Does the edge on your Busse "feel" sharp?

O

Owen

Joined
Aug 23, 2000
Messages
178
When I got my Basic #5 it didn't feel that sharp, but it cut well-didn't shave, though. The first time I touched it up, I had pretty good luck with a leather strop. After some more use I decided it was time for a real sharpening. For some reason, despite following the advice given on various threads here (did a search), and stropping on a ceramic as shown on the website, etc., I couldn't get a good edge back on it. Made the mistake of trying to sharpen it using my "normal" method and wound up with a $170 butter knife.
Left it in a drawer for a couple of days 'cause it was starting to tick me off, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong.
I've always been very good at sharpening knives-I usually sharpen freehand and by feel-and this assymetrical edge was not doing it for me, so I decided to change the bevel a bit. Tonight it got treated to varying degrees of files and sandpaper. It still has an assymetrical edge, though not as pronounced as before. After getting hit with medium and fine stones and a little stropping it still doesn't feel sharp when tested with the ball of a thumb...but now it shaves. It cuts very well, too. My neighbors would think I'm nuts if they had seen me out trimming shrubbery, hacking branches, slicing cardboard, and carving tent stakes, in the yard at 3am, but, oh well
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...had to be done.
Anyway, what I'm getting at in a roundabout way is that even though my Busse now shaves, push cuts paper, and stuff like that, if you pick it up and test the edge, it really doesn't feel all that sharp. Is this because of the assymetrical edge? Why? Am I just some nut whose thumb has gone numb, or has anyone else noticed this?
btw, I don't mean it feels dull, you can tell there's an edge on it, but it doesn't "grab" you or try to take your fingerprints off. Maybe I should stop comparing it to my Blackjack (which is like a scalpel).
Just wondered.


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Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.
 
How an edge feels when it is at 100% depends both on how it is sharpened and the properties of the material. Since you are only feeling the very edge, the actual bevel geometry does not matter very much if at all, I have never noticed a difference in feel due to it.

Since there will be some variation across the blades that you own, you need to become accustomed to how they feel when at 100%. Of course being able to do this is not really necessary as the true test for needs to be sharpened is that the blade is not cutting as well as it should.

Interesting behavior on your #5. The #7 I had came with a much better edge and lasted much longer before I needed to go beyond a loaded strop.

-Cliff
 
My Basic#7 "came sharp, felt sharp, and is sharpt" (kind of like a commercial). However, my thin Mean Street is giveing me all kinds of hell getting it sharp. It was not that sharp when I got it but I now have it slice shaving and feeling sharp. Another intersting thing is that the blade (not coated) is starting to turn a darker color then when I received it ?
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.
All in all it is still a very nice knife and the new diamond pattern handle is a dream to hold in my hand!
Now, all I need is my E-BM!

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Ron,
Bremerton, Washington
 
I finally got my BM and it feels sharp, and is sharp because I have a few less hairs on my left forearm
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to prove it. It does have a round ding on the cutting edge, right on the belly, it's small but you can see it if you look close.
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A knife is by default a tool, it's only a weapon when a human chooses to make it so.

 
I too had some "issues" getting my Busses satisfactorily sharp. To the point where I ground off the convex edge on a couple of them.

However, after a long talk with Jerry Busse I believe the problem was mine not the knife's. INFI steel produces a micro-burr Jerry calls a feather. This feather is very hard to remove, it simply flips and flops from one side to the other. As long as the feather exists on the edge, it's not shaving sharp. The trick to removing it is stropping. Lots of it.

I've got a couple of Busses coming and I'm going to leave the convex grinds on and try Jerry's advice (I'm thinkin' he might know what he's talking about). Hope this helps.
 
Guys, If your having trouble getting your knives sharp, (like I did) You might want to try to thin out the edge some. Busses are thick. My Mean Street and Basic #5 have been thinned drastically. The edge is still plenty thick to resist dings and chips though. It took two long thinning sessions for both of the knives, to get them where I wanted them. My battle Mistress came perfectly done and I haven't had to touch it to the stone yet at all. Later, Jeff
 
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