Asian Knife Sharpening Grandmaster Uses 9 Stones to Get Blades Razor Sharp

[@refinededgeph2440]

I picked up knife sharpening about 5 years ago as a home cook, went further down into the knife and sharpening rabbit hole, and ended up working for a Japanese knife shop where I got much better at sharpening very quickly. I started offering my sharpening services to neighbours during the start of the pandemic last year to help make cooking at home more enjoyable, and to my surprise, most people told me that they had been looking for a sharpener for months or even years. It definitely is a bit of a rarity to come across us in the big world we live in, but we're out there and keeping the craft alive! :)
I personally own a collection of about 25 stones and normally use between 2-4 for sharpening a single knife (or more for major repairs). I started with only 2-3 stones, but the prospect of trying out and comparing different stones and figuring out which ones suited specific knives was just a biiiiit too alluring.

[@angelad.8944]

Maybe you could go and learn from this man. That would be so amazing.

[@refinededgeph2440]

@@angelad.8944 I would love to see his way of doing things. Though I don't speak Cantonese, there would be plenty of visual and audible clues as to how he applies his pressure, works with angles, and finishes his edge! Over the years, I've developed my own style of sharpening (not too dissimilar in appearance to Bob Kramer's motions), but there's always something to pick up while watching others work :)

[@deep-seeker]

I think I saw your shop in shopee.

[@anthonycapo1998]

sharpening is definitely a rabbit hole. I just recently got into sharpening and i want to have a side gig doing it. I love sharpening knives. I just need to hone my skills.

[@refinededgeph2440]

@@deep-seeker Yeah, that would definitely be me! 😁

[@katawellness7604]

someone should record him giving a tutorial. I would pay to watch that. Don't let his skill set die with him. Let it carry on the web!

[@angelad.8944]

Or at least to preserve the knowledge in some kind of archive that they have over there in China. My goodness, there must be some young man or young adult that is super crazy about knives that could be an apprentice. In all of China there must be at least one. Wouldn't that be something!

[@ramonade_knives]

Someone should contact him to go live with him and learn right now, he"s 90. It's something that must be transmitted face to face, irl

[@HammerSmashedFace92]

This isn’t as rare as the video wants it to sound like. There are tons and tons of knife sharpeners around the world who can do this. Close to or even better than him.

[@ramonade_knives]

@@HammerSmashedFace92 Totally, I think the man himself meant in his city or region. Even in China there are numerous professionnal sharpeners. It's not as much as in Japan tho. The fact that this craft is dying is real though. Like all hand work that requires actual expertise (10k+ hours), in France for example we can't find anyone to perpetuate these artisans craft.

[@kalanimoeai584]

@@HammerSmashedFace92 nahh..

[@bobbymoss6160]

Grand Master knife sharpener with 77 years of experience. Much respect.

[@billyboy7]

Yes a Master and a vanishing breed. And, you just know he's a great guy.

[@bennychiu7]

we bought a few knives from Uncle Wah, not only he's top at his knife sharpening skill, he's also very sincere and honest. We picked out a pair of more expensive German made knives but he suggested another cheaper brand for us stating that these knives will give us the same result. Very likable personality can talk up a storm, every time we go there (we are from Calif), we would end up chatting with him for over an hour.

[@user-hm9mj1hc3j]

He's 90 years old but still have more hair than me in my 20s

[@SurvivorEH28]

Where I'm from, this man would be revered. I pray his art continues in one way or another.

[@beefybassplayer]

I just bought a really awesome knife from his wonderful shop and watched him sharpen it. If you're serious about your knives and choppers, have them meet Uncle Wah, you will not regret it. It was a royal treat to watch a true professional working his craft effortlessly. It felt surreal. I plan to go back to get some knives sharpened and to buy one more from him. He told me that the knife I bought and had sharpened is good for 40 years if maintained well. I plan to take great care of all the knives sharpened by his hand. He really is what a lot of videos/interviews and people says he is.

[@frickleman9192]

The dude is 90 yet I can tell how sharp his mind. His energy and behaviour doesn't make him look 90 at all

[@bw9193]

been doing the same craft since he was 13... that is what you call dedication

[@sufferedlearnedchanged]

This is the King of Stones. After you use this stone your knife will be invincible. 😂 So perfect. 👌🏼🙏🏼

[@JakeFromSedrowoolley]

I would learn from you, if I could. Sharpening blades is a passion.

[@johnma1151]

I gotta admit, that knife cutting plastic part is quite cool

[@SimonLi]

love ancient crafts like these. so sad to see it dying out :(

[@HammerSmashedFace92]

Its pretty much alive in the knife world. Its not as rare as this video or the man says it is.

