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kwazyjuice

kwazyjuice

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Feb 10, 2013
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I have been looking for a thread about going up to 600 grit then changing the angle more obtuse and stropping with 14/10 diamond paste to polish the very edge(microbevel). Creating a polished toothy edge :)

I have been looking around and can't seem to find it. I appreciate it
 
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I found it!! It was on another site :) But I will post it here

Enjoy

**So I was inspired by Tom Krein's sharpening method to try and replicate it on my Wicked Edge.

Basically Tom puts an initial bevel on his knives with a worn out 120 belt and then buffs off the burrs. This results in a micro structure that is very toothy, but will still plow hairs off your arm.

From a user standpoint, this results in an edge that will stay shaving sharp for a seemingly impossible amount of time. If anyone has ever used a Krein sharpened knife, you will know edge retention is phenomenal.

The best part of this method, is that when it is applied to the Wicked Edge, you only need to purchase one accessory apart from the basic kit- the 10/14 micron strops.

What I just did on one of my SMFs is put an initial bevel of 46 degrees (23 per side), running from the 100 grit to the 600 grit, exactly per Clay's instructions. This will give you a very toothy edge that will *barely* shave, but maintain that level for a long time.

At this point, I extended both arms out by 2 degrees, and put on the strops. Because the angle had increased very slightly to 50 degrees inclusive, and the strops were only working on the apex of the edge, it only took 20 passes with each grit to bring the edge to hair popping sharpness. After testing it out on thick cardboard, I literally can't get the shaving characteristics to go away, even after 10 minutes of constant cutting.

The awesome thing about this method is three fold:

1. Extremely fast. No more running through 800, 1000, 1200, and 1600 grits to get to the point where it can be stropped

2. Toothy, and shaving sharp. Because the final edge angle is slightly more obtuse, edge retention is phenomenal, while still retaining the fineness of the strops grits, and the geometry of the primary 46 degree bevel. If the whole edge is polished to 10 microns, micro chips and mirco edge rolling is impossible to avoid, while the actual sharpness is not any greater as compared to this method.

3. Cheaper- you don't need any accessory stones.



Thanks to Clay for an amazing system to carry this out precisely, and Tom for the inspiration to bend the rules a little**

**This was borrowed from another site. I thought you guys might enjoy trying this too**
 
kwazyjuice said:
2. Toothy, and shaving sharp. Because the final edge angle is slightly more obtuse, edge retention is phenomenal, while still retaining the fineness of the strops grits, and the geometry of the primary 46 degree bevel. If the whole edge is polished to 10 microns, micro chips and mirco edge rolling is impossible to avoid, while the actual sharpness is not any greater as compared to this method.
Click to expand...

Not to pick nits, but any edge that is 10u across is going to feel mighty dull. With a toothy edge, there may very well be some regions that are relatively broad across, the terminal part of those formations will still be in the micron to sub-micron range. Once the projecting formations get worn away/down, the more recessed areas will have a tough time performing to any degree of satisfaction. Abrasive size doesn't really determine apex width, only how uniform that width will be as an average (and even this will vary considerably depending on how the abrasive is used).

I have no issue with the underlying premise, but depending on use, you can still get great edge retention at finer polish and/or more acute geometry. For a coarse draw-cutting edge I won't go above 30 degrees inclusive (I don't go much above that for any reason really). On my Washboard I don't go any higher than 600 or 800 grit and then strop, but I get a lot more stock removal than most stropping operations, so in effect it winds up closer to 1200-1500 (what I describe as a JWS 4k). For a faster utility edge I stop at 600 and finish by backhoning on plain paper. Does leave a real nice user's edge, and with a more acute apex will still perform pressure cuts very well. Stropping with abrasive at or around this finish will (IMHO) begin to degrade draw cutting potential and start to weigh toward pressure cutting.
 
I just picked this up from another forum. So I don't have a lot of experience with the results from this or other edges like you. I typically just sharpen my knives to a 40 degree inclusive. Never really tinkered with microbevels. Just from reading the thread I thought it would be fun to try. I also wanted to see what other people thought. I believe you could use this same format and just change your primary bevel to what suits you best and then strop at your 2 degrees out with the 14/10 microns. :)
 
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