Chisel grind sharpening issue?

[Jtsessions]

Hello,

Totally new to the forums and to knives in general, so hello everyone!

I picked up a cold steel recon 1 in tanto point with a chisel grind a little while ago, and it's been a great knife so far. Out of the box, it doesn't seem like it's as sharp as other people make it out to be, so I figured it could use a touch up. Using the "paper test", most of the cuts I made were smooth, though every third or so was a tear and not a cut, but I wasn't sure if that was poor form or blade sharpness.

I picked up a smith diamond stone and did some research before attempting to sharpen the blade. Here's what I did:

1. I took the knife and found the side of the blade with the angled edge. I placed this edge down so that it was flat against the fine side of the stone, at about 20 degrees.

2. I applied light pressure and stroked the blade towards the end of the stone, leading with the bottom as if "slicing off a piece of the stone". I did this three or four times and then tested it again on the paper. About 50% of the cuts did not bite at all the the rest were ALL tears.

3. I assumed that I was doing it wrong and double checked online. I paid more attention to form and tried again. This time I stroked it about 6 or 7 times. I raked my fingers towards the blade from the spine of the opposite side of the blade and felt what I assume was the burr, as I got a tiny bit of resistance that I didn't have before.

4. I took a piece of cardboard, laid the blade as flat as I could on the opposite side on top of the cardboard and raked it back across the cardboard piece to eliminate the burr. I did this 20+ times and don't notice any difference in the burr, but did get a bunch of powdered cardboard on the blade.

5. I raised the angle just a little bit, thinking that would help. Nothing.

So currently, my knife is only tearing paper (when it even bites the edge - less than 10% of the time) and won't cut at all! I went from "meh" sharpness to a pocket hammer. I'm totally new to this and figured this would be a good place to ask...any advice?

Thank you so much for your time and assistance!

 

[Jason B.]

It should be a 50/50 edge though Cold Steel will often grind them asymmetric.

Do not count strokes, it holds no value.

Decrease pressure as you reach the end of the sharpening process. This will reduce the burr and allow less work on a strop. With the type of steel and stone you are using the burr is going to be harder to get rid of.

 

[Jtsessions]

By 50/50 edge, do you mean a V-cut bevel? I had thought that most american tantos, including the recon 1, were chisel cuts.

Thank you for the advice, I'll keep it in mind! Any idea why the knife is suddenly tearing? I really felt like I followed the guides I had read pretty well and am appalled by the performance and results I got. What do I need to do to fix it?

Thanks again!

 

[Jason B.]

No, they are mostly all a V edge.

I suspect the edge is not ground completely or burred badly. Sharpen until the edge looks even and you have formed a burr, then reduce sharpening pressure to reduce the burr. The edge should at least slice paper cleanly from the stone. If your still having trouble send me a email.

 

[Jtsessions]

Gotcha, I'll try that now!

You say to sharpen until I have a burr and then reduce pressure; is this on the same side that I have been sharpening on? I assume you meant to reduce pressure and sharpen on the other (burr) side, but I wanna make sure.

Thanks!

EDIT: Using the fine edge on the other side got rid of the burr, but I am still experiencing the ripping the paper issue. I'm relatively confident that I have the right angle, but the blade seems a million times blunter than when I started off the fine edge. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong

Looking closely, it looks like the angle on one side is about twice what it is on the other from the factory - like something between a V and chisel. I'm just afraid to treat it wholly like a V and mess with the shape of the blade


EDIT #2: I believe I see what may be all or part of the problem.

When I take a flashlight and run the beam down the side of the bevel, light is reflected along the length of the bevel all the way down until the first 25% or so of the bevel (the heel of the blade). At that point, the reflection tapers down to a significantly smaller portion of the bevel, as if in my sharpening I did not maintain the factory bevel of the angle on the lower half.

How can I fix this? I'm assuming that I need to use the coarse stone and level the bevel out at a very consistent angle, but how can I level JUST the bottom part where this occurs?

Furthermore, I tried the sharpie method and it looked like I had my angle perfectly, and I felt pretty consistent. The mismatch is pretty noticeable with a light, and I'm not really sure that using a 750 grit stone a handful of times noticeably changed the shape of the bevel, but my inexperience doesn't lend itself to making calls like that. Thoughts?