Hair Spliting Fun!

WadeF

WadeF

Joined
Apr 12, 2000
Messages
2,116
Post your hair splitting pictures here! :) I was touching up the edge of my BM710HSSR (M2). It has a 15 degree back bevel with a 20 degree edge. I finished on the Spyderco Ultra Fine rods and then stropped with a strop block from knivesplus (I think) that is loaded with a green paste (probably 0.5 micron stuff)

The result, I split a hair 3 ways! With some more effort I might be able to split it 4 or 5 ways, MAYBE. :) Not the best pictures, but you should be able to see the 3 way split.

hairsplit.jpg
 
jeez, that's fockin crazy, wade. good show. do you do both the 15 & 20 degree bevels on the edgepro before you hit it with the sharpmaker? that might be a dumb question, but i'm a newb at sharpening.
 
i split a couple hairs right now, but the pieces keep flying off, so i can't take a photo. i'm more impressed with how you kept from cutting the splits off than anything else! :D maybe it would help if my hair were longer than 1.5 inches.

abe m.
 
Good fun :D

I wouldn't have thought it was possible until your post.
After giving it a try, I think the photo is more a testement to your hand control than the sharpness of your knife. I've managed to get some shavings from a hair, but it's way too easy to mistakenly cut straight through.
It makes filletting a single sheet of paper seem easy ;)

It also brings a whole new meaning to having a shave :D
 
alan aragon said:
jeez, that's fockin crazy, wade. good show. do you do both the 15 & 20 degree bevels on the edgepro before you hit it with the sharpmaker? that might be a dumb question, but i'm a newb at sharpening.
Click to expand...

I just do the 15 degrees on the EdgePro and put the 20 on with the Sharpmaker. 20 degrees on the Edgepro may not be exactly the same as the Sharpmaker, so it's better to put the final edge on with the Sharpmaker if that's what you are going to use to touch up and maintain the edge.

When putting the 15 degree edge you don't have to go all the way to the edge, but I usually do just to be safe, or darn close. When I put the 20 degree edge on you really can't see it other than a hairline glimmer of light that reflects off it. :) Under 100x magnification you can clearly see it and check out the scratch pattern on it. Under 100x I'm not able to see much of any scratches on my edge right now.
 
WadeF said:
I just do the 15 degrees on the EdgePro and put the 20 on with the Sharpmaker. 20 degrees on the Edgepro may not be exactly the same as the Sharpmaker, so it's better to put the final edge on with the Sharpmaker if that's what you are going to use to touch up and maintain the edge.

When putting the 15 degree edge you don't have to go all the way to the edge, but I usually do just to be safe, or darn close. When I put the 20 degree edge on you really can't see it other than a hairline glimmer of light that reflects off it. :) Under 100x magnification you can clearly see it and check out the scratch pattern on it. Under 100x I'm not able to see much of any scratches on my edge right now.
Click to expand...
sounds good.. my next Q is, why is it better or advantageous in your experience to do the 20-degree 2nd bevel on the sharpmaker instead of doing it on the edgepro?
 
alan aragon said:
sounds good.. my next Q is, why is it better or advantageous in your experience to do the 20-degree 2nd bevel on the sharpmaker instead of doing it on the edgepro?
Click to expand...
the Sharpmaker is much faster to start on than the E-Pro, especially if it's already set up. you can just leave it at the 20 degree setting (40 inclusive), and just give it a couple swipes now and again to bring it back to super-sharp. 'beats setting up the clamp and prepping the E-pro.

abe m.
 
wadeF, now you make me wanna go try the same....but Asian hair is finer, not so easy to split. (actually, the real reason is that I'm already losing hair on my head, vanity supersedes knifeknuttiness in this respect, lol :p )
 
alan aragon said:
sounds good.. my next Q is, why is it better or advantageous in your experience to do the 20-degree 2nd bevel on the sharpmaker instead of doing it on the edgepro?
Click to expand...

What allyourblood said. :) Also keep in mind one could get better hair slicing performance from an even more accute angle. Say 10 degree bevels with a 15 degree edge. I know some of the guys on here go even more extreme. :) I like 15 and 20 because it is more durable and will hold up better than a thinner edge. Obviously 20 degrees can be very sharp and I see no need to go sharper for real world applications.

After the hair splitting the next task my 710 saw was to slice open a roll of paper towels. It sliced through that plastic wrapping like a laser. :)
 
Talk to you guys later when we get back from the doc. By trying to avoid the pain of plucking the hair, I tried to split it in it's natural habitat....
 
grommit said:
Talk to you guys later when we get back from the doc. By trying to avoid the pain of plucking the hair, I tried to split it in it's natural habitat....
Click to expand...

Man, everytime I post a topic like this someone cuts themself. I hope you're okay, post an update as to what you did and how everything went.

If you don't want to pluck any hair, carefully remove some with some scissors.
 
grommit said:
Talk to you guys later when we get back from the doc. By trying to avoid the pain of plucking the hair, I tried to split it in it's natural habitat....
Click to expand...
you must be joking. if not, your Darwin award will be waiting for you when you get back from the hospital. :D:cool:


abe m.
 
All my edges can split hairs. From lowly 425mod on a SAK to A2 and D2 tool steels. 154CM seems to be the best for splitting hairs of all the knives I have. VG-10 is a wee bit difficult since it's kinda toothy; it tends to grab ahold and cut right through. My BM 440C takes a lot of work to get that smooth an edge (I find it tends to micro-chip). It can be done, but unfortunately it doesn't hold the hair-splitting edge very long compared to most of my other knives. Even D2, which has a rather coarse grain (15x bigger grain than ATS-34 I've read) I can get hair-splitting sharp.

I'm more impressed with the photo myself, that's some damn spiffy photography.

The only knife I can't split hairs with is my BM40T. :D
 
I'm really impressed. I can't wait for my Edge Pro, but in the meantime I'm getting my 710HS most of the way to a 30 degree bevel with my Sharpmaker. I've already worked on it for a couple of hours, giving it 100 passes on one edge of the rod, then switchingto the second edge, then the third, then cleaning the rods and starting all over again. Whew!

Wade, would you please describe your stropping method? Thanks!
 
Cool stuff! One thing I've found about splitting hairs this way: like anything else, there's a technique to it. As I played around with doing this, I got better and better at it. One thing I don't understand is how you guys get these killer close-up pictures!
 
Joe Talmadge said:
Cool stuff! One thing I've found about splitting hairs this way: like anything else, there's a technique to it. As I played around with doing this, I got better and better at it. One thing I don't understand is how you guys get these killer close-up pictures!
Click to expand...

This just kinda happened by accident. I was slicing at the hair when I relalized it had cut it 3 ways. To take the picture I used my webcam which has a lens that can be completely unscrewed and removed. So if you unscrew it as much as possible before it comes off you can get some cool close up shots. I probably could have laid the hair in my flat bed scanner and got a similar result.

As far as stropping, I'm still learning how to strop knives. I strop my straight razors all the time, but they are easy because you just lay them flat. With a knife it's a matter of holding it at the right angle and stropping the whole edge. As the knife curves you have to turn the knife and keep the edge in contact with the strop. So all I can say is practice. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top