Just bought an Edge Pro Apex

Stitchawl made a good point in my mind, Jim. You frequently get that level of sharpness with just the 6k grit polishing tape. How come you haven't moved on to, say, 0.1 micron diamond or maybe 0.05 micron Alumina? I suppose it's the challenge of squeezing every last drop of performance out of the polish tapes?
 
BladeChemist said:
Stitchawl made a good point in my mind, Jim. You frequently get that level of sharpness with just the 6k grit polishing tape. How come you haven't moved on to, say, 0.1 micron diamond or maybe 0.05 micron Alumina? I suppose it's the challenge of squeezing every last drop of performance out of the polish tapes?
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I put polish on the 6000 grit tapes also.
 
Ankerson said:
I put polish on the 6000 grit tapes also.
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Oh, Mothers Mag. No evidence of grit in that though, so it's not directly comparable to diamond pastes and the like. It obviously works wonders though. I'm just thinking out loud. What works, works I guess.
 
BladeChemist said:
Stitchawl made a good point in my mind, Jim. You frequently get that level of sharpness with just the 6k grit polishing tape. How come you haven't moved on to, say, 0.1 micron diamond or maybe 0.05 micron Alumina? I suppose it's the challenge of squeezing every last drop of performance out of the polish tapes?
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Could it be possible that with a dab of water and very light pressure on the 6000 Grit Polishing tape that the maximum sharpness is being obtained?

At some point you will have reached the maximum. Just wondering if anyone has reached the point of diminishing returns.
 
BladeChemist said:
Oh, Mothers Mag. No evidence of grit in that though, so it's not directly comparable to diamond pastes and the like. It obviously works wonders though. I'm just thinking out loud. What works, works I guess.
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Once I can split my extremely fine hair by just touching the edge I think it's sharp enough. :)

I can do that now. :thumbup:
 
That is extremely impressive, Jim! I have been slacking, but the lapping films will be heading your way after I get off of work. It seems hard to picture the .3 micron and .05 micron films making any noticeable difference to your edges as they are unreal as is. If you get your blades push cutting through TP as cleanly as they slice through TP I guess that would be proof that they work, but I'm not sure that's possible. We shall see next week.

Mike
 
gunmike1 said:
That is extremely impressive, Jim! I have been slacking, but the lapping films will be heading your way after I get off of work. It seems hard to picture the .3 micron and .05 micron films making any noticeable difference to your edges as they are unreal as is. If you get your blades push cutting through TP as cleanly as they slice through TP I guess that would be proof that they work, but I'm not sure that's possible. We shall see next week.

Mike
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We will see once they get here how far I can push it and if there is a difference or not. :D

I think we are getting near the MAX on sharpness personally.
 
This is the Polish that I normally use on the tapes.

DSC_0995.JPG


I also have Mothers, but I haven't used it enough yet to see, but it might as good or better.
 
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How many knives can you usually do with each polishing tape? Also, how do you know when you need to change tapes?
 
ricklee4570 said:
How many knives can you usually do with each polishing tape? Also, how do you know when you need to change tapes?
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Depends really, I usually do one knife per tape, once you clean them with the polish it changes the Micron rating.

Now the ones with the polish on them you can do a lot of knives, just keep cleaning them.
 
Holy carp, Ankerson!

Holy carp, Mike!

I've been on such a freehanding kick that I'm going to have to relearn everything and then see if I can't get to my Takeda snipper before gunmike1 gets to his.
 
thombrogan said:
Holy carp, Ankerson!

Holy carp, Mike!

I've been on such a freehanding kick that I'm going to have to relearn everything and then see if I can't get to my Takeda snipper before gunmike1 gets to his.
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Somehow I think we are getting to upper edge of sharpness to the point that they just can't get any sharper. We might not be there yet, but we are getting very close to that point I think. :thumbup:

How sharp can it get?

I dunno, but we are getting extremely close I believe. :eek:
 
thombrogan said:
Holy carp, Ankerson!

Holy carp, Mike!

I've been on such a freehanding kick that I'm going to have to relearn everything and then see if I can't get to my Takeda snipper before gunmike1 gets to his.
Click to expand...

My Takeda (from much use it now has a horribly dull shaving edge) has an appointment this weekend with the Edge Pro, bottommed out, of course. I might have to put something on the blade table to get my bevel down to the 4 degrees per side I have it at now, though I'm thinking a microbevel from the Edge Pro would be easier, faster, and save my stones much more than trying to match my 4 degree bevel. That thing has good enough steel and the paper thin geometry to get near Ankerson's level of sharpness, but I think I'm going to need to put in work for a good while before I can extract that sort of performance from the Edge Pro. Jim is the master of Edge Pro extreme sharpness, and once he gets that .05 micron lapping film I think the atoms will be in trouble.

Mike
 
Wow the Edge Pro Apex is for real!

I have to say I am a novice sharpener. I have a Sharpmaker for touchups which works fine, but the Apex is a completely different animal.

Here is my first attempt, I would say it was a success! I just followed the steps. 220grit, 320grit, 600grit, 1000grit, 2000grit, 3000grit. I finished on my strop but it didn't really need it at that point.

apex1.JPG
 
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I don't own any paper wheels, my title up top is just a running joke.

I have sent a few knives to richardj for the paper wheel treatment though, and they came back lasers. That polished edge on my Leek took about 45min-1hr to do, I'm sure a paper wheel could do it in mere minutes.
 
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