custom blade longevity ?

I was wondering how many custom blades out there that are daily users that have held up to their initial grinds. I understand some that have flat grinds so you can just thin and keep going. (that is if I'm using 'flat' grinds correctly) But some 'S' grinds seem like they have a life expectancy and I throw Takedas into that batch. I'm sure you can throw in convex and this or that but if you can respond to this post then I'm sure you don't need your hand held.
Thanks

 

I dont understand why you think you can not continue to thin into the hollows on a hollow face forged knife like a Takeda. In theory you could continue to thin the wide bevels more than halfway up the knife. Flat grind would have to be the worst to maintain as you have to thin the entire face of the blade in order to maintain a geometry with no release and the faces will stick in food as you cut. Convex grind will depend on the thickness and degree of the convexity, but you basically dealing with a broken angle which is blended. The brake in angle around 12mm from the edge. So you routinely thin the last 12mm of the blade in a similar way to maintaining a wide bevel knife but with some blending at the end.

 

Ahh OK sorry didn't mean a full flat grind. I was thinking wide bevel. The only Takeda I'm familiar with was an old style gyuto. It had an exaggerated 'hour glass' look to it. So much so that you couldn't crush garlic with it. Well easily... I understand thinning and blending the last 12mm and it did cut great and release. I must be overthinking it. It just seems that, with a tall knife, you would eventually sharpen down to where just became a wedge. I guess for other knives it's just more sharpening techniques I need to learn. Thanks

 

For long-term consistency, the basic tall bevel with flat hira is classic and well suited to the task. The relative ease of progressive thinning and refinishing is why a large chunk of my collection is made up of such knives.

Compound grinds will change in cutting characteristics over time. A good anti-stick knife with a hollow (e.g. Takeda) will eventually grind down until the bevel comes off the hollow, which will be a nice thin cutter but will not have the same sticking properties.

 

Most of us do early on which could be a long time for some of us. Once you have thinned a knife so much that it has altered the geometry/performance of the knife you can always change the geometry to try and maintain good performance. My grandfather had a fillet knife he loved and it was sharpened down to a twig by the time he died but it still cut like a light saber! I still have this knife as a keep sake.

 

Btw, well put Will. Great advice. As a home guy, I'm pretty sure most of my knives will outlast me even with thinning .