4
The contemporary Japanese blade and Chinese cleavers should be honed and polished on both
sides of the blade. The traditional single bevel Japanese blade, such as the sashimi blade, must
be honed and polished primarily on the front side of the blade, which has the very large factory
bevel (Bevel A. See page 9).
Please read carefully the following detailed sharpening instructions in order to optimize your
results and to avoid any damage to these specialized blades.
Never operate the sharpener from the back side. Use just enough downward pressure when
sharpening to ensure uniform and consistent contact of the blade with the abrasive disks on
each stroke. Additional pressure is unnecessary and will not speed the sharpening process.
Avoid excessive cutting into the plastic enclosure. Accidental cutting into the enclosure will not
functionally impact operations of the sharpener or damage the edge.
Try a practice pull through the sharpener before you turn on the power. S lip the knife blade
smoothly into the left slot between the left angle guide of Stage 1 and the plastic knife hold-
ing spring. Do not twist the knife. Move the blade down in the slot until you feel it contact the
diamond disk. Pull it towards you lifting the handle slightly as you approach the tip. This will give
you a feel for the spring tension. Remove the knife and read the instructions specific to the type
of knife you will be sharpening.
SharpenIng the ContemporarY aSIan KnIfe
Before sharpening your contemporary style Asian blade, refer to Description of Asian and Euro/
American blades, pages 9 and 10, to confirm that you do in fact have a double faceted blade.
All double faceted Asian blades are defined as contemporary blades. Most of the popular Asian
blades such as the Usaba (nakiri) and Santoku currently sold in the United States are the double
faceted contemporary design. If your double faceted knife is very thin at the edge and it is rela-
tively new it probably will not need to be pre-honed in Stage 1 before polishing. Instead, start
in Stage 2, which will polish the edge with ultrafine diamonds. Turn on the power switch and
sharpen in Stage 2 as follows:
Start bY polIShIng the edge In Stage 2
a. Pull the blade through the left slot of Stage 2
(see Figure 2) and then through the right slot of
Stage 2. Make 2 pairs of pulls, alternating each
pull in the left and right slots of Stage 2. You
should take about 3 seconds for each pull for a
5 inch (12 cm) long blade.
b. Then make 3 pairs of alternating faster pulls
(about 1 second per pull for a 5 inch [12 cm]
blade) in Stage 2.
Figure 2. Santoku knife in left slot Stage 2 (double facet
Santoku blade).
