Cutting cigars... rolling my edges?

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Incahiker

Joined
Oct 2, 2009
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Just curious if anyone else has noticed this too? I have my edges mirror polished and will stay sharp for ever cutting many materials, but I noticed cutting cigars will usually roll the edge what ever knife I have used (S30V, M2, 1095, etc..) Not roll it to where it is a dent you can see, but roll it to where you hold the edge facing the sun and see little glints of light barely reflecting. Then when you cut paper you will notice where the sun was reflecting the from the edge, those places will grab the paper.

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this? I usually use a slicing motion while pressing down. I have used just downward pressure without slicing, but I don't like the squashing affect it has on the cigar end :D. When just pressing down and cutting straight through there is no rolled edges, but it squashes the end of the cigar somewhat. When slicing and pressing down it gives a very clean cut but there is always at least a tiny glint of light that can be seen after this is done.

If I steel the knife to re-align the edge (steel the knife on the rounded spine of a sebenza, works great :D) it will take the glint out and the knife will cut like new again, but still, I thought cigars were a little soft to be rolling any edges.

Yes... I guess I am OCD about it :cool:.

Edit: Just to let you know, I convex all my edges on a belt sander, I do not let the edge get overly hot, and I like the angle to be about 20 degrees on any steel... I have found that to work the best at holding and edge and it still slices great.
 
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I'd say that you have a wire edge that is rolling back and forth .... that is why the sharpening steel brings it back true.
 
Incahiker said:
Just curious if anyone else has noticed this too? I have my edges mirror polished and will stay sharp for ever cutting many materials, but I noticed cutting cigars will usually roll the edge what ever knife I have used (S30V, M2, 1095, etc..) Not roll it to where it is a dent you can see, but roll it to where you hold the edge facing the sun and see little glints of light barely reflecting. Then when you cut paper you will notice where the sun was reflecting the from the edge, those places will grab the paper.

Just curious if anyone else has noticed this? I usually use a slicing motion while pressing down. I have used just downward pressure without slicing, but I don't like the squashing affect it has on the cigar end :D. When just pressing down and cutting straight through there is no rolled edges, but it squashes the end of the cigar somewhat. When slicing and pressing down it gives a very clean cut but there is always at least a tiny glint of light that can be seen after this is done.

If I steel the knife to re-align the edge (steel the knife on the rounded spine of a sebenza, works great :D) it will take the glint out and the knife will cut like new again, but still, I thought cigars were a little soft to be rolling any edges.

Yes... I guess I am OCD about it :cool:.

Edit: Just to let you know, I convex all my edges on a belt sander, I do not let the edge get overly hot, and I like the angle to be about 20 degrees on any steel... I have found that to work the best at holding and edge and it still slices great.
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You edges are either way too thin, you have a Burr or a wire edge or you are heating the edge up too much and making it weak.
 
Sargent 666 said:
I'd say that you have a wire edge that is rolling back and forth .... that is why the sharpening steel brings it back true.
Click to expand...

Good theory,but I make sure there is no wire edge or burrs on the knives. After 400 grit I cut into some soft wood to get rid of all burr. Then I sharpen at 400 grit a couple of times to raise a micro burr. Then I run it on 900 grit and polish the edge up. I then power strop the knife on a plain leather belt to make sure any burrs that I can't see are taken off. After that I use a green loaded belt and then mirror polish it so that the edge reflects a bluish light. I can cut hickory, rope, and cardboard all day long and never get any glint on the edges. But cigars will cause a small glint somewhere every time. (When I say small I mean like the size of a piece of sand, and you can only see it in direct sunlight.)

Nope, the edges are not heating up at all. All my belts are sharp and I keep a finger behind the opposite edge of the knife being sharpened and never even feel the edge get warm when the belt is running. I have been sharpening for a couple of years so I know what to look for and have learned from my past mistakes. Even brand new sebenza's from the factory do this (small spec of rolled edge, sand grain sized, can only be seen in sunlight, its just one dot, not the whole edge.). I figure since the cigars are rolled so tight that there might be some hard particle in them I don't know about, lol. Or perhaps the shlicing action is causing it for some reason. Like I said, just pressing down without slicing and cutting it produces no rolled edges.

The edges are 20 degrees... that is not too thin and is just right from my experience.
 
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On my calculator something doesn't add up here. You can cut hickory, rope and cardboard all day and a cigar rolls your edge ........ whatever brand you smoke must have some tough foreign matter in it.
 
Sargent 666 said:
On my calculator something doesn't add up here. You can cut hickory, rope and cardboard all day and a cigar rolls your edge ........ whatever brand you smoke must have some tough foreign matter in it.
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Ya, that was my main concern. But I have noticed it on most cigar brands, not just one particular cigar. Figure there is some hard particle in there rolled up somewhere. That is why I was asking if anyone else noticed this on just cigars? Only cigars do this to my edge, lol.

I don't cut hickory, rope, cardboard all day long every day.... lol... but when I was experimenting with my sharpening I would do this to test my edges. I usually still do it once a month just because.. :D, and there is never any ill affect doing so.
 
not to sound like a wise guy, but on what material do you cut the cigars ?
i remember some saying that had edges rolling from cutting meat (on a ceramic plate) :D
 
jacktrades_nbk said:
not to sound like a wise guy, but on what material do you cut the cigars ?
i remember some saying that had edges rolling from cutting meat (on a ceramic plate) :D
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I use a piece of soft wood (backpacking in the forest) or a soft back book of what ever novel I so happen to be reading. I don't know, maybe my cigars are just abrasibe as hell, lol. My favorties are 5 Vegas A cigars... so that is what my knives cut mostly. I guess that cigars are somewhat abrasive somehow.
 
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Incahiker said:
I know my knife is light saber sharp when the blade reflects a bluish light.. but I say that because of the light source I use ;)... it is the light, it's blue.
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Ok i thought you might be getting the metal to hot or moving it towards your self real fast.
 
Sharpened my knife to extreme sharpness... went out side and carved up a whole bunch of hickory, slicing a lot of slivers off. No edge damage done to my Sebenza S30V (No rolling, chipping, nothing. Went and looked under a 100 watt light with my loupe and no reflections on the edge at all.) It still cleany push cut paper.

I cut off a piece of cigar and there were slight specs of reflection on the edge (rolled edge). I sharpened it again to be fair, took another slice of the cigar... and same outcome. Slight (dust size) reflections on the edge. I am guessing it has some type of sandy matter in the cigar and when the edge hits it, it rolls slightly. This is only a guess, but this was the only thing I noticed causes slight edge reflections on my knives. Everything else I cut is just fine with no edge rolling. Odd isn't it.
 
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