More noob sharpening questions: how many steps?

I would like to add a comment on the BESS tester. When I started sharpening in earnest I read “Knife Deburring”. It really messed with my mind thinking I needed a truckload of equipment to achieve a sharp, burr free apex. After much time and a thousand knives later I’m here to say, you don’t…. But, to make this journey shorter for you, save your pennies and spring for a tester. If I had not bought a tester I’d still be standing there with a magazine page or cigarette paper wondering if this was sharper than the last time? Within a couple weeks of buying the tester I discovered I was stropping too much, one of my emulsion’s wasn’t doing what I thought it was, how different steels took an edge and some other eye openers.

I needed some way to measure my progress, successes and failures. The tester let me see how many times I needed to pass the knife over a strop before I rounded the edge and it started getting duller. It will let me know if my stropping emulsion is effective… like, should I use diamonds or is Tormek’s paste good enough?, or better? Is my stropping angle too deep or shallow? Am I using enough pressure or too much? How to approach different steels? And of course, how sharp is my knife? No more magazine pages or cigarette papers, you will truly know.
Honestly, for me, the tester changed almost everything I had been doing to get a knife sharp. It took my knives from meh to YEOW in less time.
Regardless of your goal in sharpening, in my humble opinion, a BESS tester will shorten your journey to get there.

Folks have been sharpening forever without it and achieving their goals. I like being able to measure my results and find the BESS tester an effective tool for my style of knife sharpening.
 
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Definately good advice, its hard to improve what you don't measure. Many of us spend enough money on knives to where this is not a great expense. But is this device measuring the sharpness at one point on the edge or along the edge??
 
It only measures at one point. Once you get some practice using it, you’ll start to know when the entire blade is refined. If I’m trying to get it “perfect” I will measure the tip, the area most used and lower towards the rear. It’s just a tool to look at your progress. Typically, if one section is sharp, the rest will be close. If not, run it on the strop again. I use controlled angle on the Tormek so that edge is fairly consistent. I do freehand when using the belt grinder but again, most of the edge will be similar. I love the BESS. But it’s only a tool.
 
Gottagofishn said:
I would like to add a comment on the BESS tester. When I started sharpening in earnest I read “Knife Deburring”. It really messed with my mind thinking I needed a truckload of equipment to achieve a sharp, burr free apex. After much time and a thousand knives later I’m here to say, you don’t…. But, to make this journey shorter for you, save your pennies and spring for a tester. If I had not bought a tester I’d still be standing there with a magazine page or cigarette paper wondering if this was sharper than the last time? Within a couple weeks of buying the tester I discovered I was stropping too much, one of my emulsion’s wasn’t doing what I thought it was, how different steels took an edge and some other eye openers.

I needed some way to measure my progress, successes and failures. The tester let me see how many times I needed to pass the knife over a strop before I rounded the edge and it started getting duller. It will let me know if my stropping emulsion is effective… like, should I use diamonds or is Tormek’s paste good enough?, or better? Is my stropping angle too deep or shallow? Am I using enough pressure or too much? How to approach different steels? And of course, how sharp is my knife? No more magazine pages or cigarette papers, you will truly know.
Honestly, for me, the tester changed almost everything I had been doing to get a knife sharp. It took my knives from meh to YEOW in less time.
Regardless of your goal in sharpening, in my humble opinion, a BESS tester will shorten your journey to get there.

Folks have been sharpening forever without it and achieving their goals. I like being able to measure my results and find the BESS tester an effective tool for my style of knife sharpening.
Click to expand...
Sigh....thanks for this comment. Unfortunately, you've articulated (beautifully!) where my head is right now: How do I KNOW that I'm getting a knife sharp? Can I do better? And ultimately for me, the goal is not just to figure out how to get knives sharp. How can I figure this process out so that I can get the job done efficiently/quickly?

Bruce
 
Since the subject includes both noob and sharpening I have a question. Pocket sharpeners are very popular. My question is simply does one pull the knife across the sharpener. Or does one pull the sharpener across the blade. Personally, I am more comfortable with the latter.
 
Probably depends on the individual, and even then probably depends for the individual on which knife and sharpener.
 
I guess I'm old school, I just use my fingers to feel the sharpness. The finger tips are a great tool if you use them and IMO, you should know how all levels of sharpness and edge deformation feel. You want a good example of sharp? Go buy a utility blade from the store, the dewalt brand usually has a great edge. This will show you the upper end of sharpeness that can be expected on "most" knives.

