Mantaining an Edge

K

KC8QVO

Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
162
I EDC an ESEE Izula II and several months back I polished it with an Edge Pro Apex (I believe I took it up to 6000). Every once in a while I touch up the edge on the rod my Apex kit came with. That helps the edge but I can never get it as sharp as I would like.

My uses for the knife are opening boxes, stripping wire (occasionally), and other general utility cutting.

What would be a good touch-up interval with the Apex? What should I take it down to at first? 600? or 320?
 
Well, it pretty much all comes back to how much work you want to do to get it sharp. Sharpen early, sharpen often, and getting your edge back wont' be as hard compared to if you let it get very dull.

Same idea with the grit selection... You don't really want to do more work than you need to, so if you start out at a higher grit at a point where it will still touch it up you'll be making things easier on yourself.

That's just one school of thought anyway... If you're stripping wire though, I'd imagine you have some fairly large dents and dings that you might need to take out with the 320 grit.
 
Thanks for the reply. I ended up trying 600 and followed through 2000. I need to play around with the blade some, it doesn't seem as sharp as it should be. The last go around I went to 3000 polish tape. I see I haven't opened my 6000 yet. Before I was able to shave with it and even whittle hair. As it sits right now I can't shave with it very easy.

I might need to go back to 600 and work it more, or should I drop to 320?

I would consider my using the knife a bit on the conservative side. It is a "utility" knife, but I don't beat it up.
 
This is just my personal sense of the order of things, but I get quite frustrated if I allow my edges to get so dull that the 2000 grit Shapton is inadequate.
 
For general cutting utility, there's such a thing as too sharp.

I know it's all the rage for the obsessed knife knut to get that hair whittling sharp edge that gives you bragging rights in the forum, but it's actually counter productive. I used to do the fine and ultra fine sharpening, and I had to sharpen more often, and like you, my knife never felt as sharp as it should be. Then I went back top the womb.

I was cleaning out my attic, and I ran across a box with my old boy scout stuff in it. In there was my old gray 300 something grit pocket carborunum stone from the 1950's. It was worn and a bit concave, but just for yuks, I sharpened up my pocket knife on it. Much to my surprise, I got a shaving sharp and very agressive edge. Before this, I had just used a 600 grit Eze-lap model L for my knife blades. I sat there remembering the sharpening sessions we had under the eye of our scout master, an old retired marine. That old scout stone was all we used on our scout knives, but we always had wicked sharp knives.

Since finding my old stone, I've used nothing else, and now my knives bite right into what I go to cut, and seem to stay sharp way longer with the courser toothy edge. And I do break down a lot of cardboard boxes.

I think our obsession with knives and all things concerned with them, causes us to over think things, and get too over board on something that is not rocket science. Sometimes simple is good. Forget anything over 600 grit, if that much. finish with light strokes, and just strop well after the course stone, and you may find yourself sharpening less, and enjoying your knife more. On fiberous stuff like rope, and rough duty like cardboard, the course edge will serve you better than the overly done bragging rights super edge. Just try it. Are you cutting stuff, or shaving with that knife. There is a difference in the real world.

Carl.
 
Jackknife,

I most certainly respect your right to your opinion. But experience forces me to respectfully disagree with it.

In my personal experience, especially with higher grade steels, quite the opppsite has been the case. I've found that a very highly refined, mirror polished blade is a superior cutter, and the edge retains it's ability to cut far longer.

While one may well make the case that a razor-blade edge degrades rather quickly, that edge degrades only to a still quite sharp utility edge which is far sharper than a rough blade. The "toothy" edge on a semi sharp knife degrades to quite dull with amazing rapidity.
 
Ben Dover said:
Jackknife,

I most certainly respect your right to your opinion. But experience forces me to respectfully disagree with it.

In my personal experience, especially with higher grade steels, quite the opppsite has been the case. I've found that a very highly refined, mirror polished blade is a superior cutter, and the edge retains it's ability to cut far longer.

While one may well make the case that a razor-blade edge degrades rather quickly, that edge degrades only to a still quite sharp utility edge which is far sharper than a rough blade. The "toothy" edge on a semi sharp knife degrades to quite dull with amazing rapidity.
Click to expand...


+1 I totally agree and couldn't have put it better myself. unlike the toothy edge, a very sharp mirror polished hair wittling edge for me turns in to a very sharp utility edge and holds that edge far longer. You can use that very sharp utility edge to cut pretty much anything you could with the tooth edge, probally more so.
 
Sharp and polished and mirror polished for the beauty of the mirror polish are two different things.

Personally I have never found 1095 to work that great with a extreme mirror polish. I use a 6k waterstone in most cases to finish carbon steels, Sharp and polished with a bit of bite but not overly polished.
 
According to my personal preference, I've been in the habit of taking all of my edges up to 2000 grit on wet/dry paper, at least. Some knives I've taken further, up to and through Simichrome or DMT 1 micron paste on strops. I've never had any issues with these polished edges dulling quickly, in real-world use (cardboard, plastic, leather, wood, food, etc.). My best personal example, which drove the point home for me, is a Buck 112 with 440C blade, which I convexed and polished up through 2K and Simichrome strop. It's a cardboard-eating machine, very slick & smooth. The only additional maintenance I've done with it, is occasional stropping. I point this one out because, before I re-bevelled the edge, I was never able to do much heavy cutting in cardboard with it, without it binding up (and it was a much coarser finish, essentially the 'factory' edge). The more I've done it, the more I find out that the durability of the edge is all about how effective the edge geometry is, regardless of the degree of polish. So long as the edge is completely and uniformly apexed, and care is taken to completely eliminate burrs & wire edges left behind (which fold over and falsely give the impression of rapid dulling), the durability of the edge has never (and I mean NEVER) been a problem for me.

I have no doubt durable edges can be produced with either coarse or polished finish. There are skilled practitioners who specialize in one or the other, and they all seem to produce great cutters. The common trait is good, pure edge geometry, and edges that are clean & free of burrs and ESPECIALLY the wire edges. I really believe wire edges are the most mischievous troublemakers in sharpening.

In a nutshell, pick a finish you want & like, then make sure you execute it to the fullest, cleanest ends. That'll make the biggest difference.
 
I find there is a balance between cutting efficiency and edge retention around the 12-16 Micron range.

Or for the EP users that would be the 600 grit stone.

What I do currently is sharpen to 400 Grit using a Congress Sil Carbide Stone (or Fine Norton Sil Carbide) then strop on a Sil Carbide loaded strop using the slurry from the Norton stone (Smooth Side).

What that does is provide what I call the optimal edge, from the extensive testing that I have done it offers the best balance of edge refinement (Semi Polished), edge retention and cutting efficiency.
 
For my V-edge blades I take them up to 1200 and then to the strop w/ green compound and that seems to work well for general utility chores. Easily shaves and if I strop it at the end of the day it stays sharp. For my convex blades I take them to 2000grit sandpaper then the strop. Hair popping edge that's maintainable on the strop. I'm no guru but this works for me.
 
I go up to green compound on most of my edges, but what I found is that if the edge is not properly aligned, forget about good edge retention. I can get shaving sharpness from a 30 old silicone stone since I improved my technique, rather then equipment. Maintenance is easy then on a Crock stick at 20 degrees inclusive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top