[@2010XJP]

It's a sad an amazing story at the same time. He will undoubtedly be the last knife sharpening grandmaster in HK.👍😞

[@woolfel]

that's dedication and art.

[@benjamingwoodard]

Just picked up my knife from his shop. He took an old piece of cloth from a dress shirt, folded it over about 8 times, then sliced through it cleanly. Cant wait to get home and try a tomato. 😂

[@gorodph]

The greatest knife sharpening master alive is Mike Sabol from SABOL BROTHERS custom knives. He consistently achieves a BESS score below 20 and is able to go below 5 if needed.

[@markmercer9013]

I possess a rather inexpensive set of kitchen knives. I keep every knife in my home very sharp, it is a passion and a skill nonetheless. A sharp knife is a safer one. If I could afford to travel to Hong Kong I would speak with this man and tell him that as far as I am concerned his craft is not dead. In fact I feel there are several people in this world who take pride in being able to put a nice edge on a blade rather than buy a new knife every time. I feel like I could talk to him for a whole day. I cannot imagine the skills he has after 77 years of experience. Wow!

[@mitchrich6]

Inspirational. At 90 still sharp like his knives. 🙏

[@anycaliber9086]

He's amazing love this video

[@kylinki7]

These grandmasters gotta video record their process and all so their art can live on!

[@calvinhan4696]

Very sad that he seems to be the last sharpener in hongkong after all these years and no one to pass down the craft

[@ChineseWill]

Before anyone says anything about his ring, it was a symbol of peace before it was used for a symbol of hate

[@Zerpentsa6598]

The Chang (Zen) of knife sharpening as demonstrated by a Master.

[@ainzooalgown7589]

maybe he is Kiwami Japan's teacher

[@za7v9ier]

wtf this dude is 90. I was expecting like 70 ish

[@anthonycapo1998]

Ok I want to learn sharpening from this grandmaster lol. Give him my info haha

[@c.c.1197]

tell him not to worry... there are loads of people very skilled at knife sharpening throughout the world nowadays!

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

no there is very few. and there is even fewer who offer the service moder people barely understand what a sharp knife is. the only country where sharpening is still very common as a profession is japan.

[@thorsten13999]

this is the easy tomato test though, the real one is on an uncut tomato on a board, not a pre-cut tomato adding lateral friction. no doubt these knives are crazy sharp tho =P

[@rauliorga3823]

4:12 incantation on repeat for extra sharpness

[@holopekochan]

I want to know more about the whetstones he is using. I cannot find the stone he using online. What is the 35000 grit stone?

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

nephrite jade. you can use agate and some other types of stone too , you can buy these stones form shops selling woodworking tools.

[@TocilarulTimisorean]

I would love to get trained by someone like him. I'm willing to quit my business in order to master the sharpening skills to start a new business in this field as i am a passionate sharpener atm.
Would love to get some training in Japan maybe.

[@gorodph]

High-end japanese knives are usually around 130-170 on a BESS sharpness scale. That is an average sharpness at best. True masters like SABOL BROTHERS score below 20. To be honest, there is nothing to learn from so called japanese masters.

[@TocilarulTimisorean]

@@gorodph why would you say that when they tend to perfect everything from theyr whole existence ? They master everything when it comes about steels and sharpening.
What is your comparison?

[@gorodph]

@@TocilarulTimisorean Not sure what you mean. Sharpness of the knife can be measured precisely. The machine that measures the sharpness of the knife is called a BESS tester. The lower the number you get, the sharper the knife is. Top japanese knives are around 150 out of the box. This is just an average score, nothing special really. Real masters can sharpen knives below 20 on a BESS tester. Like SABOL BROTHERS, Roman Kase, Shawn Houston, and few others. Only few people on this planet can go below 10. Mike Sabol is one of them.

[@sierragreens565]

My kitchen knife looks so much more lame compared to the ones he have

[@alexfrank5331]

Everyone is always like "sharp knife vs soft objects like tomatoes."
What I really want is a knife that can cut through CARROTS like butter cuz those are so annoying to chop. lol.
Soft things are easy to chop with regular dollar-store knife.

[@JC-nj3cs]

Try a yoshikane skd or Konosuke ys/ys-m

[@The_AntiVillain]

what you want is a thin chisel grind with a hollow ground secondary bevel knife with a slight convex shape like a chinese cleaver. The issue you might be having is the friction or drag, the concave hollow grind will reduce the exposed surface area. The chisel grind will make the angle half of a regular knife making it slicer. the down side for the thinner edge is it needs to be sharpened more. to counteract this i prefer a convex edge rather then a flat or a full hollow. for cutting technique faster slices will introduce inertia to the cuts making it easier to slice through
tldr: blade edge flat on one side and concave/hollow on the other for cutting hard veggies

[@brockhickman1988]

How can I work under him!?!?