Also, start looking closer at the edge. See the scratch pattern, see the burr, then feel it. If you are not getting up close to the edge you will never understand what's going on.

A 2 or 3 step process is standard, grind and polish or Grind, sharpen, polish. In most cases a Coarse stone, a medium stone, and a fine stone is all that's needed for sharpening. Coarse grinding/sharpening should be most of your focus, this is the make or break point for how your edge will end up. Everything after coarse grinding is simply a refinement of the scratch pattern and making the burr smaller.

Being fast and efficient will come when you learn how to sharpen. First, learn how to grind an edge nice and straight. Learn to clean up that coarse edge in the sharpening stage, then learn how to finish that edge so that there is no burr.

(And also)
The edge can be sharp at ANY grit if it is clean. The edge can also be dull at any grit with unmanaged burr and debris in the way. You dont have to polish to make the edge sharp, you only need it clean and precise. Falling down the rabbit hole is easy here, try and stick to the basics and master the fundamentals.
 
With my stones and knives, including Henckels, if I have any burr past the 450 it is because I haven't reached the apex yet. Once I do clean the apex up with them, using edge trailing strokes only, then the burr will disappear. Another funny discovery is if I do too many strokes my sharpness drops, or a minor angle change and wham, the test is 50+ grams higher. I too feel with my finger tips but can not detect the difference between 120 grams and 170 grams without my BESS tester. I don't use the BESS tester or microscope all the time but they have made the biggest difference in how I sharpen knives. They have corrected so many misconceptions of what is supposed to work when sharpening knives.
 
I can honestly say that people who talk about sharpening with coarse stones are absolutely right. I'll tell you even more, folks: when you have a microscope and observe the results of sharpening with a stone, you come to a very simple conclusion. Even at grits like 180, 360, 600, or 800, by making finishing strokes and minimizing the abrasive pressure on the cutting edge, you get an amazing result. Essentially, the primary sharpness, as it seems to me, is achieved at 180 and 360 grits. Everything beyond that is just refining and polishing the cutting edge.

The burr, if you're sharpening on a fixed-angle system, can be removed at the very end, but it's better to address it with each stone. In my opinion, for good sharpening, what's important is:

1. Having the right tools (a sharpening system or doing it by hand).
2. Equally important is having at least a basic lens microscope, like 50x magnification.
3. When you start understanding the nature of the burr and how to remove it, you can achieve incredible sharpness at low grit levels.

For example, here's the result of sharpening on a 28/20 micron stone (roughly 650 grit), even without any polishing. (This was at 22 degrees per side, a total of 44 degrees, for a chopper's edge geometry.) In reality, soft, controlled finishing strokes can essentially act as refinement, even at lower grit levels.

Advice to ALL beginners: Aim to achieve sharpness where the blade can cut paper, a napkin, or shave hair already at 300-400 grit. Then, learn to polish and refine the cutting edge. Essentially, I agree with those who say sharpening is a science! There are many controversial points, and some might say I'm doing something wrong, BUT! Everyone will agree that you need to master getting maximum sharpness from coarse grit levels.

**Simplified with burr minimization**: Achieve a clean, sharp edge at low grits (300-400) by minimizing burrs with controlled, light finishing strokes, then refine and polish as needed.
P.S
To objectively assess the level of sharpness, you can do this:
Try cutting something soft and free-hanging. Then you won't need any other tools, except maybe a bunch of napkins, A4 paper, or receipt tape for testing. 🫣
 
Think of all edges as being serated at the microscopic level. The finer grits don’t make the edge sharper just finer

Mostly I use a worn coarse stone so medium? I don’t need it finer than that.
 
I'm not 100% sure you can achieve an Edge that would test at 50 (Gillette razor blade) on the BESS. I believe the unit documentation states that somewhere... (or I could be dreaming).
The numbers might be inaccurate as with a very toothy edge, as you cut a thread to measure the force it takes to do so. With the toothy edge, the force to cut said thread might be different. Might need a different sharpness tester. That being said, most seem to find a toothy edge desirable.

One other comment. I used to test sharpness by pulling my thumb across the blade. However, all I could really tell is whether it is a working edge or not (for most folks that's good enough). I can't really tell how sharp it is, as in is it 100 or 200 on a BESS tester. The late great Vadim Kraichuk from Australian Knife Grinders discusses that in his "Knife Deburring " book.

Lastly, if you don't get rid of ALL of the burr, it will be the cause of premature dulling.
 
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