Video - How to sharpen knife to "whittling hair" sharp.

theonew said:
I'll play:

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Bark River Aurora. I have very thin hair too.
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Excellent! I really happy to see this! Please, post your photos here!

What is your way of sharpening?

I am thinking to make page listing everybody who can do this with photo proves or without. Theonew - my I start this page with you? Everybody - if you like to contribute to this page, please, e-mail you records to me.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
nozh2002 said:
What is your way of sharpening?

I am thinking to make page listing everybody who can do this with photo proves or without. Theonew - my I start this page with you? Everybody - if you like to contribute to this page, please, e-mail you records to me.
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My technique really varies but what I enjoy most is being able to hold the sharpener in one hand and the knife in the other. For the Aurora which NIB was fairly sharp I just used a Fine DMT Mini-sharp, then an Extra Fine, and finished with a Spyderco Ultra Fine ceramic rod.

Please feel free to include this in anything.
 
Thanks, I'll make a page and post it on my website tomorrow.

Vassili.
 
Wish my camera had a better macro setting, or that I could find the pic I posted not that long ago. I usually finish with an 8000 King and a chromium oxide loaded strop from knivesplus. I also hold the strop in my off hand instead of laying it on a flat surface.

Maximus Otter had a pic of a split hair, but that was some years back. I'll see if I can find it in search.
 
I like to occasionally see if a knife will treetop arm hairs, but will probably stick with push cutting paper for testing sharpness. I really prefer more exciting sharpening demonstrations like cutting empty water bottles, rolled up pieces of phone book paper, cutting through telephone books, soda cans, saplings, even the occasional tin can (can be hard on that real sharp edge).

Let's see someone cut an empty water bottle in half, leaving the bottom half still standing. No nails or glue (or kitchen knives ;)) allowed, so remember you have to show it's not secured in the video.

 
Lets stick with whittling hair - it pure sharpness and does not require skills etc... also pretty safe. BTW I google a bit - European hair pretty thin - 6-10 micron, while other have 5-10 times thicker... Should mention this I guess.

Only trick I know - whittle from top to root - against shells.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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Here's a knife and a steel that people often claim are hard to sharpen, the BM710 in D2. I reprofiled the edge to somewhere between 12 and 15 degrees per side using sandpaper on a broom handle. Then polished it with a Spyderco medium then ultra-fine ceramic. I find D2 to be much more forgiving of occasional mistakes that might be made during sharpening and takes a fantastic edge.


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hardheart said:
Wish my camera had a better macro setting, or that I could find the pic I posted not that long ago. I usually finish with an 8000 King and a chromium oxide loaded strop from knivesplus. I also hold the strop in my off hand instead of laying it on a flat surface.

Maximus Otter had a pic of a split hair, but that was some years back. I'll see if I can find it in search.
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I remember this and tried google - can not came up with right request. May be you remember some wording.

it should be "bladeforums hardheart ..." and work pretty good, but not this time for me.

I like to put you also in that list if you do not mind?

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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nozh2002 said:
Lets stick with whittling hair - it pure sharpness and does not require skills etc... also pretty safe. BTW I google a bit - European hair pretty thin - 6-10 micron, while other have 5-10 times thicker... Should mention this I guess.
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Wouldn't you only need to find one small spot on the edge that is sharp to cut a hair, while other sharpness demonstrations require sharpness along more of the edge? It may be a "pure" test of sharpness for that one spot, but you'd have to whittle a lot of hair to use it as a real test for the entire edge. I think I'd classify it more of a sharpness demonstration, like the others I mentioned.

I never even considered that it was technically challenging or unsafe at all to cut a water bottle in half, but I guess if you have concerns it is probably best to stick with what you're comfortable with. And I really didn't expect to see someone cut an empty water bottle in half and leave the bottom standing, though I would like to see it...
 
Broos I'm curious when you cut that water bottle were you drawing the knife towards you, i.e. using a slicing motion too?
 
Just a normal chopping motion which may have tiny bit of slice to it, but the best cuts are nice and smooth, and not neccesarily hard swings. If you want danger cut a phone book in half (watch those fingers :eek:). I really think cutting a hair requires a sharp edge, but was just poking at Noz a little due to my slightly (some may disagree about that bit) antagonistic nature. :)
 
Broos said:
Just a normal chopping motion which may have tiny bit of slice to it, but the best cuts are nice and smooth, and not neccesarily hard swings. If you want danger cut a phone book in half (watch those fingers :eek:). I really think cutting a hair requires a sharp edge, but was just poking at Noz a little due to my slightly (some may disagree about that bit) antagonistic nature. :)
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I just narrowly dodged an ER visit recently and certainly don't want danger :D But when the wife is out of town I may have to try the water bottle thing.
 
Broos said:
Wouldn't you only need to find one small spot on the edge that is sharp to cut a hair, while other sharpness demonstrations require sharpness along more of the edge? It may be a "pure" test of sharpness for that one spot, but you'd have to whittle a lot of hair to use it as a real test for the entire edge. I think I'd classify it more of a sharpness demonstration, like the others I mentioned.

I never even considered that it was technically challenging or unsafe at all to cut a water bottle in half, but I guess if you have concerns it is probably best to stick with what you're comfortable with. And I really didn't expect to see someone cut an empty water bottle in half and leave the bottom standing, though I would like to see it...
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Well, you can do whatever sharpness test you want, but can you show me whittled hair, eve n it is was done at some smole part of the edge?

Thanks, Vassili.
 
hardheart said:
ahh, here it is

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5172154&postcount=29

maybe Wade still has the pic mentioned here
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333554

and here's otter's
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3427504&postcount=1

as you can see, those others are pretty old posts.

gah, just did an arm hair with a Mooremaker 3100LB (1095, made by Camillus in 2006) but the camera won't do the job.
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I put your picture on that page - will upload tomorrow. Can you ask otter if it is OK for me to put his record there too (I have no access to PM)?

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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Ok, here's mine...

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I use a 1000/3000 suehiro waterstone. When the knife doesn't shave arm hair any more, I take 2 minutes on the 1000 side, turn stone around and perhaps 1 minute there.

Then 40 or so strokes per side on newsprint with a bit of CrO laid flat on the table.

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I guess I need a macro lens. Nozh, use this as you like. Your videos are great, perhaps I'll try diamond sometime. I like waterstones but they sure are messy.
 
nozh2002 said:
Can you ask otter if it is OK for me to put his record there too?
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Honoured to help, Vassili:

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Here's another sharpness test. The paper is plain A4 copy paper rolled into a 1" cylinder and loosely taped with Sellotape:

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Cutting is not difficult; I have never managed to leave the bottom half standing, though!

Blades were sharpened with Edge Pro Apex.

IIRC the Sebenza and the Manix were at 21°, the Trailmaster at 24°

maximus otter
 
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