[@SRVandDtrouble]

I agree that's it's not a viable vocation for most to make a living sharpening knives. But I disagree that sharpening as a venture or hobby is dying. If anything it's the opposite the knife industry has exploded and as a result so has sharpening though a lot start out with guided sharpening systems many more on to free hand sharpening with stones as it is much faster and a sharper result with skill.
Now I fully agree that it's sad that he doesn't have an apprentice to continue the business he has built but that doesn't mean the art of knife sharpening is being lost.

[@HammerSmashedFace92]

I know how hard it is to get that perfect edge. But its not as rare or nonexistent as the video says it is. There are tons of master sharpeners around the world. This is not a dying art. Its pretty much alive. Wether its freehand sharpening or with machines.

[@aliskilled6194]

But horl can do it. Simple and easy.

[@Guyver2]

Don't cut toward the fingers (3:39)

[@HuiChyr]

3:41 she almost slice her finger after the kiwi. ... eeww.

[@MrKsimma]

Очень жаль что у него нет учеников (

[@D00MTR33]

That's a weird jump in stones. Going from 1k to 12k is a big jump usually. Most would go 1k, 3k or 5k, maybe add an 8k then 12k. He seems to focus more on polishing but I just think it would take more time getting 1k scratches out with a 12k than going 1k to 5k then 12k.
But I'm not gonna tell a master who's been doing this for almost 80 years since I'm sure he knows what he's doing and what works best for him. Respect that he's done it for so long and a shame that he doesn't have any pupils. I'd love an opportunity to spend even a day with him to learn how I can get better at sharpening. So much to learn like the angle he chooses, does he use just water or are some stones lubed with oil, what stones he found to work best and which don't, how he makes sure there's no burr and so much more. Its sad seeing older master of any skilled trade(sharpening, knife making, wood worker, artist etc) and they don't have anyone to pass the years of their knowledge.

[@Kumofan]

Large jumps like that can help add a little polish and fineness while retaining bite. Ik a lot of chefs use a 1k and strop on 16k just as a maintenance step. Keeps from removing too much steel while keeping it sharp w/ bite.
The jump is also different since it looks like he's using naturals as his higher grit stones, which tend to not actually have a real grit rating as we know it. A black arkansas, for example, will leave an edge with more bite than a synthetic 12k, despite being "finer," due to there being both inconsistent particle size within the stone, as well as a differently shaped abrasive than what is used for most synthetic stones. Keith V. Johnson (straight razor guy, but it applies) has more info on that if you're interested.
I think the issue here is this video only focuses on a single point of reference (this man), who we don't really know much about. I mean he's straight up wrong on some things (like the art dying out), and seems to apply the same method to all steels and blade types, which is generally not ideal. We don't really know how well his knives perform outside of just-sharpened sharpness tests (like, a knife that can shave or slice a kiwi perfectly might have issues with other tasks -- a straight up and down cut will perform better with a different edge than a drawing/pushing cut), or how long his edges hold up under use (highly polished edges lose bite much faster under use with most steels).

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

naar its probably just the video lots not explained and skipped its a short video after all . going from 1 to 12k is pointless, at that point just stay at 1k . if you are grinding polishing and sharpening the clear rule for the best result is double your grit in every step.

[@deep-seeker]

No one is doing this job anymore? Hahahahaha... Im a physician and I do this as a hobby with dirt cheap rates because I want people to enjoy a sharp edge as I do. And yes, sharpening can get you in a trance like state.
And are those Arkansas stone?

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

you might do it as a hobby but in the past there was 100s of knife sharpeners in any big city 1000snds some times doing this by hand. in the past in europe barbers provided the service, in japan many time chefs did this in places where a knife sharpeners shop was not located. . the german name Schleifer its a person who sharpens knives. in English cutler would be the closet but it seems transient knife sharpeners didnt have a unique family name for the job in England but in southern europe in most countries they did.

[@TowaMidriffEnjoyer]

He has less balding issues than me, and I'm only 24 fuck

[@Oisin2]

Oof that narrator's accent is terrible... :(

[@gwinarto]

S a d

[@user-pm7pw1tl3t]

Its funny how the asian culture sharpens like that instead of getting a even grind pattern they just go ham cx

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

well many japanese dont. Japanese on good sharpening have a precise direction for the strokes depending the use of the blade. in fact id say most europeans sharpen like this guy too and dont care much about the direction of the strokes.. i might say its in fact only the japanese that take care about stroke direction.