Can't get sharp

[bikerector]

Oh! Interesting point. I have been trying to do long strokes.


Hope so. Used a friend's last night, again. Seemed to make the most progress on the Medium (darker) rods, and at times when I was on the Fine (white) rods it got darker. After 25 strokes on each surface (point and flat) with both sets, and yes tried to use as much of the rod as possible and now realize I didn't need to, going slowly and litterally standing over the blade to ensure it was perpendicular to the table surface (thereby maintaining the rod's 20-degree angle) it still was not sharp enough to simply cut paper, but it DID cut the paper once I got it started a bit. Didnt cut well though.

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions. So far it appears the major flaws in my approach, in order of easiest fix to hardest: lesser jumps between grits, shorter strokes, and better angle

How many strokes, approximately, should I expect for a dull D2 blade to get sharp?

It's hard to say how many strokes it takes as it's completely dependant on how dull it is. If the edge is reflecting light there's now way around it needing some work. If you can't cut paper yet but progressed to the fine stone I don't think you spent enough time on the 1st stone. Sometimes, it may take nearly 100 strokes to get the edge set, on the course stone, if you've really let the edge go. Usually only my choppers with harder steel require such attention, so like a 3V chopper that's been worked hard for several hours (ease of maintenance is a serious consideration on a working knife). I don't like to use a lot of pressure except on the ceramic stones (baryonyx stones) designed for it.

The sharpmaker is known for being easy but not the fastest, be patient. The nice thing is, if it's a little sharper now than it was then you should see a little more improvement the next time use the sharpmaker. As you progress, I've heard of some people laying their DMT stones on the sharpmaker stones so you have the angle setting of the sharpmaker but the better abrasive of the DMT. The diamond stones just work much faster for high-carbide steels, which D2 is.

 

[000Robert]

I have a Wicked Edge 130. I get sharp perfect edges every time!

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Oh! Interesting point. I have been trying to do long strokes.


Hope so. Used a friend's last night, again. Seemed to make the most progress on the Medium (darker) rods, and at times when I was on the Fine (white) rods it got darker. After 25 strokes on each surface (point and flat) with both sets, and yes tried to use as much of the rod as possible and now realize I didn't need to, going slowly and litterally standing over the blade to ensure it was perpendicular to the table surface (thereby maintaining the rod's 20-degree angle) it still was not sharp enough to simply cut paper, but it DID cut the paper once I got it started a bit. Didnt cut well though.

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions. So far it appears the major flaws in my approach, in order of easiest fix to hardest: lesser jumps between grits, shorter strokes, and better angle

How many strokes, approximately, should I expect for a dull D2 blade to get sharp?

If the rounding of the edge was pretty extensive after the previous attempts at sharpening on the diamond plates, it could take a long while to correct on the Sharpmaker. Ideally, for the Sharpmaker on this project, the optional diamond or cbn rods would speed things up. Especially for a steel like D2, which is slow-grinding anyway.

As with all sharpening, don't count strokes to determine whether it's ready or not. That's too unreliable, with too many variables affecting the results. You'll ALWAYS want to look for a burr forming to determine if the edge is apexed. That's really the only way to do it reliably.