My 25 Years of Hand Sharpening: Navigating Challenges and Mastery

[@gilovadya3607]

Ivan your honesty is present strongly with your profession

[@Haydt456]

Ivan you’re quickly becoming my favorite KZbin videos to watch!

[@Jnatseu]

Definitely the best channel about sharpening. Thanks for the videos!

[@AlexPedersen123]

keep them coming!

[@djevilm]

Omg Ivan, only yesterday I was wondering about who you are and your knowledge of stones. You answered my question to quickly hehe ❤

[@swamp.stomper]

Great video. So far I’m enjoying the direction that things are moving. Thanks for sharing your sharpening world with us!

[@Nebulax123]

Really enjoy this series and I look forward to seeing how it develops. My house is also littered with stones of all types and varieties I have been at it since the sixties and also feel like I could always do better so I feel you are on the right track there, never be satisfied and you will always improve. While I hope the main thrust will be the sharpening itself I would also love from time to time hear your take on some of the stones you use. Maybe every once in a while do a deep dive on one or two. Bruce

[@SC-wi9md]

More of this please. Would love to hear you talk about some of the projects you worked on, particularly some of the iconic knives and little known details or why you made decisions that you did to make them so iconic. Also, would be so good to see a bit of an explanation of what stood out about Tsukasa Hinoura's polishing. Love his knives

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thanks for the comments these are really interesting questions we will definitely include them in future content!!

[@BlaiseRussotti]

Nearly 10 years ago I was fortunate enough to take two sharpening classes with you at Tosho. I was a young man starting my cooking and sharpening journey. I am forever grateful for that experience and these videos have been helping me find my love for sharpening again. Please continue to share your world and experiences with us.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Wow thanks so much !! I didn’t give many classes so thanks for attending. Sharpening seems at least for me a perpetual journey to find perfection, I’m very grateful for the support and kind words.

[@mijzelfmaardanik]

My new Favorite channel !

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you, we could reach many great follower as well!

[@rodrigobatista9295]

Such a lovely vid, Ivan. Always great to hear a nudge of your experience and perspective on anything within this business. As you well said... There are so many incredible professionals out there today. You're still my main inspiration in the knife sharpening/polishing world, though. One day I hope I can meet you in person for a drink and a chat, in one of my trips to Japan... I love your work, and thank you for sharing bits of it. 🙏🏻

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thanks for the kind words! Next time your in Japan please let me know I’d be honored to meet you

[@Haganeaffutage]

Great video Ivan, thanks to share your experience, you should make some sharpening class I would be delighted to be part of it ! I think my next stone will be a NSK

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thanks so much !! Yes we are thinking about some online classes in the future

[@Haganeaffutage]

@@ivanyuka-japan i Will be part of it for sure ;)

[@kevintran3158]

You mention using different stones for specific goals. I'd be interested to hear about this since I only hear about using a few stones for Everything knife-sharpening related.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you! Yes that’s right, this is a huge and interesting topic we will try to find the best way to cover it

[@BACCHUS777]

Hope to see more videos with the Kawachi smith family in the future.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

We definitely have more coming with Kawachi Kunihira

[@galaxismtg7722]

11:18 I always follow the guiding text "Be pure and simple There can be no stage in any practice where one thinks he has achieved everything. Such a feeling of perfection is in itself contrary to practicing the path. A man who has been dissatisfied with his results all his life, although he practiced wholeheartedly until his last breath, has, in retrospect, achieved his goal. Becoming pure and simple and cultivating concentration without pursuing more than one goal is a difficult task in life. Pursuing the goal, unless done with a pure and clear mind, never leads a person onto the path. It is essential to think only of service as a follower and of military virtues." From the Book Hagakure from Yamamoto Tsunetomo I hope the translation from German to English is meaningful My question is which synthetic stones do the blacksmiths or Togishis use to create the shape after hardening? Stones that are coarser than 200 grit.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you so much for the comment, it’s very much appreciated After hardening and depending on the blade, for kitchen knives the first stone for me, for the shaping process would be 120 or 200, most kitchen knives are rough ground on belt sanders or stone wheels, for swords the rough shaping before stones could be file and wheel stone, then move on to your first rough shaping stone which would be 100 or 120. Again depending on the blade.

[@enobil]

Thanks very much for sharing your experience and thoughts. I'd love to see technique ideas and practical jnat knowledge from you. I have less than 10 jnats currently and trying different usages with different naguras / steels / pressure / techniques. Enjoying quite a lot. My focus is about edge sharpening though. I sold my iron clad knifes before unfortunately. Stainless clad gyutos aren't too fun for polishing I think.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you ! We definitely will start featuring natural and synthetic stone sharpening techniques in upcoming episodes.

[@jesusdanielmurrietadomingu4]

Podrías enseñarnos a hacer el “kasumi” no encuentro por ninguna parte una técnica explicada, saludos desde México y me gustan mucho tus videos,

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you for your request! We will put your request on our list for future video creation.

[@monvier2]

hello yvan . as a "blade beauty" enthousiast i'm interested in all aspect of blade manufacturing processing servicing etc... personally what im very interested in would be to learn how to sharpen im not in beginer i can do some flat sharpening) and polish my blade to reveal all the beauty of the material . i don't know what natural japanese stone type i should use as a beginner . so if you could help me to learn about this aspect i would be very happy .thanks for the videos . looking forward to discover more about this world in the coming videos.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you ! A big part of what I hope to show on our channel is a diversity of polishing techniques not only from myself but other polishers.

[@TimJohnson-x1o]

ive noticed many folks with russian sounding given names and spanish surnames. is this common?

[@ivanyuka-japan]

I’m not sure actually, my father is Macedonian and mother Spanish that’s where my name comes from

[@martins.5977]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Ivan, can you imagine to give something like a sharpening class here? I could learn a lot from you, others sure too.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

I have thought about it, yes. Sharpening is such a physical things that trying to express and show real ideas through video has been challenging. That being said we may try a few through Tosho knife arts to see how it goes.

[@martins.5977]

@@ivanyuka-japan yay. Looking forward to this. 👍

[@scharfermax]

Thank you Ivan! You're a master in the art of polishing, exuding perseverance and serenity. But since NSK are not only very expensive and - to my knowledge - only available via Tosho, demonstrations of techniques with detailed explanations (positions, pressure management on the stones, progressions, etc.) using more commonly available stones would be a great addition to the already helpful first batch of videos showcasing your work with the NSKs.

[@ivanyuka-japan]

Thank you !! Yes definitely we will be going more into technique that can be used on any stone, as we get more and more comments it helps to know what people are interested in seeing. Thanks for the feedback and support