More on sharpening - wondering about a detail

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Nov 19, 2014
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In all the tutorials I saw, one is advised to use a pen marker to make sure that metal is removed right at the edge. It stands to common reason that you want to remove metal from the edge. It seems to me, though, that metal should be removed upper towards the spine ("towards", not "at the").

Otherwise, as you remove metal from the edge, the width up to where the "grind line" (not sure I am using the proper term?) starts, is going to become smaller and smaller. Given the kukri's size and geometry, I'm not sure one can sharpen at the same time the very edge and the whole bevel. Or am I wrong, and I should choose my angles better?

So, how do you ensure that the width of your bevel remains constant, instead of obtaining a "stockier" grind? Do you do a second pass specifically for this reason?

Again, excuse me if I'm not using the proper terms.

Ground_blade_shapes.png


"Grind line" marked in red on a typical kukri bevel shape, vs a "classic" (?) convex bevel.
 
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Let's assume a flat edge. The edge will have an angle you want to maintain.

You use the Sharpie to color your edge. If you are sharpening at the correct angle, you will wear away the Sharpie color all at once (as opposed to bottom half first, then top half closer to the grind line).

This also means the grind line will travel up (like cutting a vegetable on a diagonal).

Hope this makes sense.
 
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However, if you have a multi-angle edge, first 10 then 20 degrees, you would see what you're asking about. As you sharpen the knife at 20 degrees, the 10 degrees portion will get "shorter" as the 20 degrees grind line moves up the knife. In this case, you would eventually want to reshape the entire edge to have a flat 10 degrees and then add a new 20 degrees edge. This would be the second pass you mentioned.

You could expand from 2 angles to 100 and it would be closer to a convex edge.

For a convex edge, I assume you sharpen all "100" angles at once if you use something like the sandpaper+mousepad technique (so grind line moves up as you sharpen) but I'm not sure.


Looks like I didn't actually answer your question. Sorry. :p
 
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That's not a bad way to guide yourself toward a good edge, but given enough time you'll start to replicate the same kind of edge free handed.

Our late great mod and friend Yvsa used to talk about that if you hand sharpen with a stone and don't use a guide, you'll eventually end up with a convex edge of sorts.
 
great thread( the yvsa one and this one as a reminder of sharpening basics, something I still have not done more than use the chakma)
 
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