Chasing The Burr, Now What?

[Razor]

I have tried to remove the burr from my ZT 392 with CTS204P steel, and the burr just goes from one side to the other. Now what? Will I need to kinda dull the blade and start over? I was thinning the edge with a diamond stone and that is when the burr pop up. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Yeah. The easiest way to deal with it is to cut off the burr and then work back up to sharpness, stopping just before a burr forms.

 

[Danketch]

Try using lighter and lighter strokes and switch from one side to the other after 1 or 2 passes per side. I'm not the best at removing the burr but usually do that, followed by 2 passes per side at double (higher) the angle.

 

[Ratman79]

Was this during a sharpening session? Or is this just an errant burr on an already sharp factory edge? If it was during a session then you need to raise a burr on one side fully. Flip the knife over and raise a full length burr for the other side. Then deburr.

To do that, use an edge leading motion at roughly double your sharpening angle. Press very lightly though and only do a pass or so per side. Strop afterwards to ensure the apex is indeed free of burrs.

If you are deburring an already sharpened knife like how sometimes you get them from companies, then on the side where you feel the burr, give a couple light edge leading passes at double the "per side" angle.

 

[Razor]

Okay. I will try that. Thanks everyone.

 

[HeavyHanded]

I'll add, when removing the burr, don't just assume you're hitting it cleanly or that alternating passes are actually making good contact every time.

It is at this stage you need to visually/tactile check the edge pretty much every pass. Use very light pressure.

Ideally you raise it, flip it once, and remove it. The more it flips the weaker the attachment point becomes and the easier it will continue to flip. The attachment point is at its strongest initially, so take advantage of that. It is still liable to flip, or parts of it anyway, but as long as it is shrinking observably every time it still should not need too many passes.

If it flips more than five or six times and is still very much in evidence you should probably grind the edge off and start over.

 

[David Martin]

Agreed. I've had them flip a lot with passes on a stone. When this occurs. Go to a different medium. Such as stropping on a smooth pine board and then take it to a loaded leather strop. It doesn't have to be a smooth sided leather strop. Even try denim. Your blue jeans. Using light strokes
works best at a increased angle. Switching to different materials that will grab that burr and tear it loose has worked for me. I never start the edge over. DM

 

[DeadboxHero]

1. Don't Make the burr so big,
Make small burrs
2. Use extremely light pressure with alternating passes

3. Make sure you are hitting you angle.

 

[DavidHoback]

CTS204P is chemically identical to CPM20CV and M390. It is not the easiest steel to sharpen by a long shot! Take care you are not creating a burr on both sides at the same time. This may sound odd, but I have seen it. What I mean is having, for instance, a burr on the top half of one side, and bottom half on the opposing side. This condition can have you chasing burr FOREVER! As was said, create a burr on one side completely. Then on the opposite side. And finish with higher & higher grit media until gone. And as HeavyHanded pointed out, check your progress OFTEN!

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

Yeah. The easiest way to deal with it is to cut off the burr and then work back up to sharpness, stopping just before a burr forms.

This is what I do with a large burr after evening out bevels.

I'll run a high grit diamond stone across the edge, perpendicular to cut off the burr and then just sharpen as normal.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I have tried to remove the burr from my ZT 392 with CTS204P steel, and the burr just goes from one side to the other. Now what? Will I need to kinda dull the blade and start over? I was thinning the edge with a diamond stone and that is when the burr pop up. Any advice would be appreciated.

With a diamond hone, go lighter in touch than you've been doing so far. It's not so much that the same burr is just flipping back & forth, but more likely you're re-creating the burr from each side with the aggressive abrasive and too much pressure. Diamond hones are ordinarily the cleanest-cutting when used with appropriately light pressure, and should do more to minimize burrs than create them, if used with a light touch. Large, stubborn burrs that won't go away are always the result of too-heavy pressure, primarily. Secondarily, they can result from abrasives that aren't able to cut the steel cleanly. That should never be an issue with a diamond hone, unless it's heavily clogged (read below).

A slight possibility may exist that the diamond hone has clogged with metal swarf, and isn't effectively cutting the steel at the edge anymore. This can leave a burr at the edge that the hone is no longer able to remove cleanly. This happens more often with low-alloyed stainless steels at relatively lower hardness, such as 420HC around mid-50s HRC, or many common stainless kitchen knife steels. The swarf comes off the edge in (microscopic) 'ribbons', essentially, and can clog the surface of the hone very quickly. With more advanced & harder high-alloy, carbide-rich steels, they're not as likely to clog the hone like this, from what I've seen. I wouldn't suspect it with the steel you're trying to sharpen, at least until other possible causes have been eliminated.


David

 

[jcoffman55]

Could he just wear the burr off? Like drag the edge across a hard wood several times or cut into hard plastic and draw the edge through a few times? Would that get the burr off? I know it works on regular carbon steels, not so sure about super steels. Then just finish on your smoothest stones or whatever you're using, strop etc....