Not sure what I'm doing wrong

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brian4696

Joined
Apr 24, 2010
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Well I've just recently started free hand sharpening. I'm using the king 1000/6000 grit combo. I have read countless post and watched countless vids I even bought the 90min how to vid at carter cutlery and watched it and still I just seem to be making my knives worse lol. Well not worse but definitely not like I'm seeing on YouTube. I start off by putting marker on my primary edge so I'm sure I'm hitting it then begin with the 1000 grit it removes all the marker so I am assuming I'm hitting the right edge then I repeat on other side. When I'm done with the 1000 grit like hour later it won't even cut paper let alone shave. I can't even get it to cut paper after the 6000 grit but after I strop it on leather worth green compound I can get it to shaving sharp. You guys have any ideas why I have to strop it on leather b4 it cuts well when I see people getting it to slice paper like butter after 400 grit. Any ideas of what I'm doing wrong or need to get better?
 
I would tend to agree with bpeezer. If you are sharpening a softer steel your burr may just be flopping back and forth. Murray has stated that some times you will need to do a stroke or two edge leading on the stone to cut off the burr and then go back to edge trailing to finish.
 
I will run it lightly through a soft piece of wood I thought that would take the burr off? Sorry for late reply been helping wife's friend move all day. Also I was sharpening my strider smf in cpm 154 and my bushcrafter from Bruce culberson which I think is a high carbon steel
 
brian4696 said:
I will run it lightly through a soft piece of wood I thought that would take the burr off?
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It depends on the burr...that will work sometimes, but not always. Murray Carter can make it work because he knows exactly what's going on at the edge without having to check it. For people who haven't been sharpening for long enough to do that, sometimes looking at your edge through a loupe can help you understand where you're going wrong.
 
bpeezer said:
You're probably leaving a burr on the edge.
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Agreed. I'd recommend as Chapman said and make 1-2 strokes on alternating sides to get the burr off. I typically sharpen once on the opposite side, flip it, then repeat until both sides have been done twice(4 strokes total), then I cut into a piece of wood to be sure. It's likely when you strop, it simply realigns the burr so that it can cut, but such an edge will quickly dull when the burr flops again.
 
You could have a resilient burr or you may not be apexing the edge at all.
The simplest way to be sure you've apexed is to feel for a burr along the entire edge. There are many threads about building the burr, it's refinement, and it's removal.
 
Ok so I think I'm going to get a cheap loupe to look at the edge for the bur better. With the bushcraft one and the cheap Chinese knives I used to practice with I could run my thumbnail down the side and when it got to the primary edge I could def feel a small burr there but with the strider I never could feel that. That said it did take away all the marker is it possible to take away the marker and still not apex it? I'm wondering if I had a loupe and looked at the strider if there would be a small blue line that I can't see with just my eyes? Thanks for everyone's help there is so much to learn. I'm considering getting an edge pro to use till I get this free hand down better .
 
brian4696 said:
Ok so I think I'm going to get a cheap loupe to look at the edge for the bur better. With the bushcraft one and the cheap Chinese knives I used to practice with I could run my thumbnail down the side and when it got to the primary edge I could def feel a small burr there but with the strider I never could feel that. That said it did take away all the marker is it possible to take away the marker and still not apex it? I'm wondering if I had a loupe and looked at the strider if there would be a small blue line that I can't see with just my eyes? Thanks for everyone's help there is so much to learn. I'm considering getting an edge pro to use till I get this free hand down better .
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The Wicked Edge had a shorter learning curve for me than the Edge Pro. And the touch ups with the WE seem to be easier.
 
Yes you can remove all the sharpie ink from the bevel and still not have "set" the edge. Which means there is still a flat ridge between your two bevels where there should be the infinite connection of your two bevels. If you point the edge toward the ceiling under strong light hold the knife so you are trying to reflect the overhead light off the edge into your eye (like redirecting light with a mirror in survival training to signal for help). If you can see any reflections from where the two bevels are supposed to be meeting then you have not "set" or apexed the edge. If that is the issue then you will need to continue sharpening on the 1000 grit stone until you remove all hints of light reflection.
 
brian4696 said:
I'm considering getting an edge pro to use till I get this free hand down better .
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Don't waste your money if that's the case. You can get free hand down fairly well in a week or two of practice and some time spent watching some other sharpening pros. If you want an edge pro for all its benefits by all means go for it, but if you're only buying one to hold you over until you have free handing down it's not worth it.
 
I want to learn free hand to the point I can use free hand and get a edge to shave hair like on carte cutlery or jdavis does on you tube. I would just get the edge proto hold me over plus I have read about people who sharpened free hand fr years and never learned how to do that so I am just worried I can't but I want to learn free hand and won't stop till I do. With what champ said I assume I I didn't "set" the edge. Would it be easier if I got a more course stone to get my burr? When I say easier i mean learning. Instead of getting edge pro maybe some courser dmt stones would aid my learning and help increase my skill? I also read that the edge pro aids in the learning process. I'm not sure how but I don't questions those on this forum that know way more than me. Is there any tricks to help free hand that I'm missing maybe ? I didn't get home till to late to try to remove the burr like you guy suggested ill try them tomorrow. I'm def buying a loupe tho would a demurring g flat work for getting the burr off like u guys are saying?
 
I wouldn't get the edge pro unless you're willing to use it to replace freehand. I've been using it for a year and it never helped me improve my freehand sharpening.

I believe a 220 grit stone is a bare minimum for actual sharpening. 1000 grit is still considered a fine stone and is better for refining an edge, not putting one on.

I'd also put the Strider down and practice on some cheap kitchen knives instead. Move up to something like a Mora after that. A loupe would help if you visually want to see where you're at, but I always did fine by feeling for the burr with my fingers and looking at the edge with a strong light.
 
Noctis3880 said:
I believe a 220 grit stone is a bare minimum for actual sharpening. 1000 grit is still considered a fine stone and is better for refining an edge, not putting one on. I'd also put the Strider down and practice on some cheap kitchen knives instead. Move up to something like a Mora after that. A loupe would help if you visually want to see where you're at, but I always did fine by feeling for the burr with my fingers and looking at the edge with a strong light.
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+1 to this
 
Alright so I'm going to go ahead and order a 220 stone and try and see if that helps. I'm already removing skin on my fingers with just the 1000 with a coarser stone I might just have bone left.
 
Some people say that there are some people who will never be able to sharpen free hand I hope that isn't me.
 
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