Damascus knives

Can anyone point me in the direction of a decent stone for sharpening? I don't want to spend too much if I can help it. I've got a cheap Japanese combination stone that I picked up from ebay a few years back but it's become dished in the middle. I've spent the last hour trying to get it flat again, using coarse sand paper (60 grade) but it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere fast. Or any tips on how to go about lapping it?
 
Personally I don't worry a great deal about dishing of stones when they only get used for knives, but here's how I'd flatten a waterstone. Scribble over the surface with a pencil, tape a piece of the roughest sandpaper available to a flat surface. (Part of a defunct cloth backed sanding belt is good, on a machine table, but a piece of thick glass is just fine). Bear down heavily and rub back and forth until the pencil marks have disappeared. Repeat with finer paper until it's as you want it. If the stone is a hard one like an Arkansas, this will be a long sweaty job.

For a new stone, I'd suggest a fine diamond plate, or better a coarse / extra fine combination one. Try dishing that!
 
I've just read this thread and although this section is a busmens holiday for me I'll chip in and tell you how it is with Damascus steel chef knives. I have a set of the japanese shun knives and although they look pretty for professional use they are too thin you get a lot of blisters on your hands using them they are also prone to rust so are high maintenance. They are sharp and hold an edge but best suited for home use which is what I use mine for.

I have worked with Japanese sushi chefs for 4 years and none of them used Damascus blades although some of the guys who came over did use higher grade knives which were forged with hard and soft metals but not folded 30-40 times like the knives shown in the links provided by the op. For cutting fish for sushi it is important that it is only made with one cut so there must be no cut marks left on the fish the Japanese chefs were very anal about this and I think that is why Damascus blades are not used because their knives were often polished to a mirror finish on a high grit stone just to make sure this would not happen.
 
I thought they use single bevel knives and slicing action (push or pull) so as not to compress the flesh...which reminds me not to stop using one to hack into a tin of tuna.
 
Arrowhead said:
Dave: when cutting sushi, do the pros use a slicing action, or is it a push cut?
Click to expand...

Slicing fish for sushi The chaps I worked with never push cut for slicing fish for sushi or sashimi. It is one cut where the heel of the blade is held close to the board the point is raised up then brought down as the knife handle is drawn back towards the chef. But if you are cutting maki sushi (rolled sushi often fish and rice wrapped in sea weed) the point of the blade is dipped in water then raised vertical the flat of the handle is tapped on the board to allow the water to coat the edge of the blade then the cut is made as described above. This is done to stop the rice sticking to the blade.

The chefs would use push cutting for many other takes and garnish though and the fish slices pieces of sushi were never arranged in groups of 4 because one of the pronunciations of the word four also means death in Japanese.
 
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