Convex edge sharpening

Stay away from the really soft waterstones; they wear faster than S7 steel, which normally is easy to grind.
 
The 200 silicon carbide I have wears really fast, as in it will form a visible hollow (mm+) in just one edge regrind, but the speed of cutting is high. Are the lower grit ones actually slower?

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
I have found, much to my delight, that the slight rounding that using a 200 grit waterstone produces just by its wear it pretty much the exact amount of curvature I find optimal for edge bevels....
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Making sure I understand correctly .... are you saying that this occurs using a waterstone that's flat, and the slurry produces this slight convexing, or are you using a stone that's dished out somewhat?

Looks like I can buy a Norton 220 grit 8x3x1" waterstone for under $25. Other stones I should consider instead if I decide to give this a try?
 
Dog of War said:
Looks like I can buy a Norton 220 grit 8x3x1" waterstone for under $25. Other stones I should consider instead if I decide to give this a try?
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Try the 220 pink ceramic waterstone from Epicurean Edge or Japan Woodworker. I bought one on the recommendation of yuzuha and HoB because I wasn't satisfied with my Norton 220. The "pink brick" wears slower, cuts faster, and holds water on the surface longer than the Norton. It costs more, but you can get the large size which should last you a pretty long time.

I also have a DMT D8XX 120 micron diamond plate, though I haven't compared it to the pink brick yet. Mtn Hawk has reported fast cutting from his Razor Edge coarse hone, which is even cheaper than the Norton.
 
Dog of War said:
... are you using a stone that's dished out somewhat?
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The stone dishes during use, the 200 does so that even if I flatten it and then try to regrind an edge flat, it will pick up a 1-2 degree apex curvature just from wear. The finer stones will stay flat much faster. The rate of cutting on the 200 is so high it makes a x-coarse DMT look really slow. I cut the coarse stones in pieces and use them like files.

-Cliff
 
Thanks for the recommendations and links, guys. Have to admit I'm not really happy with the coarse stones I have right now, so will probably give one of those 'pink bricks' a try. Maybe it'll encourage me to put off buying a nice belt grinder a while longer. :)
 
I know you guys have forgotten more about sharpening than I'll probably ever know.

But using wet/dry sandpaper on a piece of leather works so well, and so fast at putting a push cutting edge on my convex knives, that I don't understand not using this method. And it's so simple and fool-proof that even a Klutz like me, that can't use a benchstone can do it with ease.:D

What am I missing???:jerkit: :confused:

Ben
 
Sandpaper has been promoted by a lot of people, there was a huge amount of interest in this several years back as it was discovered that sandpaper+glass could sharpen chisels to extreme sharpness and the cost was much less than high end hones. This was discussed on the wood working newsgroup and called the "Scary Sharp" system. The main drawback is long term cost of sheets of paper vs solid hones.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
The 200 silicon carbide I have wears really fast, as in it will form a visible hollow (mm+) in just one edge regrind, but the speed of cutting is high. Are the lower grit ones actually slower?
Click to expand...

They cut fast, but they wear out faster. There's a lot more loose SiC grit than there is abraded steel. EdgePro's SiC hone, though cuts very fast and cuts faster than it dishes (if used in a file-like manner; otherwise it cuts reasonably fast and faster than it dishes).
 
That's cool, I don't care about that. My time is far more valuable than the cost of the abrasives. My patience for such work is low so I'll make that trade gladly. I'd likely just pay Clark to do all my stock sharpening if I lived next to him.

-Cliff
 
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