Getting very frustrated trying to sharpen

Most beginners do three things wrong. They try to sharpen an edge with an angle other than the one already on the edge. They fail to keep a consistent angle throughout the process and they fail to finish completely with one stone prior to moving on to the next.

With the Edgepro I would suggest setting the rod to the angle you want and then use a coarse stone to grind the bevels to that angle. The burr can be your guide. Once you have the edge and the sharpener at the same angle, then it is just a matter of refining the edge with finer grits, again using the burr as a guide.

Next time you sharpen, just set the Edgepro to that same angle and go to work.

I feel the burr with my thumbnail. It will tell you everything you need to know about how you are doing.
 
When I say I am using pressure I am not pushing really hard into the blade but I am applying a little bit of force, more than just the weight of the blade that many suggest. I don't think I am getting a wire edge for a couple reasons. For one the edge is pretty durable. I can cut with it awhile and it stays sharp and doesn't just immediately become dull. I would think for a wire edge to be sharp you need to reduce the pressure on each side so that the edge is aligned and sharp. I will stop on one side after using some pressure and it is sharp. If there were a wire edge I would think it would be bent to the side and not aligned and not sharp.

The polishing wheel is supposed to remove any burr and polish the edge. I think what I am probably doing is putting on a pretty good microbevel.

But like I said I am obviously doing something wrong so I am going to go back and read on the wheels and try to relearn them. I also would rather learn to use the edge pro and a strop to maintain the edge. So I am going to try to leave the paper wheels alone and concentrate on the other equipment.

I agree there is a lot of good information here and I am going to try to go back and get the correct process down and then practice.

Thanks again and I will post after I give the complete sharpening a try on the edge pro in the next few days.
 
I received 2 stones from Sodak for my Edge pro. A 120 and 180 grit. I re-profiled 2 knives so far on the edge pro and have got good results. Both knives shaved decently after the 800 grit stone but not as sharp as I like them. I took them to the polishing paper wheel and tried to put as acute of an angle as possible and just barely getting to the edge. I used pretty light pressure and they both got tree topping sharp. I think with some practice I will be able to have them coming off the edge pro as sharp as I want them. I am in the process of re-profiling my M4 Rift and it is taking awhile but I am excited about trying the steel out at an acute angle. I am shooting for 10 degrees per side.

Now I just need to get that diamond spray and get handy with the strop but I still haven't heard anything from hand american.

Thanks for all the tips so far it helped me stick with it and not get frustrated which I think was part of the problem.
 
Good job, way to go! Once you get some real success, the rest comes quickly, and it gets a LOT more fun! FWIW, I go through this all the time with my straight razors. I get sloppy with my technique over time, and eventually they don't shave well. I have to go back and concentrate on the basics, and start the cycle over again... If it was easy, there wouldn't be any challenge! :D
 
Just wanted to update this as I have had some better luck.

I bought an extra coarse Lansky diamond hone and tore it apart to get the diamond coated metal. I cut it in half and it is the same size as the edge pro stones. This coarse stone cuts quickly, even the M4 in my new Benchmade Rift.

I finished setting the bevel on the previously mentioned M4 Rift and it took no time at all to remove the metal I needed to. I detected very little burr but worked my way through the grits and it is quite sharp. I would say it is as sharp as I get on the paper wheels. I know it will get sharper and over time I hope to get there but for now I am happy. It will catch and pop off hairs running the blade above the skin.

There are some scratches in the bevel but most of it has a mirror polish off the 800 grit stone. I'm sure as the diamond wears in and the larger pieces break down some these deeper scratches will go away. Even if they don't, repeated sharpenings will take them away since the bevel is where I want it for the time being. I have read that M4 will take a thin bevel so I might lower it some.

This brings me to a question. Is there a good way to tell what the angle of the bevel is? It is pretty small to try and measure. I was shooting for 15 deg per side but I think it might be a little more than that? It would be nice to know exactly what it is. The marks on the edge pro don't help too much if you rest the knife on something other than a flat. Also, if it sticks past the end of the blade rest it will change it some. Just wondering if anyone might have a good trick.

Thanks again!
 
afaik, you need either calipers or a laser goniometer. I have both, the calipers are cheaper and the goni is easier.
 
I do have calipers but I guess I was hoping for something a little more accurate. Based on what I could measure the Rift is at 22.6 degrees inclusive. I was thinking of thinning it out some but if it is already that thin then I will probably leave it.

Just looking at my Izula it looks pretty close to 45 degrees. But going by measurements it is more like 32 degrees which is a big difference. So either I can't eyeball half of 90 degrees very well or I can't get a good measure. Just wish I knew which it was.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I do have calipers but I guess I was hoping for something a little more accurate.
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Calipers can be pretty accurate, I assume you're doing something like this:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4904824&postcount=77

Plus, frankly, I'm not sure how important it is to measure an edge angle after the fact. If you freehand, it's not a not really a concern. If you convex, I'm not sure even a goniometer is going to tell you anything all that useful. If it's an edge you applied with some kind of system or jig set-up, you know what the angle is as you're applying it. And if it's a factory edge ... well, I guess you just measure those to find how irregular/bad they may be. :)

But of course, this is a hobby, and if it's fun and turns you on, I'm all for it! I'm recovering somewhat lately, but I used to obsessed about this stuff a lot, as you can tell from that old post.

And BTW, 22.5 degrees inclusive is IMO a pretty acute edge. M4 deserves such, but I doubt I'd go below 20 inclusive if I was going to EDC that Rift, and I doubt you're going to notice any difference in performance just dropping a couple degrees like that. Where I notice the big improvement is going from the standard factory edge of 35-40 degrees inclusive to around 24 inclusive.
 
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