Blade "toothiness" or what's the best general duty grit?

[misanthropist]

This came up in another thread and I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on it.

I use about a 600 grit finish on my general duty knives. I go a lot higher on pushcutters.

My dad likes what I think is about a 250 grit finish on a lot of his stuff, and I have never known him to go above about 600 - he says the knives "bite" better (and I do find his knives very effective.) He has been maintaining knives for longer than I have been alive - thirty years now - and I guess he knows what works for him. But I never see anyone talking about putting such a coarse edge on a knife. I often hear about people using ridiculously high grit belts on sanders to get the ultimate mirror polish.

Is this a case of grit envy? Are people exceeding the useful sharpness in favour of having the "ultimate" sharpness? Is this a bit like guys stuffing an 1100 horsepower motor in their camaros when they might actually run the 1/4 mile faster with 600 horses and the ability to hook it to the grounds? Or is there no benefit to the coarser edge?

 

[Bwilson]

Sooner or later someone will chime in who is much more knowledgable than I, but......different grit finishes are better at different things. A coarser grit finish will slice better than a high polished mirror finish. The high polished mirror finish will push cut better than the coarse finish, kind of depends on what you plan to do with it.

 

[misanthropist]

I agree - I do my razors up to 8000 before I strop them, and the same with my axes.

 

[longbow50]

My primary is 600 grit. Not too toothy, but they bite well. My broadheads get 250 grit and they do an excellent job.

 

[ilbruche]

Sooner or later someone will chime in who is much more knowledgable than I

Sound the horns! Where is Cliff Stamp?!

 

[WhitleyStu]

I have a 250 grit wheel on my Tormek and it leaves the blade VERY "toothy". Just a light stroping on a 1"x30" leather belt gets rid of the roughness and another 30 seconds on the leather belt and the edge is razor sharp. I am getting away from taking all my blades to the push cut razor stage and am finding I like the more "toothy" edge for my EDC blades. My wife's kitchen knives still get the sharpest edge I can put on them...

 

[knifetester]

I like Spyderco Medium (brown) ceramic finish for most of my EDC knives. On my Opinels and SAKS I am now using a higher polished finish, spyderco superfine, followed by a light stropping with green past from lee valley on cardboard. These get used for wood carving, and the high polished edge.

On the other hand, I also have a few knives that I sharpen at really low grits, like 100-150 and these make fierce slicers, micro-serrated edges. I have gone as low as 60 grit followed by a grooved kitchen steel. Try it with a cheap old hickory carbon steel butcher knife and slice up a sirloin into steaks, you will see an aggressive edge for sure.

 

[RescueRiley]

I find 600 to be more than adequate for a multi use knife

 

[Cliff Stamp]

My dad likes what I think is about a 250 grit finish on a lot of his stuff, and I have never known him to go above about 600 - he says the knives "bite" better (and I do find his knives very effective.) He has been maintaining knives for longer than I have been alive - thirty years now - and I guess he knows what works for him. But I never see anyone talking about putting such a coarse edge on a knife.

I have used as low as 80 grit, which leaves an edge so coarse that you can actually see the teeth. I have also run them as high as 0.5 micron which is 10, 000+ grit. It depends on if you are slicing more of push cutting. If you are just doing mainly one then go as coarse or as polished as possible.

-Cliff