Coarsest useful grit in an EDU folder

M

maximus83

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Nov 7, 2011
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What have folks found is the coarsest useful grit you can sharpen to in an EDU folder?

Question occurred while working on a coarse Crystolon (100 grit). Edge meets these tests: thumbnail, 3-finger sticky, and will push/pull cut thin catalog paper with/cross grain, and slice off chunks.

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Depends on what you're cutting, but really most folks can get by with extremely toothy edges for their typical tasks. I can get good slicing edges off of a Manticore stone, at 60 grit, but it's not going to push-cut pine end grain and leave a glassy surface. A lot of how coarse you can go and what finish you can produce at a given grit depends on the user skill level and their understanding of what's going on with the edge and the stone in use.
 
I think the coarsest I go is dependant on how the edge might grab and collect debris as it cuts. A really coarse edge can be an impressive and vicious cutter. But, on some materials like cardboard or wood, it can collect a lot of debris which clogs the edge and gets in the way of cutting sometimes, and/or binds up in tough material. Before I got into the habit of redoing all the edges on my knives from the get-go, I used to notice that behavior on factory edges finished on coarse belts at ~150 or lower. At a more refined grit, and especially up to a polished finish, the edge tends not to collect as much of that debris.

As an example, my favorite edge finish for cardboard is a polished convex, which relies on both the convexing and the polished finish to minimize friction, and goes through heavy cardboard like a laser; it's enough that I'm immediately reminded to keep my off-hand well out of the way, as the cutting gets almost scary-slick through cardboard.

In more general terms, I've had pretty good or great results down to ~ 220-320 or so. That's usually about as low as I feel I need to go.


David
 
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For my tastes the Norton coarse crystolon (100-120 grit) after a little stopping to remove the burrs is a good general utility edge. And quick to pull off. I've gone to the 80 grit Norton SiC grit and the burrs become more difficult to remove. But the edge is great for pruning finger size limbs, cutting rope, cutting a hose and sheet rock. Ok, for cutting cardboard. There are some big pluses for this edge. 1) a one stone edge, 2)
you can refine it further on many different stropping materials, 3) easy to produce and 4) it develops your skill / technique for a finer grit stone.
DM
 
LOL! I use 325-grit and a strop and have been very happy but you guys are "next level" with the coarse edges. :)

B
 
David Martin said:
For my tastes the Norton coarse crystolon (100-120 grit) after a little stopping to remove the burrs is a good general utility edge. And quick to pull off. I've gone to the 80 grit Norton SiC grit and the burrs become more difficult to remove. But the edge is great for pruning finger size limbs, cutting rope, cutting a hose and sheet rock. Ok, for cutting cardboard. There are some big pluses for this edge. 1) a one stone edge, 2)
you can refine it further on many different stropping materials, 3) easy to produce and 4) it develops your skill / technique for a finer grit stone.
DM
Click to expand...

Have you tried any of the usual tricks to get better performance out of that 100-grit edge? I mean stuff like light edge-trailing strokes on a clean stone, changing direction of your strokes to a different scratch pattern, etc.
 
36 grit is the coarsest edge I have ever used. Didn't really like it much but it worked until I could get a finet edge. It was on a short machete type of blade. Just realized it is supposed to be a folder lol then that is 80 grit on a belt or 120 grit off a stone.
 
Yes, edge trailing I use it and working across the stone. I try. Still, a leather strop w/ slurry applied and the pages on the end of a book for me
works the best. DM
 
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