OhioApexing
Sharpener
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2018
- Messages
- 235
I decided to break the Edge Pro yesterday with an Ontario Rat 1 in AUS-8. It is my understanding that AUS-8 is easy to deal with and takes a good edge (might not hold it well, but that's another discussion).
By looking at the tip, I noticed that the grind on the Rat was uneven out of the box (it's a $25 knife). Probably not the best choice as the first knife to try out on a new system, but I went with it anyhow. Since they were uneven, I decided that 17 DPS (34 incl.) seemed like a nice middle-of-the-road angle to reprofile. I used the Small Knife Attachment so I could have the entire length of the edge exposed from the table.
To set my angle, I found the 17-degree mark (black) and added roughly a degree to account for the small knife attachment. I zeroed my angle cube on the primary ramp and then set it on the arm resting on the edge of the table (I managed to make this work) with a stone inserted. It read 17.4 degrees. I then placed the blade on the table as though I was going to be sharpening it and rested the stone on the blade. The cube read 17.0 and I went to work.
I used a Venev 150 to set the bevel, which almost immediately formed a full-length burr on one side. I flipped it and used a light edge-leading stroke to remove the burr, then set the bevel on that side. I formed a burr, removed it, and took pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/yCgsqFc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DaMSleP.jpg
Each side had fairly even bevels, with the exception of one side that was slightly wider toward the heel. Scratch patterns were clean, the edge was toothy, but that is probably to be expected coming off of a 100-micron diamond stone.
I started moving through a progression of Shapton Glass stones, beginning with 220 grit. I was removing scratch patterns from the last stone, blending the new ones, forming a burr on each side (trying to keep it as small as possible) removing the burr with light alternating edge-leading strokes, then moving stones. When changing each stone, I did the same steps with the angle cube as I did above, in addition to the drill stop collar.
Everything was fine until I hit the 500 Shapton. I noticed what seemed like a third/microbevel on one side. But ONLY on one side. I really don't know how it happened. I moved back to the 320 Shapton and worked to get rid of it, but alternated sides of the blade to keep things consistent. I finished there, and moved back to the 500 grit and things seemed fine.
I went up to the 1000 grit Shapton and it came back again. At this point, I was just sort of frustrated and said screw it, I'll keep going and see if it evens out. Throughout the next couple of stones, I noticed EACH of the bevels on that triple bevel side kept taking the scratches/polishing of the stone I had just used. So clearly, the stone contacted each of them. I have no idea how. Here's a couple of pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/Tjks6KU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qWRT8fD.jpg (close up, the secondary and third/micro bevels)
I finally got up to the 16k Shapton. The 8k Shapton was almost silently gliding across the edge. It felt like silk, almost no feedback. As soon as I made the first stroke with the 16k, it gave me fairly significant feedback, like I was grinding/cutting. I also felt an odd sensation, like I hit something I shouldn't have. I looked down and noticed that the (near) mirror I formed with the 8k now had significant cuts. Pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/wOgUQeX.jpg (edge after 8k Shapton)
https://i.imgur.com/mMCmxRh.jpg (edge after 16k Shapton)
I decided to take a close look at the edge, but couldn't see anything other than these inexplicable gashes that weren't there before. However, when I got to the very tip, I noticed that it looked almost like it had been burned. I can't explain this. You can also see the one of these deeper gashes. Pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/6NhL3Yf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Yb1DrpY.jpg
I decided that since the edge was obviously flawed, I wouldn't go further in stropping and waste any more of my time.
The edge that came up was sharp, but felt very brittle and thin (entirely subjective observation). It also "grabbed" when dragging the pad of my finger across the edge MUCH more on one side than the other.
ANYHOW:
Feel free to give me feedback about where you think I went wrong and how I can improve. Some of this was probably due to a really poorly ground knife, the rest was my error.
I noticed it was really hard to keep the knife consistently placed in the same position on the table... for as popular as this system is, it can't always be that loosy goosey, or can it?
By looking at the tip, I noticed that the grind on the Rat was uneven out of the box (it's a $25 knife). Probably not the best choice as the first knife to try out on a new system, but I went with it anyhow. Since they were uneven, I decided that 17 DPS (34 incl.) seemed like a nice middle-of-the-road angle to reprofile. I used the Small Knife Attachment so I could have the entire length of the edge exposed from the table.
To set my angle, I found the 17-degree mark (black) and added roughly a degree to account for the small knife attachment. I zeroed my angle cube on the primary ramp and then set it on the arm resting on the edge of the table (I managed to make this work) with a stone inserted. It read 17.4 degrees. I then placed the blade on the table as though I was going to be sharpening it and rested the stone on the blade. The cube read 17.0 and I went to work.
I used a Venev 150 to set the bevel, which almost immediately formed a full-length burr on one side. I flipped it and used a light edge-leading stroke to remove the burr, then set the bevel on that side. I formed a burr, removed it, and took pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/yCgsqFc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DaMSleP.jpg
Each side had fairly even bevels, with the exception of one side that was slightly wider toward the heel. Scratch patterns were clean, the edge was toothy, but that is probably to be expected coming off of a 100-micron diamond stone.
I started moving through a progression of Shapton Glass stones, beginning with 220 grit. I was removing scratch patterns from the last stone, blending the new ones, forming a burr on each side (trying to keep it as small as possible) removing the burr with light alternating edge-leading strokes, then moving stones. When changing each stone, I did the same steps with the angle cube as I did above, in addition to the drill stop collar.
Everything was fine until I hit the 500 Shapton. I noticed what seemed like a third/microbevel on one side. But ONLY on one side. I really don't know how it happened. I moved back to the 320 Shapton and worked to get rid of it, but alternated sides of the blade to keep things consistent. I finished there, and moved back to the 500 grit and things seemed fine.
I went up to the 1000 grit Shapton and it came back again. At this point, I was just sort of frustrated and said screw it, I'll keep going and see if it evens out. Throughout the next couple of stones, I noticed EACH of the bevels on that triple bevel side kept taking the scratches/polishing of the stone I had just used. So clearly, the stone contacted each of them. I have no idea how. Here's a couple of pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/Tjks6KU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qWRT8fD.jpg (close up, the secondary and third/micro bevels)
I finally got up to the 16k Shapton. The 8k Shapton was almost silently gliding across the edge. It felt like silk, almost no feedback. As soon as I made the first stroke with the 16k, it gave me fairly significant feedback, like I was grinding/cutting. I also felt an odd sensation, like I hit something I shouldn't have. I looked down and noticed that the (near) mirror I formed with the 8k now had significant cuts. Pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/wOgUQeX.jpg (edge after 8k Shapton)
https://i.imgur.com/mMCmxRh.jpg (edge after 16k Shapton)
I decided to take a close look at the edge, but couldn't see anything other than these inexplicable gashes that weren't there before. However, when I got to the very tip, I noticed that it looked almost like it had been burned. I can't explain this. You can also see the one of these deeper gashes. Pictures:
https://i.imgur.com/6NhL3Yf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Yb1DrpY.jpg
I decided that since the edge was obviously flawed, I wouldn't go further in stropping and waste any more of my time.
The edge that came up was sharp, but felt very brittle and thin (entirely subjective observation). It also "grabbed" when dragging the pad of my finger across the edge MUCH more on one side than the other.
ANYHOW:
Feel free to give me feedback about where you think I went wrong and how I can improve. Some of this was probably due to a really poorly ground knife, the rest was my error.
I noticed it was really hard to keep the knife consistently placed in the same position on the table... for as popular as this system is, it can't always be that loosy goosey, or can it?
Last edited: