How to put a mirror edge on a knife?

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tonijedi said:
Has anybody ever achieved a mirror edge with a Spyderco Sharpmeker? Is it possible?
Humm...
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Definitely possible if you use the TriAngle stones freehand.
The Ultra-Fine stone will give an almost true mirror finish.
If you have only the fine stone, you will need to use a strop.
 
Years ago, Sears and other home/tool/hardware stores carried generic boxed 1 lb buffing stick assortments and 6"/8" x 1" cotton buffing wheels for grinders. The buffing set included red & white rouge, as well as tripoli and emery - all in 4 oz bars. If you spent $20 total, you must have stopped at the food court for lunch, too. Sadly, the typical $30-$60 Chineese-made 6" bench grinder runs at 3450 RPM, making it easy to heat up the edge quickly - a better choice for buffing would be 1725 RPM, if you can find - then afford - one. Felt buffing belts are available for 1" x 30" stationary sanders, too - and also work quite well - even with the $25-$50 PRC-made Harbor Freight sander works well enough here. Use care not to 'roll the edge' - or you'll convex the edge - and not 'in a good way'! Sanding to 2,000 grit SiC - then buffing - will get you their. Final polishing with Flitz, Semichrome or Muther's Mag Polish - and old white socks - and a lot of care around the edge - will get you there.

Stainz
 
Call me the odd man out on this, but doing mirror edges one paper wheels and multi hundred $$ knife contraptions is cheating yourself of the pride and enjoyment that you'll experience by obtaining them when done freehand.

I can train my kid to use a paper wheel of an edgepro for that matter and within a few practice blades he'd turn out some darn respectable edges.

I think the paper wheel guys, despite their claims that "they'd rather spend the extra time consumed in hand sharpening, on using their knife" are really just knife nuts who want their "atta boys" w/o really earning them and probably could never do it by hand w/o a serious learning curve. ;)
 
cziv said:
Call me the odd man out on this, but doing mirror edges one paper wheels and multi hundred $$ knife contraptions is cheating yourself of the pride and enjoyment that you'll experience by obtaining them when done freehand.

I can train my kid to use a paper wheel of an edgepro for that matter and within a few practice blades he'd turn out some darn respectable edges.

I think the paper wheel guys, despite their claims that "they'd rather spend the extra time consumed in hand sharpening, on using their knife" are really just knife nuts who want their "atta boys" w/o really earning them and probably could never do it by hand w/o a serious learning curve. ;)
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I agree 100%, freehanding is the best way for me. I'v tried all the others, and I just don't get the same satisfaction as I do when I freehand.

For the OP, click this and maybe start with the fourth video down then go from the top down :)
 
singularity35 said:
Oh boy, steel snobs, expensive knife snobs, inexpensive knife snobs. Now we have sharpening snobs. :/
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Funny. LOL

Free handing really isn't that big a deal, but it is a good skill to have, all it takes is practice so I say learn to do both. ;)

That way one can really appreciate the Systems like the EP and WE for what they are. ;)

Been sharpening for over 30 years, free handing for almost all of it and still do free hand some when needed.

Some of us use things like the EP because we like the convience and we do A LOT of sharpening so it saves time.

With all the testing I do I sure wouldn't want to do all that sharpening free hand, I would be spending more time sharpening than testing, at least with the production knives that is, some of the customs would take mins to free hand sharpen because they are so thin.

I really do think it's funny though, back 30 years ago when we wanted a sharp knife or it needed sharpening we just grabbed our stone and sharpened it, no big deal.

Now 30 years later it seems to be a huge deal like it's some kind of miracle to be able to free hand sharpen a blade, it's not rocket science.....

This is very amusing to me, very amusing....

Very good entertainment every time I read something like this. :D
 
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One final step - remove traces of oil/grease - from your metal polish and/or fingers! I take a piece of paper towel - moisten it with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and rub the blade sides. This is followed by buffing with a final clean paper towel.

Stainz
 
Yeah free handing is great, I have an edge pro with everything you can imagine for it, including aftermarket stones. I love the edge pro, but I must say if I am able to get er done free hand I am much happier! In my opinion and which is probably true, a freehand edge is always a bit stronger since it is slightly convex, unless you are an absolute master of free hand. Its nice not worrying about "Oh MAN, did I hold the knife slightly different that time?" or "man I think I set my wicked edge angle guide off a hair, better re start!" I still have trouble getting the results I want with some knives free hand though, so I go to my EPA. If I can physically get a good semi convex edge on my knives, I will free hand all day!

The whole "freehanding skill is a miracle" thing for me is more so, being able to get that free hand edge and have it look pretty. I can get anything "sharp as heck" but I won't want to look at it. I hate the look of having spots on your edge with scratch patterns here and there in different areas where your angle was slightly off for a sec. Thats why it takes me so long is playing catch up!
 
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