Okay, looking for any ideas or feedback on this frustrating dive into sharpening! I ground my main bevel, then I put in a 20 degree relief bevel, and sharpened my microbevel at 25 degrees. The knife edge shaves hair, but gets caught up on standard A4 paper...any ideas what I am doing wrong? Or is this typical of the 25 degree working edge? I have used a digital angle finder, and an edge pro to make sure my angles done on the grinder are in fact accurate and equal. I am confused My progression was 240G, 400G, 800G, 1200G, and 2000G on the grinder with equal passes. Then stropped on leather with green compound. Cheers, Griff
Griff, Can you see any burr on the edge if you scope it with a magnifying glass? I am trying to picture your edge geometry. 25°(50°combined) is what I would use for rough service. Hunting knife let's say, where bones and rocks are inevitable. It depends on the application, but a general-use flat grind I would go something like 4° main bevel and 20°cutting edge. In more recent times I've been doing my last stropping on a dry leather or paper with very little or no pressure. If it's a chef's knife, I use the weight of the knife for force. It may just need the last few passes to be done really lightly. That should sort of fall through a piece of paper rather than being pushed through. I also use old phone books to test edges on and phone book paper is very lightweight, so maybe that's not a fair comparison. Also, what steel are you using? I have sharpened knives where I found it next to impossible to get rid of the burr. Even stropping with medium pressure produced more burr. That was frustrating. Dan
Without knowing the steel used, it sounds to me like you may have pushed the edge a bit too far. My first inclination would be to just sharpen it at the same angle all the way through, no micro bevel, at 22-ish. If it is popping hairs, chances are there isn’t a burr, as in my experience a burr will not be conducive to removing hair. Our normal routine after the stones is a half dozen strokes on a ceramic honing rod, and then strop in CrOx then leather. Finally, odd as it sounds, the grain of the paper can play a big part in testing an edge. We had a bit of and adjustment period with this after Vue Weekly went out of print. Check it vertically and horizontally along the page.
I'm the last person to offer advice. A sideline hobby of mine is finding and testing new and different sharpening devices. After using 1x30's, paper wheels, a buddies tormek and countless jigs of varying design and cost - the Lansky is still the one that gives me the best overall result. I have switched to a leather belt in a 1x30 for stropping though. I leave it setup as a dedicated stropping machine for my carving tools. I have to strop them at least once or twice every time i use them. I have all but decided though to go with a Tormek clone. It did work extremely well and, with practice, I think it will be the winner. On that note - does anybody have any experience to share about Tormek or Tormek clones? The WEN seems to be fairly well received and is like a quarter the cost of a Tormek.
Hey all, thanks for the replies and advice! We had a severed fibre-optic cable in the area so internet was out! So the steel is 0.250” (6mm) 01, and the main bevel is hollow ground. I am happy with how it shaves hair off my arm, cuts rope, bites into wood, I was just perplexed by the paper cut test. I will move onto the next knife. I am just playing around and experimenting, us hobbyists have that luxury I appreciate all the input as always and will try the tips you have given! @ToddR Sorry bud, no experience with those systems, though I did consider the Maximum Crappy Tire clone when it was 50% off...I just didn’t move on in time! Cheers! If you are interested in the method I used (granted It’s my error if it didn’t work, not the writer of this piece), you just need to scroll down to the ‘Ultimate edge,’ section to understand why the relief bevel. http://www.africanxmag.com/the_razor's_edge.htm
If your using your grinder with belts to sharpen get a 5 Miron belt load it with green compound and run it reverse or away from your edge for a few light passes . Lee valley sells a good green compound for it. If it’s catching on paper you still have a little burr left there .
Likely out of my league here Griff but over the years I have found steeper grinds even if micro beveled and razor sharp have trouble with some papers - still sharp and will supply great service but catch on paper. My remedy for that has been to use a very smooth or worn out sharpening steel and using no pressure, just the weight of the knife take forward strokes into the steel, both sides for an even number of strokes and then reverse the procedure as in strop for the same number of strokes and then two or three strokes back into the steel very very light. Finish by stropping on newspaper. I have found this better than ceramics and an extra extra fine diamond hone. This seems to align the edge and get rid of any burr. The real key in my opinion is very little pressure.
One great way to remove a burr is to lightly pull the seed edge through a 2x4. If the heat treat is off the burr can sometimes be hard to get off.
