Help with burr removal.

[GalacticToast]

I was hoping you Gents could help me. I'm working up a bur, and decreasing strokes/pressure as I go to remove it, however, after the removal process, there are areas that fail the fingernail test. I also noticed that when I feel for a burr, I can feel it on both sides of the blade. It doesn't feel like it's flipped to either side, both sides grab equally when I slide my fingers over them. What am I doing wrong that is making the edge feel as if there is a burr on both sides, and what can I do better to remove the burr?

 

[HeavyHanded]

If it feels like one on both sides, you may just have a nice somewhat toothy edge. Or you may have a burr that has been flipped in some spots but not others.

Hold the blade up at eye level, broadside, edge pointing down. With strong overhead lighting, slowly tilt the edge back and forth so the light plays along the primary grind and cutting bevel. The burr will appear as a faint halo off the cutting edge, as it sticks out a small bit. Check both sides.

A good way to remove the burr is to lightly drag the edge across some wood, make a pass on the stone, drag, make a pass on the other side. Repeat a handful (dozen) of times - this is not very elegant but it works pretty reliably.

Alternatively, raise the burr and push it all to one side, drag the edge with light pressure along a piece of wood to make it sway even more to that side. Work it off with light pressure and short passes. Check often and only work where it is needed.

 

[GalacticToast]

Thank you, HeavyHanded. I can reliably finish off the edge on the polishing paper wheel, but I'd love if I could get it sharp just off the stone. I guess I have a nice somewhat toothy edge, as I couldn't detect a burr using the light method. I'm still concerned about it not passing the nail catching test, but it does feel sticky on the fingertips (not burr wise, but sharpness wise).

 

[HeavyHanded]

Am not sure what stone you're stopping at, but you could wrap a sheet of plain paper around it and use that for a "finish" strop. Works great for medium/coarse sedges right off the stone. Cleans 'em up a bit without loosing any bite. Also shines up any burrs disproportionate to the rest of the bevel (which does get shined up some too) and makes it a lot easier to ID if they're there. Really small ones can actually be removed with this method, and is very tolerant of variations in applied force.

 

[DavidL41]

I have a question. Once you sharpen till you get a burr on one side, flip it to the other side by sharpening the side with the burr, if you were to repeat this process another 2 times using the same stone does it further sharpen the blade?

Is the process done once you get a burr and flip it to the other side, from there you switch to a finer stone and flip the burr the opposite way, back to the original position. Progress all the way up to the highest grit until the burr is in the middle (by alternating sides each stroke) and pull through wood to remove micro burr. Is the last part to use green compound or a 12k+ finishing stone or is this before pulling through wood.

 

[HeavyHanded]

I have a question. Once you sharpen till you get a burr on one side, flip it to the other side by sharpening the side with the burr, if you were to repeat this process another 2 times using the same stone does it further sharpen the blade?

Is the process done once you get a burr and flip it to the other side, from there you switch to a finer stone and flip the burr the opposite way, back to the original position. Progress all the way up to the highest grit until the burr is in the middle (by alternating sides each stroke) and pull through wood to remove micro burr. Is the last part to use green compound or a 12k+ finishing stone or is this before pulling through wood.

If you're refining from a fairly coarse edge it could take a couple flips, but one would be better off deburring and then resharpening at the same finish value rather than just keep flipping. Ideally you remove the burr at each step so you know what effect you're having at each step and not just pushing around remnants of the last burr.

Also ideally you remove the burr 95% on the stone and don't need to pull through wood. Either way, moving to a strop or finishing hone you will get much better results if the edge is deburred first. The burr can actually prevent further refining of the edge, so cleanly removing it prior to any final steps is preferred.

Edit to add: there is no set in stone progression - for a given task, a relatively coarse edge might be the best finish you can use. In that case being able to deburr at any finish level comes in very handy.