Knives becoming dull after sharpening

D

darthwayne

Joined
Oct 7, 2016
Messages
152
been using fallkniven DC4, as i sharpen the knives, the blades never become hair shaving sharp but at best paper slicing sharp.

this is not as good as factory sharpness.


what am i doing wrong?

i know i have to be patient but i am just wearing out the blades the more i sharpen...they are never hair shaving sharp again.

what am i doing wrong or is DC4 just not good for super sharpness?
 
i think the best thing to do would be to break down your sharpening process step by step. there are a lot of guys on here with a lot of knowledge that can help, but their ability to aide is dependent upon available information.

sorry i don't have anything productive to add about sharpening, just trying to help you get some good info.
 
Hi,
darthwayne said:
been using fallkniven DC4, as i sharpen the knives, the blades never become hair shaving sharp but at best paper slicing sharp.

this is not as good as factory sharpness.


what am i doing wrong?

i know i have to be patient but i am just wearing out the blades the more i sharpen...they are never hair shaving sharp again.

what am i doing wrong or is DC4 just not good for super sharpness?
Click to expand...

What are you doing exactly?
What knife are you sharpening (blade length, steel)?
What sharpening angle?
How many passes per side.......?
Do you raise a burr?

If you describe in detail what you're doing,
you'll have to think about what you're doing,
then its easy to troubleshoot and adjust your technique until you can get results


Common beginner problems are
wobbling up/down and/or left/right ... basically not keeping the angle ... just means sharpening takes longer
using too low of an angle ... sharpening takes forever
not use enough passes per side to raise raise a burr ,
if you dont have burr in 300 passes on one side (1-3 minutes ), increase angle


also don't use too much force on the diamond ... think like brushing your teeth ... under 1lb or 1/2lb if you were to measure on a scale
 
bucketstove said:
Hi,


What are you doing exactly?
What knife are you sharpening (blade length, steel)?
What sharpening angle?
How many passes per side.......?
Do you raise a burr?

If you describe in detail what you're doing,
you'll have to think about what you're doing,
then its easy to troubleshoot and adjust your technique until you can get results


Common beginner problems are
wobbling up/down and/or left/right ... basically not keeping the angle ... just means sharpening takes longer
using too low of an angle ... sharpening takes forever
not use enough passes per side to raise raise a burr ,
if you dont have burr in 300 passes on one side (1-3 minutes ), increase angle


also don't use too much force on the diamond ... think like brushing your teeth ... under 1lb or 1/2lb if you were to measure on a scale
Click to expand...


thanks a lot

its a 3.45" 154CM steel for benchmade griptilian 551.factory angle is 20 degree which is very good for slicing papers without effort and hair shaving.

i was cutting mattress and steel edge bent little bit so i tried to correct it by sharpening.

now i think problem is i am not maintaining angle and i never managed to raise a burr.

i think its best to send it to benchmade to reset bevel coz i think i have messed it up
 
The biggest mistake you're making is trying to learn on a knife you value.

Use an old kitchen knife or some other that will be OK if you ruin. There are tons of good tips on this forum, read the Sticky at the top of the page for starters. You'll learn a basic edge quickly enough, but maybe not quickly enough to learn on your Griptilian.
 
HeavyHanded said:
The biggest mistake you're making is trying to learn on a knife you value.

Use an old kitchen knife or some other that will be OK if you ruin. There are tons of good tips on this forum, read the Sticky at the top of the page for starters. You'll learn a basic edge quickly enough, but maybe not quickly enough to learn on your Griptilian.
Click to expand...

This is good info. Back in the 80's I destroyed a few nice knives messing around trying to get a screaming edge on them. Eventually a light went on but it cost me about 3 nice moki and marble knives to get there .

