how do you get a toothy edge?

TRfromMT

TRfromMT

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I have a wicked edge, and have been having fun making a polished, almost mirror edge on a few knives, but generally don't prefer the look of them. More recently I have been reading about the benefits of a toothy edge. So how does one go about achieving a toothy edge.

1. Just stop at a medium grit (say 800 or 1000 grit on the W.E.)

2. Sharpen to a higher grit and then go back down one step in stones? I did this on a Maxamet mule and it scared me how well it cut. But I don't know if this was just a fluke.

3. Sharpen to a low grit (say 600) then skip several stones, and go to a higher grit or strop?

What is your method of getting a toothy edge on an edc?
 
On my EdgePro I do as you suggested, take it to 2000 just to be thorough (and for the fun of experimenting on different steel and sharpen'ability') then back down to a desired grit dependent on the steel and use.
Sometimes I'll drop down to 400-600 just to develop a scratch pattern to get rid of the polished edge that I don't care for either.
 
A coarser stone. That's it.

The nice thing about creating a toothy edge is, usually it needs just one, or maybe a couple of stones. Decide what your finishing grit will be and start there. Especially if your edge is already apexed & refined, meaning the geometry is already set, and you're ONLY wanting to add some 'bite' to the edge.

If the edge is in very poor shape (dull, damaged) or if it needs reprofiling to narrower geometry, then a very coarse stone will be a good place to start, to hog away as much metal as necessary and take the edge to near-apex (sometimes it's best not to fully apex with a very coarse stone, as it'll leave the edge very rough & ragged). Then refine and fully apex the edge with your chosen finishing stone. Do as much refinement on the finishing stone as you can, then minimally strop it to remove any burrs. Too much stropping with aggressive polishing compounds might take a lot of that new tooth out of the edge; so keep it simple and minimal.
 
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What I do is I don't look to create a bur. And finish up nice and even. At this stage a little stropping would cut arm hair easily. 325 dmt is the first and last for.kitchen and edc.
 
TRfromMT said:
I have a wicked edge, and have been having fun making a polished, almost mirror edge on a few knives, but generally don't prefer the look of them. More recently I have been reading about the benefits of a toothy edge. So how does one go about achieving a toothy edge.

1. Just stop at a medium grit (say 800 or 1000 grit on the W.E.)

2. Sharpen to a higher grit and then go back down one step in stones? I did this on a Maxamet mule and it scared me how well it cut. But I don't know if this was just a fluke.

3. Sharpen to a low grit (say 600) then skip several stones, and go to a higher grit or strop?

What is your method of getting a toothy edge on an edc?
Click to expand...

One option...

 
A toothy edge I obtain by using a coarse 100-120 grit stone then finish / refine it very little on a 280 grit SiC stone. No stropping. This edge is simple and cuts very aggressive. Good luck, DM
 
TRfromMT said:
2. Sharpen to a higher grit and then go back down one step in stones? I did this on a Maxamet mule and it scared me how well it cut. But I don't know if this was just a fluke.
Click to expand...

I am not a master of toothy edges but I find this helpful. I think it is because the finer stones minimize the burr and subsurface deformation, giving the best possible steel to form the final toothy edge from.
 
Not as expert, but have tried a lot of different stones with my EdgePro and by hand. From 200 all the way to mirror polish. For toothy I usually stop at 600-1100. Some people stop with a coarse grip and then use a fine stone or strop. I don't have enough experience with this to speak to it.

I think you also need to consider the steel. Perhaps not huge differences, but there are some. On a cast 440C blade (very different than normal 440C) anything over 600 doesn't work as well and it stays toothy forever. Higher carbide steels seem to be better at 1000+ for me. I don't have this completely dialed in yet.
 
Mr.Wizard said:
Would you consider making a video of this?
Click to expand...


Is included in the recent video I put up:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/multiple-waterstone-review-chisel-from-dinged-to-sharp.1655895/

From about 8:00 - 9:45 and 17:50 - 19:10

I've also done plenty of knives off the coarse side of the Foss stone as well. In my experience the fine polishing waterstones do this better than any other stone composition, though on high RC/high carbide content steels I do this with DMT plates too, using an XC or C with EF micro.

Just have to be careful about how many passes you make on the micro - too many and the edge performs as a polished one. This strategy really frees one up from needing that "just right" stone for a given edge finish - you can make pretty much whatever you want as long as you can run the set-up grind at a low angle.


This is what it looks like using a Norton 1k/8k.
BCMW_52100_100_zpspnmtjc9e.jpg~original
 
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I think I am going to try an edge specifically done to be toothy on my M4 Gayle Bradley 2. This is my workhorse knife, and my favorite to sharpen. This is what I'll do:

Sharpen with a coarse diamond, not quite to a full burr. (I think I agree that a full burr at a coarse grit can leave a ragged edge).
Sharpen to a full burr (and deburr) at 600 grit diamond on the W.E.
Finish with a 1200 grit ceramic stone with a few, light passes, for a 2-degree micro bevel.
 
Depending on the steel you may find that a 400 to 600 grit may not cut as well as a 1200 or 2000 grit finish,I forget the knife my friend had but the steel didn't cut worth a crap with a polished edge and if you went to coarse it always seemed dull but what I do remember is that I always stopped at around 1200 or 2000 on his knife.

I would try a few different grit's on the lower end and see witch one one you prefer.
 
Lately I've been using a diamond stone in the 325-400 grit range from start to finish unless I have some report work to do and follow it up with a plain paper strop on a hard surface.
 
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