Edge angle sharpening question

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Dec 15, 2019
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All,
Please forgive me if this sounds stupid but it makes since when I say it in my head.

I have 2 knives that are shatpened to 25dps. For touch ups I bought the worksharp field sharpener and the guides are set at a built in angle of 20 degrees. In order for me to use it i will need to either tilt the knife to what I thinknis 25 degrees or use my workshatp precision adjust and take the time to chnage it to 20 on the knife to take the guess work out of it....Right??
 
All,
Please forgive me if this sounds stupid but it makes since when I say it in my head.

I have 2 knives that are shatpened to 25dps. For touch ups I bought the worksharp field sharpener and the guides are set at a built in angle of 20 degrees. In order for me to use it i will need to either tilt the knife to what I thinknis 25 degrees or use my workshatp precision adjust and take the time to chnage it to 20 on the knife to take the guess work out of it....Right??
Don't overthink it. Just use the built in guides.

Depending on what you used to sharpen to 25 per side, it might not even be 25dps anyways.

Regardless, don't overthink it unless we're talking about something that's using more precision.
 
All,
Please forgive me if this sounds stupid but it makes since when I say it in my head.

I have 2 knives that are shatpened to 25dps. For touch ups I bought the worksharp field sharpener and the guides are set at a built in angle of 20 degrees. In order for me to use it i will need to either tilt the knife to what I thinknis 25 degrees or use my workshatp precision adjust and take the time to chnage it to 20 on the knife to take the guess work out of it....Right??
You can try shimming it up to 25 deg?
 
You can try shimming it up to 25 deg?
Shimming the guides up to 25 degrees seems like a good idea if it's possible.

Making the edge angle wider is fast because you only need to remove a tiny amount of steel. Making it narrower will require removing lots of steel before the abrasive can reach the apex, so it will usually be slow.
 
If those angles are strictly true:
current angle: 25
touchup sharpener angle: 20

The touchup sharpener won't work. It will remove metal behind the edge. If it has a very coarse plate/stone you can use it (the worksharp) to re-establish the edge at 20 degrees. Once the edge is set at 20, then the touchup sharpener will work well. Until then it will just hit the shoulders.

These ideas of shimming and tilting *technically* should work. But they defeat the purpose of a touchup device. A touchup sharpener is intended to be used often, easily, and quickly. Low setup time and low procedure time are the keys so that you will use it often and maintain a very sharp edge all the time. If you have to do weird setup, or use strange technique, you'll be less inclined to use it.

In my opinion, it's good idea to do the work up front to set your edge to an angle lower than your touchup sharpener. That way it will work fast and easily and you'll get that sharp edge every time. The side benefit is that lower edge angles tend to perform better. Don't worry about 25 versus 20 on a knife. 25 is far too obtuse to cut well. 20 is still too obtuse in my opinion, but it is the beginning area of good performance.

Best of luck!
Brian.
 
Is there any reason it needs to be that thick in the edge? I run chopping tools at around 15° per side and rarely if ever suffer edge damage for it. At the current angles, the field sharpener will not be contacting the edge apex. If it really needs to be that steep you can maybe tape a piece of shim material to the angle guides or even a few layers of electrical tape if that's sufficient. Bgentry's notes above are all accurate.
 
or use my workshatp precision adjust and take the time to chnage it to 20 on the knife
I would do that.

Otherwise; use some logic and imagination....
-put the knife on the sharpener
-tilt the knife (increase the angle) till you see no shadow under the edge - this will create a gap between the guide and the spine of the blade
-fill this gap-tape a coin or piece of plastic or something on the guide

If you have access to 3D printer or you have skillful hands you can make additional 5 degree spacer and put it on existing spacer on the sharpener (20+5=25 degrees).
 
Heh; forgot to add about your field sharpener…
The sharpening angle (edge angle) won't be the same as the angle of the guide. The angle of the edge will depend on the geometry of the knife.
Lets say the guide angle is 20 degrees and let's say your EDC knife has 3.2 milimeters thick and 26 milimeters wide blade. The sharpening angle would be 23. 3 degrees.
Here is a simplified drawing:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JbMAQ3uw6Vyp8KC6-hH-zX0AOYaF-b5t/view?usp=drivesdk

Could be you will have to wait a few seconds for the image to appear.
 
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Heh; forgot to add about your field sharpener…
The sharpening angle (edge angle) won't be the same as the angle of the guide. The angle of the edge will depend on the geometry of the knife.
Lets say the guide angle is 20 degrees and let's say your EDC knife has 3.2 milimeters thick and 26 milimeters wide blade. The sharpening angle would be 23. 3 degrees.
Here is a simplified drawing:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JbMAQ3uw6Vyp8KC6-hH-zX0AOYaF-b5t/view?usp=drivesdk

Could be you will have to wait a few seconds for the image to appear.
Thanks for image. This helps clear up a lot. Im just looking for the easiest eay to maintain the edge in between sharpening
 
If you have knives with different edge angles just use your field sharpener as ordinary stone without guides.
Find the angle of the edge and maintain (sharpen) it.
That's what I do with my folding pocket sharpener.

If that's not an option for you then just regrind (reprofile) all your knives on your field sharpener to the angle those guides give you and that's it.
All your knives will have the same angle (by those guides) and you will be able to maintain them.

I have no idea if there is any other way.
 
Seems like 25 degrees is too blunt. Wgen i did the marker test this was the angle thst removed the marker. Maybe a change to 20 will be bettet.
 
Lets say the guide angle is 20 degrees and let's say your EDC knife has 3.2 milimeters thick and 26 milimeters wide blade. The sharpening angle would be 23. 3 degrees.
Here is a simplified drawing:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JbMAQ3uw6Vyp8KC6-hH-zX0AOYaF-b5t/view?usp=drivesdk
I think you are also assuming that the blade is about 0.2 mm thick behind the edge. You can copy this expression into Google to get the extra 3.3 degrees:
arctan(((3.2-0.2)/2)/26) in degrees

This is similar to using a guided-angle sharpener with a magnetic table.
 
This is similar to using a guided-angle sharpener with a magnetic table
Yes, same math.
When sharpening my kitchen knives on my sharpening system with magnetic table I just add 2 degrees when setting the angle. My kitchen knives are thinner so 2 degrees is close enough default value.
If I want 17 degrees edge I adjust the angle of the stone to 19 degrees.
 
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Seems like 25 degrees is too blunt. Wgen i did the marker test this was the angle thst removed the marker. Maybe a change to 20 will be bettet.

20 dps should be a better angle for most blades. What blades are we talking about here? What will these blades be used for?

Brian.
 
I sharpen my folding knives at 17 to 18 degrees angle (per side). Haven't made any special analysis but by feeling looks like they work better as at 20 degrees for what I cut.
 
Since the Field Sharpener has a pretty coarse diamond plate, it might not take much work to reprofile down to 20° (or 20+the primary bevel angle), depending on the blade steel. I would take 20 dps over 25 any day of the week, unless we're talking about an axe blade.
 
If you take the angle down and start getting edge damage, you can always put on a microbevel, which makes sharpening quick and easy.
 
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