Making Uraoshi on the new Yanagiba

ITOURA is the ideal Ura finish.

Ito means thread in Japanese.
Ura means backside (the most people believe it), but originally, means Bay (might be correct). The concave looks like bay, but nowadays, the most people think it is backside, but actually, Ura side is the front side. The backside and bay are the different intonation, but it has the same sound in Japanese.

Anyway, the story makes confusing you, so I start on talking about Uraoshi now.

For new single bevel blade knife Ura oshi,

1. we should make sure what it is straight not crooked or bent

2. starting on sharpening from #1000 flat surface

3. making sure the blade edge moving toward the other side of us, and it is 90 degree against the sharpening stone

4. holding tight on the right hand and left hand to make flat on the sharpening stone

5. attaching and depressing the left hand fingers on the edge of the blade, not on the middle or not on the spine side

6. after done #1000, we finish with the fine grit stone the same way

Once we have done the Ura with ITOURA finish, we do not need to go back the medium grit stone like #1000.
The nearly mirror finish Ura oshi finish is very important to make very sharp edge.
We always use fine grit stone after that, unless we get chips on the blade or big project to fix the blade.

http://aframestokyo.com/shinden-renge...