Carter Regrind - Chef Knife to Funayuki (?) from Beginning to End

Changing a short Murray Carter chef's knife into a funayuki (?), from beginning to end, with all the boring bits removed! I'm not a professional, and I thought other beginners might like to see the whole process as they might want to do it. Lots of commentary for those interested, lots of links to guide you to the bits you may want to watch.

Problem: I have a small chef knife that doesn't cut all the way through vegetables, and isn't long enough to rock-chop well. I want to use it for board-work, so I need a flatter profile. It's not a cheap knife, so it's worth the time investment for me.

Solution: Re-grind the knife profile for a flatter edge so that it's more effective for board-work and chopping. Process: Using only stones, we'll get the whole process done from re-grinding, thinning the blade and restoring the old convex grind so that it continues to cut well and look great.

Suehiro - 100grit (dry)
King Combo - 220grit/1,000grit (waterstone)
Fingertips - Thin and Tender

 

When you started to re-profile it, the thought that instantly jumped into my head was "He's not going to get very far with that file."

I think you did a great job with the tools at your disposal. You are correct, for a tool to be worth it's existence, it needs to do what we need them to do.
Personally, I like the adjustment you made, and would have probably done the same thing myself.

 

Thanks for the feedback! Since I've used files to round spines and choils, I thought it was the way to go. Boy was I mistaken!

I think it's nice to show when things go wrong as well as when they go right. It's helped me see others mistakes over the years so I know how to avoid them myself.

sfeile, have you re-ground any of your own knives? Is this a common practice for home/professional cooks?

 

I've not re-ground my own kitchen knives. I've had the same Wusthof set for the last 19 years.

I have recently gotten into forging though, so I've ground a couple camp knives and planning on doing some kitchen knives. Since I've been doing my own heat treating, I know from experience that properly done, a file won't touch it.
I do have one 6 inch chefs knife for my daughter that is ready for profiling right now, but since it's only 6 degrees out and I have no heat in my shop, it's still waiting.

I have also done some major changes on straight razors, but my kitchen knives have stayed the same. In all fairness though, my knife work is extremely basic and only in the last 2 or 3 years have I done much with it. I worked on the road a lot, so I never cooked.

I'm looking at making a Gyuto for myself. Or at least something along that line. Very similar to the shape you ended with. Slight rounding at the front, but flat back towards the heel. Looks like a nice general purpose tool and similar in function to my Wusthof chef's knife I use almost exclusively.

 

That sounds excellent. I had a small forge when I was in secondary school, but since I live in the city there's really no room. Never did nearly as much as I wanted.
Way to go getting into the forging process, I'd love to see what your projects look like.

 

Nice, just watched the video. Pretty ballsie taking a file to a Carter, but the results look great.

 

Thanks for the encouragement!

I sat on this project for around 3-4 months before I was mentally ready to take the leap.

I watched the video after editing and realized I sound dreadfully monotone. I think I was just in a zone from all the grinding....