Is this sharp enough?? :) :)

G

GrizzlyBear

Joined
Dec 5, 2009
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I'm nearly finished hand rubbing an 800 grit finish to take off the mirror polish on this knife kit. As I was testing sharpness, I realized that I wanted a sharper edge than I had established with the 25 degree mark on my Lansky. So, I sharpened the knife using the 20 degree slot. I slipped once and almost cut my index finger to the bone. And man...I've always heard that if you're ever cut with something SHARP it takes forever for it to knit together and close...they're right! Anyway, I was hoping that the first blood the knife saw would NOT be mine LOL but would be from a nice big whitetail this fall hehe.

So I sharpened with coarse, medium and fine, then stropped on my belt. Then went back over with fine on a few light passes and stropped again. I've got it sharp enough to peel my beard hairs and do thin curlys on newspaper. I don't have a pic of the newspaper I did so I posted a pic of a news ad that I took some curly slivers off of. Almost as thin as newsprint, but not quite. :D Seems like the more I use this Lansky, the better I get at it.

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That's definitely sharp enough!

Sorry to hear about your cut. In my experience, sharp knife cuts have healed much more quickly than dull knife injuries so I hope you recover rapidly.

DancesWithKnives
 
there is a sickness that is the game how sharp

get soem kitchen knife feed back then try your hand at a straight razor then see how fast you pick up new honing stones

and one thing i have found that if you keep that super sharp cut clean and closed it heals fast and cleanly with out scaring
 
FYI, the angles stamped on the Lansky are not correct. Using a ruler and basic high school geometry, I measured them a while back.

A 1" deep, 1/8" thick blade with the spine sitting on the notch puts the edge 4.5" from the back of the clamp, measuring up to the 17 degree hole you get 1" from the center of the clamp. The formula is Tangent (angle) = opposite / adjacent. 1/4.5 = .2222 which is actually about 12.5 degrees per side. Obviously this will vary some depending on how deep the blade is and how you set up the clamp. Actual angles I measured are:

17 hole = 12.5 degrees
20 hole = 16.5 degrees
25 hole = 20 degrees
30 hole = 23 degrees
 
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good info bedlamite. i used to use an ez sharp which is similar to a lansky many years ago and always wondered about the angle on different blades. i often wondered how accurate they were at putting on the desired angle. i wonder how much the angle can change between say a small folder without a flat to set the clamp on compared to a blade with a flat to set the clamp on. i think the one without a flat can change each time you sharp the blade compared to a knife with a flat. what do you think?
 
bedlamite said:
FYI, the angles stamped on the Lansky are not correct. Using a ruler and basic high school geometry, I measured them a while back.

A 1" deep, 1/8" thick blade with the spine sitting on the notch puts the edge 4.5" from the back of the clamp, measuring up to the 17 degree hole you get 1" from the center of the clamp. The formula is Tangent (angle) = opposite / adjacent. 1/4.5 = .2222 which is actually about 12.5 degrees per side. Obviously this will vary some depending on how deep the blade is and how you set up the clamp. Actual angles I measured are:

17 hole = 12.5 degrees
20 hole = 16.5 degrees
25 hole = 20 degrees
30 hole = 23 degrees
Click to expand...

Always suspected that without taking the time to calculate it! Thanks for your post!
 
richard j said:
not bad but if you want a real challenge shoot for this degree of sharpness. this knife is slicing free hanging newspaper http://knifetests.com/kII.html http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=43364157
Click to expand...

thats the same way i was putting the edge curlys on the newspaper last night, only not slicing pieces all the way, I will try that again today and see if it comes close to that sharpness.

i'd say i done well considering this is the 5th knife i have sharpened using the lansky :)
 
bedlamite said:
FYI, the angles stamped on the Lansky are not correct. Using a ruler and basic high school geometry, I measured them a while back.

A 1" deep, 1/8" thick blade with the spine sitting on the notch puts the edge 4.5" from the back of the clamp, measuring up to the 17 degree hole you get 1" from the center of the clamp. The formula is Tangent (angle) = opposite / adjacent. 1/4.5 = .2222 which is actually about 12.5 degrees per side. Obviously this will vary some depending on how deep the blade is and how you set up the clamp. Actual angles I measured are:

17 hole = 12.5 degrees
20 hole = 16.5 degrees
25 hole = 20 degrees
30 hole = 23 degrees
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. How do you convert the decimal answer into degrees? I'm having a time trying to remember freshman geometry LOL I'd like to know so I can start marking spots on the holder for different size blades and have a better idea of what degree i'm using.
 
Grizzlybear , on a scientific calculator you enter the tangent and press the INV and TAN key and it gives you the angle. Or you can look it up on a table of tangents. You can make a very accurate angle gauge using two hack saw blades and calculating the tangent. Bolt one end of the blades together and measure from hole to hole on one blade and from hole to hole between the two blades. Divide the distance between holes on the two blades by the distance between holes on one blade and that will be the tangent. You set the gauge by pushing the edge in the vee until no daylight is visible between the gauge and the very edge of the blade. The gauge will give you the included angle or the angle for both sides of the blade. Divide it by two and that will be the angle your sharpener is giving you.


Johnny
 
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