I have a lanskey sharpening system and I have a problem. As I am sharpening a knife at the tip it takes off a large amount of metal making the tip look uneven compared to the rest of the blade. Does anybody else have this problem, if so what did you do to fix it? Thanks
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Lanskey sharpening problem
- Thread starter j.man
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,534
On most knife blades with grinds that taper or thin down from the spine to the edge, and edges that curve upward to the tip, the steel will be much thicker at the tip, because the tip is much closer to the (thicker) spine of the blade. The steel in lower portions of the blade (belly to heel) is thinner, because it's further away from the spine. This means, even if the same sharpening angle is maintained along the whole edge, the bevel will get noticeably wider as you approach the tip, because you're grinding away thicker steel.
This can be reduced or minimized somewhat, by moving the clamp closer to the tip, which would increase the edge angle there, and therefore narrow the bevel width. With some experience using the clamp, you'll begin to gain a feel for where to position the clamp, based on how you want the finished bevel to look.
On knives that have nice, even-width bevels from heel to tip, if one were to actually measure the edge angle, the angle would be considerably wider (more obtuse) nearer to the tip. This is usually why most blades are almost always noticeably 'blunter' at the tip. Only way to avoid it, would be to make a blade out of what's essentially a flat piece of bar stock, with no taper (thinning) in the grind between the spine and the edge. The thickness of the blade would be consistently uniform, whether near the spine or near the edge, so the edge angle and the bevel width would not vary along the length of the edge.
This can be reduced or minimized somewhat, by moving the clamp closer to the tip, which would increase the edge angle there, and therefore narrow the bevel width. With some experience using the clamp, you'll begin to gain a feel for where to position the clamp, based on how you want the finished bevel to look.
On knives that have nice, even-width bevels from heel to tip, if one were to actually measure the edge angle, the angle would be considerably wider (more obtuse) nearer to the tip. This is usually why most blades are almost always noticeably 'blunter' at the tip. Only way to avoid it, would be to make a blade out of what's essentially a flat piece of bar stock, with no taper (thinning) in the grind between the spine and the edge. The thickness of the blade would be consistently uniform, whether near the spine or near the edge, so the edge angle and the bevel width would not vary along the length of the edge.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,534
As far as sharpness goes, it's not a problem at all. It's an indicator (usually), that you've made the edge angle near the tip thinner than it was originally. Assuming the edge gets fully apexed, that should make the tip extremely sharp. For what it's worth, I've produced a few tips like this with my Lansky and other guided sharpeners, and I've come to like them, precisely because they're extremely sharp and great piercing tips.