Kitchen knife sharpening and burr formation.

S

str8gr

Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
3
Hi all,

My kitchen knives are very dull and I have to sharpen them. I've never honed a knife so far.

What I need to know is the following:

I've read about the so called "burr". Do I have to hone until the burr is formed on all hones?

For example, let's say I start honing on a relatively coarse, 1000 grit stone. I hone until the burr is formed.

I move on the 4000 grit stone and the initial burr is honed out. Do I need a burr formed again on the 4000 grit stone before I move to the next finer stone? Shall I look for a burr on all stones before the

final polishing?

Thanks a lot.
 
I've had good luck deburring with 1200 ceramic rods for honing, but now just prefer to use a treated leather strop for deburring. Makes it much easier to generate the heat needed to fall off. Pretty cheap to make DIY, or to buy ready made.
 
This has been my experience....burrs act slightly differently from steel to steel, hardness to hardness, sharpening medium to sharpening medium, angle to angle. I get my burr as fine, and flimsy as I possibly can, then run my edge down the end grain of a piece of soft wood, stripping it from the edge....this keeps an inordinate amount of steel from contaminating my strop, which is the next step if i wish to refine/polish the edge. Your mileage may vary, and there are as many techniques as there are people who sharpen!
-Mark
 
str8, Welcome. the short answer is yes. A burr should be formed and removed on each finer grit stone. You need to go ahead and learn to sharpen, gaining some experience along the way. Good Luck, DM
 
I disagree with David. You really don't need to raise a significant burr at all, but it is a convenience. A burr is the residue of excess material removed when your honing reached the side opposite to the one you were abrading. A common problem when honing is to not remove sufficient material so that the bevels on both sides of the blade meet. Raising a burr along the entire edge says that you have sufficiently honed at least one side. The burr is a by-product of extensive honing used as an indicator. If I am in a hurry I use the burr as an indicator of progress for my coarse (well medium-coarse) hone. I work hard on one side until I get a burr on about 3/4 of the edge then flip sides and work the other side until I get a burr for the full edge. I switch to a finer hone. Elevate my honing angle and remove the burr with a few gentle edge-leading strokes. After that stage I hope to never work asymmetrically enough to have an observable burr. I hone almost exclusively edge-leading with a light hand and never see a burr again.
 
Jeff, you just stated you raise a burr. But disagreed with me for stating so... Must be some little detail your getting at. And I didn't say a significant burr. Plus, I'll admit there is enough room on this subject for a difference of opinion. DM
 
I raise a small burr on both sides of the edge with each stone I move to. The first stone takes the longest, succeeding stones quickly create burrs. I'm not saying that's how everyone should do it but that's what I do starting with a dull knife. Hope it helped op.
 
David Martin said:
str8, Welcome. the short answer is yes. A burr should be formed and removed on each finer grit stone. You need to go ahead and learn to sharpen, gaining some experience along the way. Good Luck, DM
Click to expand...

My disagreement is first with "A burr should be formed" which I would say "A burr may be convenient". I don't see it necessary (should), merely a means to an end. Normally I flip from side-to-side often and frequently do a few light edge-refining strokes at an elevated angle--such that I never see a burr.

My other stronger disagreement is with raising a burr with every hone. That simply seems wasteful of blade material. I never do that.
 
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