Russ
 
The two most common problems if you are not getting a burr,
1. improper or inconsistent angle
2. starting with too fine a grit, start with low grit and work up in stages

If you are getting a burr but never achieving sharpness, try using less pressure on the burr clean-up strokes.
Try learning on a steal with low wear resistance.

good luck, it is frustrating
 
Lots of good points here already but go get a cheap knife with softer steel so you can see the result of your work faster thereby giving faster feedback. If your not getting a burr it would seem to be angle or using a stone that is too fine. Keep with it eventually it gets easier to feel what your doing.
 
guys i think i figured 2 main problems with my sharpening

1. using very coarse side for minor touch ups : I should have just used the finer grit side for touch ups instead of grinding so much of the edge to restore hair shaving sharpness

2. not maintaining angle : i did slower strokes while focussing on maintaining angle throughout. I also felt a slight burr..is it when u feel some steel bent on your finger?


its slicing very thin paper easily now:

leR1ejN.jpg


i still think i should send it to benchmade to restore bevel angle and refine the edge
 
The diamond side of your DC4 is listed at 25 micron and I can assure you it's capable of sharpening to the point of cutting paper whisper smooth and popping hair... much better than the edge came, or will ever come from the factory, but...
Some diamond plates, even the fine ones, are pretty rough when new and need to be broken in. If that's the case with yours, it might partially account for your results.
 
jpm2 said:
The diamond side of your DC4 is listed at 25 micron and I can assure you it's capable of sharpening to the point of cutting paper whisper smooth and popping hair... much better than the edge came, or will ever come from the factory, but...
Some diamond plates, even the fine ones, are pretty rough when new and need to be broken in. If that's the case with yours, it might partially account for your results.
Click to expand...


thats what i heard from reviews of the dc4 stone.
u think i should use a cheap knife and break the stone in? yes its still quite coarse to the touch unevenly
 
darthwayne said:
thats what i heard from reviews of the dc4 stone.
u think i should use a cheap knife and break the stone in? yes its still quite coarse to the touch unevenly
Click to expand...

Yes, that's a good idea. Break the stone in and get practice while doing it... kill 2 birds with one stone. :)
 
update:

I practiced with a crappy table knife, maintained angle..waited for one side to get burr then reverse.

and wow...its hair shaving, paper slicing sharp

i was also maintaining too low of an angle i think thats why the blades belly was getting scratched.

table knife sharper than my bm grip at the moment:

B0cbhBL.jpg
 
Actually, I think there is a dulling gremlin around. I sharpen my blades to a really fine edge (phone book paper level), but by the next morning they feel dull again. One night I'm going to set a gremlin trap around my knives and see what I catch. :-)

Everything said in the posts above is correct. It takes time and practice to learn proper freehand sharpening/honing.

Rich
 
Rich S said:
Actually, I think there is a dulling gremlin around. I sharpen my blades to a really fine edge (phone book paper level), but by the next morning they feel dull again. One night I'm going to set a gremlin trap around my knives and see what I catch. :-)

Everything said in the posts above is correct. It takes time and practice to learn proper freehand sharpening/honing.

Rich
Click to expand...

Sometimes, the dulling gremlin takes the form of bad storage habits. I had to get a magnetic bar and change my habits - i.e not to toss the knives in the drawer, only use the magnetic bar, not to cut on ceramic, etc. And then asked my spouse the same. The edge lasts somewhat longer now.
 
Rich S said:
Actually, I think there is a dulling gremlin around. I sharpen my blades to a really fine edge (phone book paper level), but by the next morning they feel dull again. One night I'm going to set a gremlin trap around my knives and see what I catch. :-)

Everything said in the posts above is correct. It takes time and practice to learn proper freehand sharpening/honing.

Rich
Click to expand...

Sometimes this gremlin uses my knives as well...HaHa!
Or maybe they weren't as screaming sharp as I remembered?
 
i have sent my knife to benchmade for sharpening.

hope they dont eat too much of my steel.

i have been practicing with cheap knives so next time i dont mess the edge during minor touch ups
 
darthwayne said:
i have sent my knife to benchmade for sharpening.
Click to expand...

It will be good for you to have a gauge of sorts: How good a job does BM do, as opposed to what you did. BM doesn't have a very good reputation for sharpening. Their knives are top notch. I've just heard/read mediocre reports about their sharpening. Maybe you'll get great results. Let us know!

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
It will be good for you to have a gauge of sorts: How good a job does BM do, as opposed to what you did. BM doesn't have a very good reputation for sharpening. Their knives are top notch. I've just heard/read mediocre reports about their sharpening. Maybe you'll get great results. Let us know!

Brian.
Click to expand...


considering it was hair shaving sharp out of box and barely slicing paper after i sharpened...i think they might do better job.

my only concern is that hope i dont lose too much steel in the sharpening process and make the belly look weirdly narrow
 
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