Coarse edge stropping

Thanks, HeavyHanded, richard j, and David Martin!

It's an AUS-8 blade (my H1s are already serrated) and I'm going to go hone it with an 80 grit stone and strop it on some 220 grit wet/dry. :cool:

edited to add:

Got a shaving edge with the 80 grit stone and then got a coarser feeling edge with the 220 grit wet/dry :confused: that also shaves and slices very well. Won't really know if it's useful until Spring, but it was fun fighting every instinct to polish the edge.
 
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thombrogan said:
Thanks, HeavyHanded, richard j, and David Martin!

It's an AUS-8 blade (my H1s are already serrated) and I'm going to go hone it with an 80 grit stone and strop it on some 220 grit wet/dry. :cool:

edited to add:

Got a shaving edge with the 80 grit stone and then got a coarser feeling edge with the 220 grit wet/dry :confused: that also shaves and slices very well. Won't really know if it's useful until Spring, but it was fun fighting every instinct to polish the edge.
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Take a real close look and make sure there isn't still a burr there. Also (and one of the reasons I currently use it almost exclusively) that wet/dry sandpaper imparts a very nice edge, especially when using a brand new sheet. If you have to strop it further, I'd recommend using the black emery or better yet some lapping compound in the 220-350 grit range. You should get good results with that edge on Aus8.
HH
 
Good point Heavy. It is difficult to remove the burr in coarse edge sharpening but if one uses the right strop it comes right off . Use a strop loaded with fine slurry and it doesn't . DM
 
OK, so I was inspired by this thread to try some coarser grit finishes. I sharpened a kitchen knife (RADA Cutlery) using just my 220/1000 grit King waterstone. After finishing on the 1000 grit side, it will tree top and whittle arm hair. I'd love to be able to reproduce this, but can't do so consistently. Any suggestions? I normally polish to the white sticks on the Sharpmaker, and maybe strop on 0.3 um lapping film or white compound on leather.

Also, I reproduced my hair whittling 220 grit edge on my Cold Steel Kudu, remembering the discussion earlier on low carbide steels and coarse edges. I'm going to start EDC'ing it tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

Any tips for coarse grit burr removal would be appreciated. I had to repeatedly draw the Kudu through wood, ala Murray Carter, and go at the edge at a slightly increased angle (5 degrees/side or so) with edge leading strokes to get rid of the burr. Would higher hardness steels loose their tenacious burrs easier? I have some M2 at ~64-66 HRc I've been playing with lately.
 
me2 said:
OK, so I was inspired by this thread to try some coarser grit finishes. I sharpened a kitchen knife (RADA Cutlery) using just my 220/1000 grit King waterstone. After finishing on the 1000 grit side, it will tree top and whittle arm hair. I'd love to be able to reproduce this, but can't do so consistently. Any suggestions? I normally polish to the white sticks on the Sharpmaker, and maybe strop on 0.3 um lapping film or white compound on leather.

Also, I reproduced my hair whittling 220 grit edge on my Cold Steel Kudu, remembering the discussion earlier on low carbide steels and coarse edges. I'm going to start EDC'ing it tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

Any tips for coarse grit burr removal would be appreciated. I had to repeatedly draw the Kudu through wood, ala Murray Carter, and go at the edge at a slightly increased angle (5 degrees/side or so) with edge leading strokes to get rid of the burr. Would higher hardness steels loose their tenacious burrs easier? I have some M2 at ~64-66 HRc I've been playing with lately.
Click to expand...


Beat advice I have is to pick up some larger grit material and dress a strop with it. I initially used reel mower lapping compound (the stuff for golf course gang-reel mowers), but have recently tried some powders I purchased from a lapidary supply house. I used Arrowhead Lapidary, but there are tons of outlets online (and perhaps locally-craft store maybe) that sell graded SiC dust. At 220 sharpening grit you could opt for something in the 120 grit range that'll remove the burr without suppressing the grind pattern, or you could use anything in the 120-400 grit range that will all give good results with the smaller grit lightly smoothing the grind pattern but giving a little more push-cut finery. These powders are quite cheap and do a fantastic job of reaching between the low spots to remove the burr (better than traditional stropping compounds I dare say). I used some dish soap and several pinches of dust to create a slurry on a leather strop and let it soak in a bit before using, but mineral oil or similar would work as well.

Also, strop in the same path that you sharpen, you don't want those particles cutting across the grind pattern.
HH
 
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