Help! I can't get this knife sharp!

[NJBillK]

First off, please do not use cooking oil, as it can go rancid and start to harbor significant amounts of bacteria.

Mineral oil is readily available from just about any pharmacy and most food stores (sold as a laxative). Used to grease up the insides, so don't drink it, lol.

You should be able to do just fine with that stone, just remember a few things:
- The swarf built up is actually helping to abrade your edge, so don't clean it unless it is cutting slower.
- Using the sharpie, make sure you are fully apexing your edge, and you are raising a burr on each side prior to going to your finer grit.
- Mount your leather strop to a piece of wood using two "C" clamps, one on each end. Make sure it is taught and loaded with with some polish or compound.
- Once you raise a burr on bith sides on the finer grit stone, start counting your passes on each side; 15, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
- Once you have it down to an easily flipped burr, raise your angle for alternating passes, 1 and 1 on each side to help break the burr.
- Strop your knife while the strop is mounted to a flat surface. This will prevent the strop from wrapping around the edge and rounding your apex.
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If you end up going out to grab a 1x4 or something similar to mount the strop to, grab some sandpaper in 400, 600, 800 and 1000 grits. These can be used for your sharpening to good affect.

Let us know how this works.

 

[Gaston444]

NJBill, you have to take Gaston with a grain of salt. He has some, well...interesting views on knives, steels, sharpening, etc. They tend to go against the popular beliefs of most and in some instances against the laws of science it self! Best just to correct the statements and move on, like I did... But don't waste time trying to engage. Are you familiar with "effort in futility"? It's kinda like that.

I think saying a 60 degree inclusive wedge is slicy, no matter how thin the edge base, is pretty much against basic laws of physics: Even as a micro-bevel, 60 degrees is quite excessive...

I have several knives with 30 degree inclusive edges, no micro-bevel, done by a professional, and they require a fair amount of effort to cut just about everything, especially nylon rope: They are acceptable, but quite borderline... I suspect some are loath to admit something required an effort...

When you see how an Opinel is built, you realize most Americans have quite peculiar ideas as to what constitutes "sharpness" (if the 40 degree inclusive "standard" is any guide)... The comment about 90 degree edges being able to shave is particularly revealing: Knife nuts, who should know better, tend to think "shaving" has a deep meaningful relationship to cutting performance... It doesn't. I know some Busse knives are fairly thin behind the edge, but, from what I heard, INFI edge holding performance is not good at "low" angles (below 30 inclusive): Such a concept, dependent on thick edge bases and more open angles, could only have come from America... To be fair, most Seki City made knives also have terrible thick edge geometry, as do most fixed blades, including the vast majority of customs... The only consistent fixed blade exception seems to be Randall Made Knives (and Bark River/Blackjack on the convex side of things), even if the Randalls are delivered from the factory with no real edge at all...: At least not all Americans make the same assumptions about how much metal is needed to prop up an edge...

The peculiar thing about "real" sharpness is that if you go for thin edge bases, but especially low angles, below 30 degrees inclusive, then you pretty much have to do what Randall is doing and stick to 440 or some of the other older steels, because the newer stuff like S30V or CPM 154 simply cannot hold the apex straight under the slightest load at these angles (even slicing thin cardboard in my experience): They instantly micro-fold the apex... However, since micro-folding is hard to see and can take a long while to affect slicing, most people assume these steels are doing fine... People really need to learn the nail trick and how to be rigorous about it...: It would open their eyes...

Gaston

 

[NJBillK]

And here we go...
None of what you have said here relates directly to the OPs post, and I would view as intentionally trollish and trying to get the thread off topic.
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OP, pay him no mind. You will spend more that a justifiable amout of time reading his blather and confusing yourself further.

This comes from a guy (Gaston) who thinks that 440a is the end all be all of alloys and things that Bluntcut Metalworks (in particular), Corothers Performance Knives, and Busse knives are built upon people being uninformed and gimmick.

