- Joined
- Dec 3, 2009
- Messages
- 1,593
Hey guys,
I started sharpening with a cheap handheld stone a long time ago, then went to the spyderco sharpmaker as I rekindled my love for knives, progressed to japanese waterstones and strops, sandpaper here and there, found out about bladeforums, progressed in my knowledge and took the step to dmt diamond coated diafolds. Just recently I got the dmt benchstones from XXC to XXF.
The step to the diamonds was a major step forwards and it wowed me a lot. I didn't think that with my setup of waterstones (the naniwa 220/1000, 2000/5000 and10000, recently also 12k) other systems would be worth the trouble.
As an example, I always had trouble with s30v steel, it just took me a long time to get it to where I wanted on the waterstones. With the diafolds, I restored a buck nighthawk with a damaged edge within a couple of hours and got s30V sharp and perfect in a fraction of the time and easier than with my waterstones. The diamonds are agressive cutters.
The benchstones are great for flattening my waterstones (I use those for my straight razors), great for larger knives and rough work and a joy to use. Less mess than with waterstones. Both the dmt's and the waterstones come with a price attached though.
I also got the diapastes for stropping. 6, 3 and 1 micron pastes by dmt. Made some new strops and gave them a spin. I quickly moved from the cr2o3 I have to diapaste only, since the polish I get with diapastes is much better than the chromium gives me. Also, if I strop with the chromium after the 1 micron diapaste, the polish diminishes, so I guess the size of the grit is not .5 micron as I always thought, but my polishing compound has larger particle sizes.
Now, I thought cr2o3 was good since I was very happy with the sharpness of my knives, but apparently, the quality of the stuff I have was not so good. I got my knives pretty sharp with the chromium oxide but was never able to whittle hair. I have to admit though that I never tried to get there before and I accidentally found out recently I could whittle hair. This was after I had been stropping with the dmt pastes for a while already. My normal test was just shaving and popping of hair from my arms, legs, jaws.
A well known bladeforums' advocate of diamond stones advised me to get some of the diamond stuff and had good things to say about diapastes. He also happens to be one of the dudes here that keep spamming us with pictures of wicked sharp knives
polished edges, split hair and all the good stuff that makes all of us drool on this forum all the time.
So I got the dmt's, was very happy with it and started using all the stuff.
So after a relaxing jamsession one night with my knives and a good stropping, I ripped out a hair and thought "let's see if I can whittle hair". Now, without having whittling in mind while I was stropping, I found out, much to my big surprise and great enjoyment that I actually was whittling the hair.
It truly was one of those "Now I'm there" moments
So, I'm able to reproduce the results all the time, get those hair whittling edges, also via the waterstones, by stropping with the dmt diapastes as the final step.
For me, the diamonds helped me in couple of ways:
1. quicker sharpening, they cut more aggressively than waterstones I have. Modern steels are sharpened faster by diamonds.
2. easy setup. the diafolds especially are very easy to use since they are handheld
3. the scratch pattern tells you a lot about how you are sharpening. Since they leave a very well defined scratch pattern, it's easier to read than the scratch pattern left by waterstones
4. they have a clear range in their setup from xxc to xc, to c, to f, to xf, to xxf, to 6 micron paste, 3 micron paste, 1 micron paste.
5. portable and not so much mess as with the waterstones
6. my edges got sharper with the pastes.
7. with the diafolds, since they are handheld, I can hold them anyway I like, but also in a way in which I can actually see the edge angle and the position of the diafold so I can match them up exactly over the curvature of the edge, this allows me to look along the edge and have an extra control point while sharpening.
One tip I can give you that I haven't read here before:
I find that I reprofile or restore a damaged edge even faster when using different angles of movement of the blade (don't confuse this with the angle of the edge). It also helps getting rid of grit patterns of the previous stone faster.
Let me explain: When you sharpen with the blade perpendicular to the direction you move the blade in, the scratch patterns are uniform going from edge in the direction of the spine. Then sharpen by holding the blade diagonally across the stone, either tip first or handle first. Change these positions when sharpening and you'll remove the grits of the previous stone faster and more uniformly.
Maintenance is fairly easy on the polished edges, and they cut like lasers...:thumbup:
The moral is: with the right tools (and the right experience I guess) you too can go to whittling hair without too much trouble.
and now some pics of my last project, the one I finished today in about an hour (overall time). Only used dmt diafolds and the strops. started with Fine to remove the factory grit marks, went to xf, xxf and then the 3 strops. As an extra so you get the picture, I did the diafold stuff with 3 kids dancing and singing and playing around me, and stropped while talking to my gf. So it was in a (more or less) social, not so concentrated setting I did this and I got the hair whittling result.
Here's the post I did on it
Now, the only problem is, I feel there is more to this sharpening thing... THere must be a better way...If anyone knows anything more, please enlighten me. I hear stuff... stuff about paper wheels
BUT: don't tell me in this post please!!!!!!!
hehehe LOL
thanks knifenut for the recommendation!
enjoy the pics guys!
rick hinderer xm-18 3" polished edge on top of an ipad!
