Mirror edges

Sharpnessis

Sharpnessis

Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
810
I sent my caly 3.5 to theapostlep on YouTube for sharpening. I got this gorgeous mirror polished blade back.
IMG951178.jpg

Now I'm trying to recreate it on another knife, my endura, same steel vg10.
I use a belt sander with numerous grits and paper wheels. I have come close but nothing like that edge pro apex can do. I'll upload a few pics in the next few minutes to show you that I can come close but not quite.
 
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Now in this pic it looks like I did it. But in the next pic under different light you'll be able to see the grind lines. Nowhere near as polished as theapostlep did.
 
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Believe it or not this is the same blade just different light. I really want to be able to achieve that true mirror finish! Any words of wisdom? Maybe a fancy high grit belt or better grit progression?
 
It's funny how no matter how sharp or how polished it is... it's never enough :p I wish I could get my blades to the point that you have yours now! Good job :thumbup:
 
"Old Rob" :D (TheApostleP) sure knows his way around the EPA! Awesome edge!!
 
Going to finer and finer grits is going to do nothing for you. Those are large scratches that have not been fully removed. You need to tighten up your progression down low (smaller increment gains) and spend more time removing the previous scratch pattern before moving on.

What are you finishing on.
 
Sadden said:
Going to finer and finer grits is going to do nothing for you. Those are large scratches that have not been fully removed. You need to tighten up your progression down low (smaller increment gains) and spend more time removing the previous scratch pattern before moving on.

What are you finishing on.
Click to expand...

This^^^.
 
If we areall sick then i should be wrapped up in one of those self hugging jackets ;)
 
Sadden said:
Going to finer and finer grits is going to do nothing for you. Those are large scratches that have not been fully removed. You need to tighten up your progression down low (smaller increment gains) and spend more time removing the previous scratch pattern before moving on.

What are you finishing on.
Click to expand...

This is my usual: 120,220,320,600,1000,paper wheel. The edge above I did use leather strop coarse, medium, fine, xfine. Maybe a little more time on each one?
 
Okay so assuming your using the 5 stock stones that means that your finishing on a 7 micron stone. Not enough to develop a mirror. Lets forget about the paper wheels for now. I think that changing methods is a contributing factor here.

Tell me more about your strops. M F EF does not mean anything numerically. That grating system doesnt relate to the system used by your EP (assuming thats what your using)

As far as those 5 stones are concerned i wouldnt be using the 120 and 220 every sharpening nor the 320 unless its needed. But when you do drop that low its going to take some serious work on the 320 to remove those scratches. Then some serious work on the 600 to remove the 320 scratches. The 1k things should.start picking up
 
Sorry for the confusion. I use a belt sander and paper wheels (and sometimes strops) only. No edge pro here. However I'm trying to recreate that beautiful mirror that Rob does so well.
 
I would try some CBN on linen. Establish a bevel and a burr with the 5 grits mentioned above then go to linen/CBN from there. You need to talk to ken directly to get those emulsions.

I would still ditch the paper wheels.

I see you menyioned up above that you used a belt sander. My bad.
 
For stainless steel, it seems that you need an abrasive in the range of 4000 to 5000 JIS (waterstones) which is something like 1400 to 1800 ANSI. Until I got a 5k Nubatama waterstone I had never seen a mirror edge on any of my stainless blades. Now I have! This explains why the Spyderco UF stone makes that "magic mirror edge". It's around the 4000 JIS mark, plus it burnishes.

With carbon steel I've seen a total mirror edge from more coarse abrasives, which is kinda weird, but I've definitely seen it.

Brian.
 
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I went back and was careful with my grit progression. Now it's a little better. Thanks for the advice. I think I need some new higher grit belts, though.
 
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