Easy Burr = Too Soft Steel?

C

candlelight001

Joined
Jun 3, 2008
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Just got a new knife off the exchange. When sharpening, it gets a noticeable burr almost immediately. I'm using 600 grit sandpaper. My other knives take much longer to get a burr.

Is it that I've finally found my technique, or is the steel abnormally soft or something? It's 1095 or 01, I'm not sure which.
 
it's nothing to worry about, you might just be used to sharpening D2 or M4, I find that compared to the "wondersteels" 440 and the like melts like butter.

beyond that, they work just fine require more touchups but hold a razor edge well enough, I just shaved with my brothers 440 camping knife after putting it on my edgepro for about 4 minutes. I had to grind the blade down a little because it had a nice little ding in it. :jerkit:

So, what kind of steels are you used to working with? can you find out what kind of steel it is?
 
Checked it out, it's 1095. Used to working with that, with 0-1, A-2, 12c27. I got it shaving sharp, slicing newsprint nicely. Then whittled a stick, probably made 30-40 cuts. Still cuts newsprint, not as nicely, barely shaves.
 
If you're stuck with weak steel at the edge, you'll have a easily made floppy burr for quite a while. Generally, you want to grind away past the fatigued steel. A quicker way may be to cut into your stone for a few light swipes, as if you're trying to cut it in half. This gets rid of the bad steel fairly quick, and allows you to grind a brand new edge. When you do so, avoid going overboard with the "form a burr" step, or you may end up back where you started.
 
I've heard of it most in heavy choppers and machetes, and in knives that are steeled regularly instead of having a metal-removing sharpening. Knives put to heavy use or steeled frequently can have the very edge weakened. The edge put on if that steel isnt removed will form a more tenacious burr when it comes to trying to remove it. Softer steels will burr more easily and it will be more difficult to remove.

On the other hand, you may just have a thinner edge that requires much less metal to be removed to form the burr, thus leading to a burr in a short amount of time. Compare this knife to your others that take longer to form the burr. I have a Buck Scout Lite that I reground to 0.003 inches behind the edge bevel. I can form a burr on it in about 5 passes on a course stone. Most knives come with an edge in the 0.010 to 0.030 inche thickness range behind the edge, reducing the speed of the burr forming stage to a matter of having to remove 2 or 3 times as much steel.

Sharpen the knife as sharp as you can to the highest polish, then start cutting cardboard. Even my cheapest, softest steel blades will make over 500 one inch cuts with the same one inch of edge before they stop shaving. I've not tried this with anything coarser than the Spyderco brown flats on the the Sharpmaker.
 
Of all the steels I like to put a super polished edge on 1095 is not one of them. From my experiences it seem best left at 600 or 800 grit, the coarser edge just works better with this steel for some reason.
 
You could be bearing down on it too hard, or it may be soft. The harder steels, ~60HRC or harder, burr very little. Hardness and strength are directly proportional. They resist bending at the edge, letting the stone abrade off the edge (as it should) rather than bending into a burr. Softer steels tend to burr much more, requiring a *very* light touch. That's another reason that I prefer bench stones for soft steels, the contact patch is much larger than, say, a ceramic stick. Sometimes, with hard use, the edge gets weakened, and tends to form a burr. Cutting directly into the stone lightly (at 90 deg), will blunt the edge, rip off the weak stuff, and you can sharpen down into the "good" steel. It takes more time that way, but also gives a more consistent edge. Also, if the knife had been sharpened on power tools and it got too hot, the heat treat at the edge might have been damaged, and you have to sharpen though it to the "good" steel.

Good luck!
 
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