knife sharpening question

M

mufan

Joined
Oct 25, 2007
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I have just purchased a knife sharpening kit with angle guide. I started sharpening one side and then realized I didn't keep the number of strokes. So I guessed on the other side of the blade. Now, if if I run my thumb in one direction it grabs and feels sharp but if I run it the other direction it doesn't grab much or feel sharp.

So, how do I correct this so that both sides are even?

Does the side that feels dull need more sharpening or is it the opposite side that needs it?

Finally, how do you know when you've raised a burr....is it by feeling up and down the length of the blade on the side opposite the one you are sharpening for bumps?
 
First of all, welcome to the forums:).

2nd, this is going to be moved because it's in the wrong forum. You'll want to go to this forum for these types of questions:

http://bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=794

If I understand you correctly, the feeling of sharpnes on one side and not the other means that you have raised a burr.

So, how do I correct this so that both sides are even?

Does the side that feels dull need more sharpening or is it the opposite side that needs it?
Click to expand...

You want to sharpen the side that feels sharp with your thumb- put that side in contact with the stone. You even it by sharpening that side until you can't feel that on either side.

Some of the sharpening pros will jump in soon enough.
 
Welcome to Bladeforums!

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Mufan, you feel for the burr, or "wire edge", by feeling the side of blade that is not in contact with the stone, by going (feeling) cross-wise (perpendicular) to the edge.
 
One of the problems with sharpening guides is that they encourage you to sharpen your blade one side at a time. Whenever your honing efforts progress up to the point of removing material at the apex of your edge you begin to leave some unremoved material along the edge. Since steel is flexible and the edge is thin some metal rolls away from contact with the hone rather than getting scraped off. This material is called a "burr" or "wire edge". If you hone by alternate strokes on the left-right sides of the blade the burr is smaller and partially gets knocked off in the process. For me it also helps if I hone by stroking my blade on the hone edge-first like I am trying to shave the hone.

If you hone one side of your blade for a large number of strokes without switching sides your burr gets very large. If you test your edge you will find that it does not cut symmetrically. If you cut something hard (like hard wood) the edge will fold over and get messed up almost immediately. The solution is to knock off the burr freehand. Remove your guide and just do a few strokes by hand edge-first alternating sides with every stroke. Do this with very light pressure and with the blade tilted up at least 10 degrees higher than you have been honing. This extreme angle will cut off the burr. Then you can use your blade guide carefully to put on your final edge. Be sure to alternate sides as you go left-right-left-right... and use light pressure. If it took you 5 strokes per side to remove your burr then do about 25 light strokes per side putting your finish edge back on.
 
Thanks for the welcome guys,
So you feel for a bur in the same way you feel to see how sharp a knife is.....by running your finger back and forth across the blade? What does it feel like? How do you know when it is good enough and it is time to switch to the other side?
 
I use a GATCO Professional kit for my sharpening. My kit came with extra coarse, coarse, medium, and fine stones. I added the extra fine and the ultimate finishing (a ceramic) stones. I have When I finish with the ceramic I do not have a burr. I then finish on two stops. one loaded with white polishing compound and one loaded with red.

I would suggest if you do not want to add stones or strops to progress to the finest stone you have. Then if you were taking 10 strokes, take 9, flip take take 9, flip and take 8, flip and take 8 and so on down to 1.
 
mufan said:
Thanks for the welcome guys,
So you feel for a bur in the same way you feel to see how sharp a knife is.....by running your finger back and forth across the blade? What does it feel like? How do you know when it is good enough and it is time to switch to the other side?
Click to expand...

Kinda. It is kinda like the tip of a wave as it is breaking over to one side.
 
When I feel for the sharpness of a knife I gently stroke the edge like I want to shave my finger prints. I feel the edge dragging across the fingerprint ridges. To feel for a burr I stroke the edge the opposite way (like I am smoothing butter on my fingertip). Usually you feel scraping on the side where the burr is leaning and nothing on the other side of the edge.
 
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