Knocking the bur off.

Minnesota

Minnesota

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Okay, so I have a Esee HEST that I have been sharpeing with that smith's two sided diamond hone. I get a nice bur going, like a one that I've seen in books and online, so I sharpen the the other side and get a bur on that side, so I sharpen that side to try and knock the bur off but it just returns to the opposite side. I'm at this for 10min, but I still get the same thing. I have used the coarse side, I can't switch to the fine becase I used it once without water and jacked it up. I have a sharpmaker with the stock stones. Should I use the spyder stones now? Or will the bur knock off from the coarse side, and then I switch to spyderstones to get a finer edge?

I'm not really sure where to go from here. Those are the only sharpening supplies I have, and I've never gotten a bur before. I don't really want to screw it up.
 
hey minnesota, how's it going? i know sharpening can be frustrating, and i'm no expert. what i do after i get a burr with a coarse stone, i go to the fine side at the same angle for both sides of the edge. you can use the sharpie technique to make sure your at the right angle, and a magnifying glass to check your progress.
after i get a burr, i go to a finer ceramic stone at a just slightly higher angle, and with very light pressure. this will usually remove the burr.
then i go to a leather stropp and give it a few passes on each side. if you don't have a stropp, you can use cardboard for this step. just don't go at too high of an angle, or you'll end up dulling the edge.
hope this helps some, just go slowly and check every step with a mag. glass.
good luck,
don
 
I am having a hard time deciphering what you are saying (I am sure that has everything to do with me and my lack of coffee so far).

I would probably try dragging the edge through some heavy felt or a soft board. Use about 1-3 pounds of downward force as you do a slicing cut (a single pull of the blade through the material). I find this cleans the chaff off the edge and will aid in removal of the burr. This is what I do when I am working with a new steel that I am unfamiliar with and manage to create more of a burr than I like (some call this supersized burr a "wire").

Check your edge and then proceed as necessary. If it is sharp and uniform proceed to the next finer media. If not, go back to the coarse and clean things up and perhaps create smaller burr and repeat the process. In an ideal world on a steel I am familiar with I will either not develop a burr at all or only a very very fine burr that is removed on the first or second stroke when I flip the blade.

This is something I sort of dreamed up from talking to others about what they do. There are about a billion ways to get a sharp edge or remove a burr...this is one that I have been using lately with good results. I have little doubt that other methods will be posted up shortly...pick one and try it, find out what works for you and your steel.

Another tip I can offer is after you have developed a burr and you know you have reached the edge on both sides, remove the burr and then continue with progressively lighter pressure before moving to the next media. I like to use really low pressure and let the media work, but that said, I still progressively decrease my pressure throughout the process.

Have fun, take you time, learn, repeat. Note there is no step that includes frustration or hair pulling, just relax and take your time. You will appreciate the results!
 
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You're at the stage where your diamond stone isn't going to get your knife any sharper. You'll just keep chasing the burr back and forth, as you have been doing. It's time to step up to a finer-grit stone. From my experience with the Spyderco sharpmaker, the brown stones would be appropriate for your next stage of sharpening. They load up pretty quickly, so you'll have to scrub 'em down part way through sharpening, but since you have a good burr going the sides of the bevel have come together and now it's just a matter of polishing up the beveled edge with the sharpmaker stones.

You can either try to do one or two VERY LIGHT passes along the brown Sharpmaker stones at a high angle(eyeball it at 50 or 60 degrees) to knock off the burr before you start sharpening normally on the Sharpmaker. OR you can just start sharpening normally on the Sharpmaker. Either way you'll still get rid of the great big burr you have now and be on your way to a sharp-assed knife.
 
Pressure and a cheap diamond stone are your problems. Its sometimes hard to understand how little pressure is needed to make them work, basically when you sharpen with diamonds you just want the blade to skim the surface of the stone. Any more than the weight of a feather and you can keep working the same burr all day.... when you ease up on that pressure though even the coarsest diamond stones can yield a nearly burr free edge.
 
If you're freehanding, make sure you are doing 1 pass per side. Use light pressure as was recommended.

If you're using a clamp, you need to raise the angle, give it a couple passes (1 per side, again) on a fine stone to get rid of the burr, then resume at your bevels' angle, again doing 1 pass per side.

That's the method I use to get rid of a burr.
 
I've got diamond benchstones and the Spyderco Sharpmaker. I raise a burr with a benchstone, progress to a finer grit, then the Sharpmaker medium rod, then fine. Then I steepen the angle on the fine rod and ease up on the pressure. I use as little force as I can. At this point I still have a tiny burr that I remove with a leather strop with compound.
 
A floppy burr is the result of weak steel at the very edge. Since you have a burr, go a couple light passes perpendicular to a stone. As if the stone were a balloon and you were trying to gently cut the rubber without popping the balloon. Doing this will dull the edge. It will also get rid of that bad floppy burr. Once removed, you can sharpen. This time, try not to raise a burr. So little of the edge should have been removed that it should take little time to get it sharp again.
 
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