Carbon Steel Maintenance

[Obsessed with Edges]

do you think i could but a "shaving sharp" edge on a carbon steel with it? not that shaving with it is important, just curious..

I'm certain the tool is capable of putting an edge on that's sharp enough to shave hair. With something like 1095 carbon steel especially, it'll respond in kind to virtually any sharpening tool, with proper technique. That bolded part is the key. Technique is everything (or at least 99% of it). The only way to guarantee a shaving edge is to keep practicing, with whichever tools you have.

With 1095, very, very light pressure on the diamond hone is important. Diamond is a very aggressive cutter on steel, and 1095 is almost buttery soft by comparison. Too much pressure will remove a lot more metal than necessary, and will also do more damage than good to the edge.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

also i dont like the idea of using sandpaper on my knives just because i feel as though one wrong move and i completly destroy the edge haha, but in terms of stones or other free hand devices, what is a good replacement for the sandpaper what will put an edge on nicely?

The nice thing about the sandpaper is the wide choice of grits available. You don't have to destroy an edge in practicing. Use a high grit to practice 'stropping' on, like 1000/2000. On a carbon steel blade, this will still remove enough metal to see how the abrasive is working, but not so much that it will be difficult to correct a mistake. Keep your angle conservatively low, so if you're off a little bit, you'll more likely just scrub metal from the shoulders of the bevel, without doing much damage to the edge itself. Use a marker (Sharpie, for instance) to darken about 1/4" or so of the blade's edge, so you can see where the metal is coming off. Use a kitchen knife or other 'inexpensive' knife that you're not concerned about scratching, for your practice.

 

[cziv]

I'm sorry for missing the OP's question. As soon as I read sandpaper - I ass-umed...lol that this was convex sharpening we were talking about.

David's advice is excellent as usual. I can only add that I started with sharpening systems at first, like the Smiths, Sharpmaker and the DMT Magna-Guides with all of the hones and the holder too.

Out of these, I sold my Smith's. I found the Sharpmaker was best for maintaining a sharp working edge, while the complete set of Magna-guides is capable of putting out near, mirror edges.

Now I freehand with DMT Benchstones and finish by coming from the DMT x-fine to the Spyderco UF ceramic bench stone and finally to 2 strops - one loaded with DMT 6 micron paste and the other DMT 1 micron paste.

Everyone finds their own preferred method - but as David mentioned, 99% is technique and the other 1% or so, are tools that you are comfortable. Good luck 110417!

 

[sodak]

Everyone finds their own preferred method - but as David mentioned, 99% is technique and the other 1% or so, are tools that you are comfortable. Good luck 110417!

This is absolutely true. Use what you are comfortable with and are good at, many products will serve you well. Since I live in dry Colorado, all I do is dry off my knives. I've never oiled a knife or anything else like that, and have never had much problem with rust. As others have said, surface rusts sands off pretty easily.