Microbevels

[000Robert]

Need some advise. I have an old knife which needs sharpening and it has a 22.5 DPS bevels. Is it feasible or advisable to re profile it at 20 DPS then put 22.5 DPS bevel on it. Thanks in advance.

I would say, yes. I guess it depends on the knife. I'm not completely sold on microbevels, but many people are. If you're going to reprofile the edges to 20dps it would probably be better to make the microbevel 23 or 24dps.

 

[cudgee]

I would say, yes. I guess it depends on the knife. I'm not completely sold on microbevels, but many people are. If you're going to reprofile the edges to 20dps it would probably be better to make the microbevel 23 or 24dps.

Or what about go the other way, and make the re profile angle say 17-18DPS, then micro bevel at 22.5.

 

[000Robert]

Or what about go the other way, and make the re profile angle say 17-18DPS, then micro bevel at 22.5.

It depends on the knife, blade steel, and what you are using the knife for. There are many threads talking about that stuff.

 

[David45]

17 & 20

 

[TwinStick]

I have not read through this entire thread but for me, I think there is a LOT to be said for micro bevels. I have been sharpening by hand since I was about 7 yrs old. Now almost 60. I have been able to get blades paper cutting sharp for many decades. I have recently committed to upping my sharpening skills.

I really enjoy sharpening by hand. I have 3 oil stones and 3 water stones up to 6000. I also bought a really nice 12" double sided strop and some green compound. I can get my kitchen knives to the next level & they do pop the occasional hair but I can't get them hair popping straight razor sharp until I finish on my ceramic sticks. It puts a micro bevel on my blades and literally makes them pop hair off like a straight razor.

I have never enjoyed cutting up food that much until I actually achieved the hair popping sharpness. It is so nice to be able to cut root vegetables and squash without it flying across the room. So I am a big fan of micro bevels at this current point of the rabbit hole. But who knows, I am always learning so that could change, IDK ?

 

[4th. Down]

I have not read through this entire thread but for me, I think there is a LOT to be said for micro bevels. I have been sharpening by hand since I was about 7 yrs old. Now almost 60. I have been able to get blades paper cutting sharp for many decades. I have recently committed to upping my sharpening skills.

I really enjoy sharpening by hand. I have 3 oil stones and 3 water stones up to 6000. I also bought a really nice 12" double sided strop and some green compound. I can get my kitchen knives to the next level & they do pop the occasional hair but I can't get them hair popping straight razor sharp until I finish on my ceramic sticks. It puts a micro bevel on my blades and literally makes them pop hair off like a straight razor.

I have never enjoyed cutting up food that much until I actually achieved the hair popping sharpness. It is so nice to be able to cut root vegetables and squash without it flying across the room. So I am a big fan of micro bevels at this current point of the rabbit hole. But who knows, I am always learning so that could change, IDK ?

So your process is ceramic rod to finish with?

 

[4th. Down]

Needing counsel on Cliff's process on a kitchen knife of Destressing the edge.

After Cliff completes the destressing part, he conditions the blade as his 2nd. step in the process with shaping the edge and then finally refining the apex. In his video, it appears after destressing, he is just sharpening and he says that he is plaining down the apex level until the edge does not reflect light and then sharpen the apex with a few light strokes. To me, it appears the only difference he is making in the process is on sharpening the apex, he reduces pressure with just a few light strokes. I'm not clicking on the difference between plaining down the apex and the final light passes to sharpen the apex. Is he changing his blade angle as he goes from plaining to sharpening the apex? These 2 final steps seem so similar except the light strokes at the end.

For my western kitchen knives (50/50), I'm going to begin a process of 1. destressing the edge 2. plaining the edge until no light on it 3. forming an apex of about 17 dps. and finish with a micro at 20 dps. and see what this process results in.

Jan. 26th........changed my mind. Went with 12 DPS on Primary Bevel and 15 DPS on Micro....good results finishing with a buffalo leather strop with just a tiny bit of Mineral Oil.......really sharp for $7 Chinese Chef. (6") and 8" Chinese Chef. for $11. Cliff would probably get after me for the leather strop deal but it did help on finishing.

 

[peanutaxis]

I was thinking about the 'theory' of knife sharpening and was considering trying to put a microbevel on my knife, which I've never done before. I was going to start a thread on microbevels and found this thread.

My argument:
It occurs to me that the higher the grit stone you are using you are just putting on microbevels anyway. Hear me out. Let's say you cut a perfect secondary bevel at 15° using a coarse stone (using hand-sharpening, not a 'system' like lansky) and now you progress to more and more fine stones. If you hit EXACTLY 15° with your polishing stone and never deviate even a fraction of a degree then you will never affect the cutting edge because with a polishing stone it might take you months sawing at the stone to even start to cut any material away from the face of your secondary bevel.
What is really going on is that you can never be that accurate, and it is ONLY when you stroke the stone at 15.5° or 16° (or more) that you are actually cleaning up and putting a microbevel on the edge.

What do people think?

 

[WóðanaZ]

I was thinking about the 'theory' of knife sharpening and was considering trying to put a microbevel on my knife, which I've never done before. I was going to start a thread on microbevels and found this thread.

My argument:
It occurs to me that the higher the grit stone you are using you are just putting on microbevels anyway. Hear me out. Let's say you cut a perfect secondary bevel at 15° using a coarse stone (using hand-sharpening, not a 'system' like lansky) and now you progress to more and more fine stones. If you hit EXACTLY 15° with your polishing stone and never deviate even a fraction of a degree then you will never affect the cutting edge because with a polishing stone it might take you months sawing at the stone to even start to cut any material away from the face of your secondary bevel.
What is really going on is that you can never be that accurate, and it is ONLY when you stroke the stone at 15.5° or 16° (or more) that you are actually cleaning up and putting a microbevel on the edge.

What do people think?

Regardless of what grit stone you’re using when you’ve finished on that stone the blade should be able to slice newsprint like it’s not even there. Any additional grits are simply refining the already existing edge.

This assures a clean and well defined apex regardless of grit.