If you have even the slightest interest in cooking and/or knives, watch the video below. This is just one example from the outstanding JunsKitchen YouTube channel, a rabbit hole of excellence.
There’s a lot to watch for here. Start with the reclamation project, but stay for the incredible knife technique. I am a big fan.
Great. And, the cat(s) are great too.
Lovely knife.
Part of me thinks this is a set up. The knife initially looks awful but most of the rust bloom _washes_ off…there is no pitting of the steel. The rust is all very recent and hasn’t had time to gnaw into the metal.
That said, he works through multiple grits to sharpen and then shows off some amazing slicing technique.
he restored a rusty knife from a “goodwill” store that he got for three bucks. he’s not suggesting restoration of an ancient artifact that was on the sea floor for hundreds of years.
how is “hasn’t had time to gnaw” even relevant?
no pitting?
_washes_ off (with some sort of _special_ significance?)
this is what you do to the neglected knife in the back of the drawer, not something you dig up and prepare for exhibit.
I’ve seen this before. That’s either an usuba (if single bevelled) or a nakiri (if double bevelled). From the cucumber stuff he does it’s likely an usuba. Good examples sell in the US for $100 and up. I’d love to run across something like that in a thrift store…
And that’s how you sharpen good carbon steel or high quality stainless knives. Pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it.
He makes a big deal that the store wouldn’t even take the knife and that “$3.00” was too much (no longer quoting the yen equivalent). As mentioned above, the knife is easily worth $100. The store didn’t recognize that despite the superficial rust?!?
I would wager that he arranged to allow some superficial rust to bloom on the surface (maybe a light coat of a mild acid) but carefully made sure it didn’t grow into pits that would take real effort to remedy. A dry knife in the back of a drawer would never look like that. In other words, it was a set up for a mildly interesting video.
PS my hobby is collecting antique carving tools. The rust never just washes off. Pits are basically fatal–you have to abrade away metal to below the depth of the deepest pit. Your arms will fall off, first.