall one that was square, unless the steel was very soft and took the shape of the object that chipped the blade.
 
Chips can appear in many forms and its wise to always look at the chip closely for cracks.

6655F676-B46C-4D17-829E-58864B379655.jpg
 
Wow, that Nakiri does look like a cleaver, I can understand his mistake. It needs a red cardboard guard that slips on and says, "WARNING THIS IS NOT A CLEAVER DO NOT CHOP!!!!"
 
Don't know the story, just a day in the life of a professional kitchen knife. Usually, it's because they were "dropped" or "used by someone else", pro's never damage a knife :cool:. I believe the steel was Aogami #2 though.
 
Pondoro2310 said:
Wow, that Nakiri does look like a cleaver, I can understand his mistake. It needs a red cardboard guard that slips on and says, "WARNING THIS IS NOT A CLEAVER DO NOT CHOP!!!!"
Click to expand...
Haha I think all shuns come with user warnings

Jason B. said:
Don't know the story, just a day in the life of a professional kitchen knife. Usually, it's because they were "dropped" or "used by someone else", pro's never damage a knife :cool:. I believe the steel was Aogami #2 though.
Click to expand...

Gnarly
 
I'd call the a chopping knife, not a cleaver.
I have a similar chopping knife I've had for nearly 40 years and it has never chipped because when chopping through a bone I use my cleaver which is the same age and has no chips either.

I also tend not to "chop" a bone but use a boning knife to separate bones at the joints and a bone saw "if" I have to cut a bone in pieces.

Her husband was very foolish and careless...glad it wasn't my wife but she knows far better than this woman's husband
 
I see so many Shun knives in a similar condition. Good save for sure! Very nice work!
 
This is shocking! Very nice repair, do you cool the blade when grinding on the belt-sander? A knife-nut usually does a WAY better job at repairing knives than most so-called 'professional sharpeners'.

When I was a teen, I used a Kiwi-brand "Nakiri" for chopping a coconut half, got the job done but badly damaged the knife back then. Was not edge-ucated back then yet.

I bet most people will use a Deba or 270-300mm Yanagiba for chopping bones too, because they do feel heavy & powerful in hand. So it must be made for chopping!

Sharpening is a form of joy for knifenuts, but until now, no one offers me blades for sharpening/repair, I do these for free!:yawn:
 
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