Getting Rid of the Burr!

I

ivan_yulaev

Joined
Oct 20, 2003
Messages
284
Well, here I am, sharpening away at a beater knife with a 1000-grit lansky hone. I've already gone through all the grits, and have it at a 20-degree (40-inclusive) angle. First time I try it out...sharp as heck! Cuts paper better than my out-of-box Griptillian. But then, I draw it (almost no pressure) perpendicular to a steel rod, and try cutting again. No cutting. Steeling it made it cut once more, however!

It seems I am developing a wire burr. What is the best method to get rid of the burr? Should I just use a very light touch at the end of the process, alternating sides on each stroke?

Thanks.
 
What steel is the knife of? Cheap stainless.....carbon?

If it is soft steel, you may have to lose the butcher's steel, just going to make the burr flop back and forth for a long time.

You might consider honing with a slightly coarser grit, and I suspect you will have to spend some time stropping with CRO...green rouge on leather. I use the leather glued to a board and sometimes need to strop at 30 degrees(60 inclusive) to get rid of the burr.

Good luck,

Thomas
 
I doubt it's anything but the weakest of steels. Either way, I don't have a strop (other than a piece of cardboard), so I'm sorta outta luck there.
 
The best way to get rid of the burr is to double-grind the edge. So if you've sharpened at 20 degrees per side, go up higher -- 22-25 degrees. Now take a few very light strokes per side, alternating sides. If you've lightened up on your touch at the original 20 degrees as you progressed to finer stones, the double-grind at a higher angle should finish the burr off completely.

Joe
 
Even if you use little force with a steel you get good pressure on the edge because all of the force is at a sinlge point, unlike when you use a hone where the force spreads out over more of the edge, steeling perpendicular will deform the edge and blunt it.

I like to do as Joe mentions, a primary bevel at a smaller angle, then a few passes at a higher angle for a secondary bevel which will also take out the burr of the first, this method also makes it easy to resharpen since you only have to work on the small secondary bevel (this has been mentioned by Cliff in other posts).

What Jeff Clark recommeds really works, I think of it as making a very tiny secondary bevel, thus removing the burr of the first, and then going back to get the primary bevel to the edge again.
 
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