I need help!

Y

YourNameHere693

Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
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I recently tried to put a convex edge on my chopper. I can get the belly of the blade to a decent sharpness but not hair popping. The tip of the blade is a complete loss for me, I can get it semi sharp enough to chop something but no where near to shave hair. Could anyone give me some tips or hints as in to what I need to do in order to get a hair popping edge.

BTW: I free hand sharpen.

Thanks.
 
I can't achieve hair poppin convex edge sharpness using the sandpaper/mousepad/strop technique without giving the edge a final swipe or two with a ceramic stick.
 
Need pictures please.:) Grit and method would be helpful too.
 
Convexing is a B-word. It's easy to do on the straight edge. Once you get to that curve, the complexity rises.

I have a few convexed that are not sharp in places along the straight part of the blade - that's worse to me. It means either the previous sharpener didn't know what he was doing or I've got a slight recurve in that place.

I like the concept of convexing, but using an Edge-Pro is just sooooo much easier to me.
 
YourNameHere693 said:
I started with a 100 to 220 then to a wet dry polish sandpaper (not sure the grit) then strop.
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I think your not going up through enough grits. I usually start (depending on the shape of the edge and all other things) with a low grit like 220 if I dont have to reprofile and go to 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 etc then go to the strop after I have a almost mirror edge from my wet sandpaper. Its produced pretty decent results for me. Here's my FFBM that took HOURS to do by hand, I used sandpaper with a leather strop backing. I'd have to look at all the diff grits I went through but I think I started with 80 or 100. Its shaving sharp and I think its my Best attempt as I really took my time and made sure I took the same amount off on the whole blade. I know I took alot from the tip especially. It really cuts better now. I also did my CGFBM, I did that first and dont think I did as well.

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Another trick is to pay attention to how you're curving the blade as you do the area near the tip. I've found I want to lift the blade up away from the surface, increasing the angle. You don't want to lift, you want to rotate the blade, so you keep a constant angle as you pull across the sandpaper.


Have you tried the sharpie trick to make sure your angles are consistent?
 
YourNameHere693 said:
I started with a 100 to 220 then to a wet dry polish sandpaper (not sure the grit) then strop.
Click to expand...

Bro, I have only sandpaper convexed a few knives, so I'm no expert, BUT.

You can't just stop at 220, Thats where most people start at. That is stlil very coarse for a shaving sharp edge.

I believe I use 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and then I found some sheets of 1500, and that's all I have so far. You likely won't notice a shaving sharp edge coming on until around the 1000 grit.

Hope that helps.
-steve
 
Guess im goin to have to hit up Ace Hardware today. I will try finer paper out later today and let you all know how it goes.


Thank for the tips.
 
YourNameHere693 said:
Guess im goin to have to hit up Ace Hardware today. I will try finer paper out later today and let you all know how it goes.


Thank for the tips.
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Go to an automotive supply store like Pep Boys or Autozone; hardware stores usually don't carry the finer grits. They will have the finer grit paper you will need. I've found up to 2000 grit.
 
Ace Hardware usually DOES have the fine grit. They sell a fair bit of automotive stuff, including paint supplies, which is where you'd usually use super fine wet/dry paper.

When I was still sharpening by hand, I bought all my sandpaper at Ace.
 
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