I started sharpening with a cheap handheld stone a long time ago, then went to the spyderco sharpmaker as I rekindled my love for knives, progressed to japanese waterstones and strops, sandpaper here and there, found out about bladeforums, progressed in my knowledge and took the step to dmt diamond coated diafolds. Just recently I got the dmt benchstones from XXC to XXF.
The step to the diamonds was a major step forwards and it wowed me a lot. I didn't think that with my setup of waterstones (the naniwa 220/1000, 2000/5000 and10000, recently also 12k) other systems would be worth the trouble.
As an example, I always had trouble with s30v steel, it just took me a long time to get it to where I wanted on the waterstones. With the diafolds, I restored a buck nighthawk with a damaged edge within a couple of hours and got s30V sharp and perfect in a fraction of the time and easier than with my waterstones. The diamonds are agressive cutters.
The benchstones are great for flattening my waterstones (I use those for my straight razors), great for larger knives and rough work and a joy to use. Less mess than with waterstones. Both the dmt's and the waterstones come with a price attached though.
I also got the diapastes for stropping. 6, 3 and 1 micron pastes by dmt. Made some new strops and gave them a spin. I quickly moved from the cr2o3 I have to diapaste only, since the polish I get with diapastes is much better than the chromium gives me. Also, if I strop with the chromium after the 1 micron diapaste, the polish diminishes, so I guess the size of the grit is not .5 micron as I always thought, but my polishing compound has larger particle sizes.
Now, I thought cr2o3 was good since I was very happy with the sharpness of my knives, but apparently, the quality of the stuff I have was not so good. I got my knives pretty sharp with the chromium oxide but was never able to whittle hair. I have to admit though that I never tried to get there before and I accidentally found out recently I could whittle hair. This was after I had been stropping with the dmt pastes for a while already. My normal test was just shaving and popping of hair from my arms, legs, jaws.
A well known bladeforums' advocate of diamond stones advised me to get some of the diamond stuff and had good things to say about diapastes. He also happens to be one of the dudes here that keep spamming us with pictures of wicked sharp knives
polished edges, split hair and all the good stuff that makes all of us drool on this forum all the time.So I got the dmt's, was very happy with it and started using all the stuff.
So after a relaxing jamsession one night with my knives and a good stropping, I ripped out a hair and thought "let's see if I can whittle hair". Now, without having whittling in mind while I was stropping, I found out, much to my big surprise and great enjoyment that I actually was whittling the hair.
It truly was one of those "Now I'm there" moments
So, I'm able to reproduce the results all the time, get those hair whittling edges, also via the waterstones, by stropping with the dmt diapastes as the final step.
For me, the diamonds helped me in couple of ways:
1. quicker sharpening, they cut more aggressively than waterstones I have. Modern steels are sharpened faster by diamonds.
2. easy setup. the diafolds especially are very easy to use since they are handheld
3. the scratch pattern tells you a lot about how you are sharpening. Since they leave a very well defined scratch pattern, it's easier to read than the scratch pattern left by waterstones
4. they have a clear range in their setup from xxc to xc, to c, to f, to xf, to xxf, to 6 micron paste, 3 micron paste, 1 micron paste.
5. portable and not so much mess as with the waterstones
6. my edges got sharper with the pastes.
7. with the diafolds, since they are handheld, I can hold them anyway I like, but also in a way in which I can actually see the edge angle and the position of the diafold so I can match them up exactly over the curvature of the edge, this allows me to look along the edge and have an extra control point while sharpening.
One tip I can give you that I haven't read here before:
I find that I reprofile or restore a damaged edge even faster when using different angles of movement of the blade (don't confuse this with the angle of the edge). It also helps getting rid of grit patterns of the previous stone faster.
Let me explain: When you sharpen with the blade perpendicular to the direction you move the blade in, the scratch patterns are uniform going from edge in the direction of the spine. Then sharpen by holding the blade diagonally across the stone, either tip first or handle first. Change these positions when sharpening and you'll remove the grits of the previous stone faster and more uniformly.
Maintenance is fairly easy on the polished edges, and they cut like lasers...:thumbup:
The moral is: with the right tools (and the right experience I guess) you too can go to whittling hair without too much trouble.
and now some pics of my last project, the one I finished today in about an hour (overall time). Only used dmt diafolds and the strops. started with Fine to remove the factory grit marks, went to xf, xxf and then the 3 strops. As an extra so you get the picture, I did the diafold stuff with 3 kids dancing and singing and playing around me, and stropped while talking to my gf. So it was in a (more or less) social, not so concentrated setting I did this and I got the hair whittling result.
Here's the post I did on it
Now, the only problem is, I feel there is more to this sharpening thing... THere must be a better way...If anyone knows anything more, please enlighten me. I hear stuff... stuff about paper wheels
BUT: don't tell me in this post please!!!!!!!
hehehe LOLthanks knifenut for the recommendation!
enjoy the pics guys!
rick hinderer xm-18 3" polished edge on top of an ipad!
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