 

[DocJD]

And here we go...
None of what you have said here relates directly to the OPs post, and I would view as intentionally trollish and trying to get the thread off topic.
------
OP, pay him no mind. You will spend more that a justifiable amout of time reading his blather and confusing yourself further.

This comes from a guy (Gaston) who thinks that 440a is the end all be all of alloys and things that Bluntcut Metalworks (in particular), Corothers Performance Knives, and Busse knives are built upon people being uninformed and gimmick.

Until I can afford them , super steels are simply overrated hype !

 

[DavidHoback]

Well...he HAS had knives sharpened to 30 inc.(15 degrees per side), by a PROFESSIONAL!! And they are BORDERLINE in cutting ability! What? Was the guy a PROFESSIONAL PAINTER?!? If so! I would say "that's your problem!" Gaston.. I AM one of the professionals on the forum. I'm trying to be nice. But you really need to stop.

 

[NJBillK]

If you shoot Bluntcut a PM/Conversation invite on here, he often does blanks that just need scales or a cord wrap put on for cheap, like often under $150 depending on the size.

I have two currently in my possession and have had a third pass through them.

The one I do not have anymore is a CPM 10V @68 hrc with .065ish stock thickness and about .015 bte.
Very thin, very aggressive for a kitchen parer/small utility.

The other two I have are 65hrc one is 52100 and the other is W2 and they measure
52100: .088 stock (@ ricasso) and .011 bte
W2: .11 stock (@ ricasso) and .007 bte

They both work nicely in the kitchen and do not fail on a wood or polymer block, do not chip on bone, work pork, beef and chicken joints with equal ease, and require less maintenance than my softer and thicker knives by Becker, Busse, Spyderco (aside from my Maxamet Mule), et al.
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The Spyderco's I Maxamet are nice intros to a very high end alloy for $100-150 in both fixed and folding knives.
Other than that, look to Bluntcut Metalworks for a blank.

Hell, if you buy the blank, and the slabs, I will epoxy the handle and shape it for you free of charge.
Conversation inbound.

 

[miso2]

If the definition of “sharpness” is cutting ability, it would depend on what you cut.

If the edge is for cutting hair or used as a plane, the angle would not matter very much. An edge at 40 degree inclusive could be as “sharp” as a 20 degree edge. What matters here most would be the apex keenness or width. Diamond knives at 40 degree inclusive, which is used to make 50 nanometer epoxy slices for electron microscopy specimens, may be considered ultimate “sharp” in this kind of usage.

If the edge has to cut a thick medium, then additionally edge angle and geometry would affect the “sharpness”. I am not sure if a 40 degree edge with 0.01” thickness behind the edge is sharper than a 26 degree 0.02” thick edge, but they could be equally sharp.

Sorry if this still derails the course of the original topic.



Miso

 

[bucketstove]

Until I can afford them , super steels are simply overrated hype !

once you buy into the hype you'll believe they're super for real they can fly and everything they'll tear through cardboard like a butter knife

 

[a Trexler Ranger]

OK.. I don't know what the grits are but I know its a Bronco brand USA made

 

[TAH]

This comes from a guy (Gaston) who thinks that 440a is the end all be all of alloys...

In all fairness, Gaston likes 440C, which is excellent steel.

 

[totkst1]

Hell, if you buy the blank, and the slabs, I will epoxy the handle and shape it for you free of charge.
Conversation inbound.

This is exactly why I love and support this particular forum. The knowledge and skills on here is second to none and to top it off the folks here are usually willing to give their knowledge away for free and assist when they can as well as offer great prices on awesome goods and services. OP welcome to the forum

 

[miso2]

OK.. I don't know what the grits are but I know its a Bronco brand USA made

I don't know Bronco brand, but quick Google showed that they are OEM for Norton. Assuming that what you have is one of Norton's combination stones, the grits may be #150 and #400.


Miso

 

[a Trexler Ranger]

Cool I'll have to check those blanks out. I did get the Strongarm sharpened thanks to you guys, and now she cuts and splits like a beast.

Thanks!