how much does your S30V burr?

hardheart

hardheart

Joined
Sep 19, 2001
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Just got a paramilitary in a trade today. It had the factory edge, but it was unable to shave. I tried a few dozen passes on the sharpmaker, to no avail. No go with the 600 DMT either. So out comes the coarse/fine SiC. Got a burr fairly quickly with the coarse, knocked it off and went to fine, then the SM again. Still not shaving. Try again, same thing, plus the edge seems to be a bit rough.

I go to the XX coarse diamond-and I get a burr over half the edge in only 5 moderate passes. Takes 3 times as many for the rest of the edge to burr, but I'm concerned at this point about pressing to hard into the hone, I don't know what this edge will do. I remove the burr, go to the SiC, and get another burr almost immediately. Again I remove it and go to the sharpmaker. Even the medium stones on the corners create a burr in a dozen passes only. I go to the fine stones for 5 passes per side, then finish on loaded leather.

The knife shaves quite well now, but I was very surprised at how easily and often a burr was raised.
 
My Sebenza burrs fairly easily as well, a few swipes on the SM after it has been removed will raise it up again.
 
S30V is a really high carbide steel, unless it is very hard such steels will tend to burr very easily. Wilson's S30V has had the best sharpening responce I have seen of that steel, the burr formation is minimal.

-Cliff
 
Hmm, I don't know if I like that so much. Sure, it's nice to get a burr, but only when that means my blade is getting sharp. I was getting burrs and removing them in normal fashon, and still had an edge that wouldn't slice paper. I had to go very lightly on very fine abrasive to get the edge clean.

I'll have to gather up some cardboard and see what this knife does.
 
Generally no, it isn't a good sign. Ideally a steel would not burr at all but just form clean. The larger the burr which forms the more steel which is wasted during sharpening. In most cases you have excessive burr formations because the steel is too soft for the amount of carbide.

-Cliff
 
I work to form as small a burr as possible. I check the edge with a fingernail to try and feel it before it's reflecting much light. The burr from the XX coarse was still fairly small, smaller than the one I used to get on an ATS34 BM on a medium lansky stone. Ben Dale had it in his instructions to reach a point where you don't create a burr, you stop just before that. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. :) I usually have to form a burr anyway, because I've chipped or blunted the edge somewhat by the time it comes to sharpen. I strop and make single passes on fine ceramics for maintenance for as long as the edge will let me.
 
Yes, that is the key point, Dale's method only works if the edge is all quality steel, otherwise you have to grind back. Of course if you sharpening frequently and never let the blade get excessively dull then it minimizing this effect and the corresponding size of burrs.

-Cliff
 
By the very definition of a burr, wouldn't it be impossible to form a burr without having a sharp edge?
 
tell that to my para, surprised me as well. Seems the burr was breaking off, even though I was trying to go lightly with the clean up passes.
 
Django606 said:
By the very definition of a burr, wouldn't it be impossible to form a burr without having a sharp edge?
Click to expand...

No, you can bring two edges to meet and form a burr which isn't very sharp if the metal is heavily deformed, fractured, or the burr has much debris.

-Cliff
 
I have been an avid hunter and fisherman for over forty years and never learned to sharpen a knife right untill I started making knife and reading every thing I could find on the subject. I have found that if you sharpen it without building the burr, the edge will hold longer. After the edge is shaped I use nothing courser than a DMT 1200, no pressure applied, it is not needed with diamonds and will only flex the edge back & forth which forms burrs, I then make ONE PASS thru the crock sticks and strop with leather a few passes, I do not use stones they are to slow and require to much pressure. Also DO IT DRY it will get sharper
I will back up and repeat as needed, a super sharp edge is weak edge on any steel. A working edge will hold very well. Leon
 
I agree with leon. I prefer to keep the burr to a minimum. I believe Jeff Clark was the one who once said something about raising the burr and then having to chase it. There are occasion were I think it is needed, though.

I haven't really had any problems with burr on S30V. Yes, there is some but other steels burr much worse in my opinion.
 
Right, my S30V Sebenza burrs fairly easily, but the burr is easy to remove after it forms, unlike 154CM or ATS-34.
 
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