paper sharpening wheels - when your time is important to you

Bernoulli said:
Motor manufacturers lie. Our concern is operating power. Manufacturers tend to list the power being consumed when the smoke is let out. An air compressor company lost a class action lawsuit for overstating horsepower. Anecdotal evidence indicates that old motors produce more power than new ones of the same rating.
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My 1/2HP furnace motor is more than enough power. No way I'm stopping it by hand....works great!
 
I have a 1/4 hp Baldor 1725 rpm buffer motor for my wheels. I flat out defy
anyone to stop this with your hands. I can't slow it down much no matter how hard
I push a piece of steel into it.

Bill
 
Hey there. I've got the Porter Cable grinder with 8" wheels spinning away from me. I could use a little bit of advice on how to get good tips. On blades with long curves (bellies?) that require a lot of wrist movement to keep the blade flat, my tips almost always have a much shallower bevel. If I do the Tormek method of lifting the handle up as I go through the curve, it's hard to maintain the angle and I end up with a flattened tip.

Does anyone have any advice or have some videos on using the wheels spinning away while going through the curve?

Edit: To clarify, it's like my wrist doesn't have enough range of motion to get all the way through the curve on those blades where you need to turn it 60+ degrees to follow the edge
 
BBB,
as I recall the Tormek video is using a jig. That method works fine, but doesn't transfer too well to freehand on the wheels. I have wheels turning away like you and I swing the handle maintaining the blade angle on the wheel. Try a few dry runs to get your rhythm and handle hand doing the right things. Don't raise the handle, keep it on the same plane.... use really light pressure at the tips until your sure you have it..... Rgds,
 
jdreg, i usually make 2-3 passes per side and leave it at that unless there is still some burr left by chance. going to extremes on an edge is a waste of time to me. i might show someone a "novelty edge" if i'm sharpening a knife i made but i take that edge off and put my normal edge back on once i show them.
 
benny, send me your number and i'll give you some tips that will help you out. its too much for me to type out. i ran into the same problem when sharpening a cotton sampler when a member brought me 241 folders to sharpen. i had several dozen of them to put an edge on and when i did a dry run to see how to sharpen one i had the knife in line with the wheel and i sharpen with the wheel rotating to me. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=651061
 
c219460 said:
Just got some knives back from a buddy of Richard's, reprofiled to 30 degrees and sharpened on the paper wheels... I'm not bad at freehand sharpening and thought I knew what "sharp" meant, I see now I was wrong. These are scary.
Thanks!
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since he is local, you need to go pay him a visit and maybe arrange to come down with him this spring.
 
the only thing about sharpening with the wheels going away is placement of the blade on the wheels. there is a big chance you could lay the blade down above the shoulder or hold it at the wrong angle. guys that come to watch me can see that it is much easier to see exactly how you are laying the blade on the wheel. it also allows for you to see the burr form and it helps to keep you from having spotty burrs from not keeping constant contact with the wheel. i know the directions at mikes website say to sharpen with the edge down but the same thing can happen. i have sharpened the same way since 1991 and i have no problems. i think if i were sharpening any other way i would not have been able to sharpen 241 knives in a total of 17 hours like i did. and most had 2-3 blades each and took several minutes to work up a burr from a flat edge.
 
The owner of this Sebenza 25 bought the knife brand new through an official dealer in the Netherlands, but although he was and is still very pleased with the knife itself, he soon found that the factory edge didn't cut too well.
He tried to improve things with the help of a Spyderco Sharpmaker and a leather strop loaded with some green compound, but to no avail.
So he sent the knife to me, and the first thing i did was to measure the edge angle.
According to my Tormek Angle Gauge it measured 50 degrees inclusive on the straight part of the edge, going up to 55 degrees inclusive from the belly to the point.(!)
This is how the knife looked before sharpening:








First i removed the apex of the old edge by cutting a few times directly into an old silicon carbide stone, after which i reprofiled it freehand on my Tormek SB-250 Blackstone to an even 30 degrees inclusive.
This was followed by a Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC to smoothen the grindlines made by the Tormek, then refined with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and finally removed the burr with a third Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 diamond compound. (this leaves the 15 micron scratch pattern intact as much as possible to preserve bite)
The resulting edge treetops the hair on the back of my hand, can slice single-ply toilet paper, and survives a few cuts into my laminated testblock without any visible damage (checked under bright light with the loupe in my Victorinox SwissChamp)
This is how the knife looks after sharpening:










 
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I've been practicing. I think I'm getting better. One thing I noticed I did before was to work on one side until I felt a burr, then flip over..and I always wondered 'Why does the burr always form faster one one side than the other?' Well, I assume it's because the burr is flipping over and I haven't been actually forming a burr on the opposite side

I've started working on both sides relatively equally and really pay attention through the curve and my my knives have more even bevels and stay sharp longer

Just some advice for any other new folks
 
Hey all.
I have a new Shun premier on the way, vg10 with 16 degree per side edge.
Would the slotted wheel be ok to maintain the edge assuming it doesn't get too dull.
Tks
 
i snagged up a 1/4in thick paper wheel from Grizzly. I bought it with the idea of using it for stropping serrations. The only issue is that it is not slotted(I think it's meant for grinding). I was thinking I could just cut some slots in it with my belt saw, then load it up with white polishing compound and be good to go. Anyone know if that would work?
 
Richardj wanted me to let you all know that his computer and his backup PC are DOA.
He's unable to be online or check his emails. Hopefully he'll be back in business soon.
 
For sure the 1/4 inch smooth wheel works for me.
I, use smooth wheels exclusively - with what I know to be great results.
 
Jdreg said:
Hey all.
I have a new Shun premier on the way, vg10 with 16 degree per side edge.
Would the slotted wheel be ok to maintain the edge assuming it doesn't get too dull.
Tks
Click to expand...

Yep, that'll work just fine... :thumbup: The slotted wheel will make factory edges even sharper in my experience. I really like the polish vg 10 gets off of the slotted wheel. :cool:

I have el cheapo chicago cutlery kitchen knives; they're solid but the steel is poop and butter soft.

I only sharpen them on the paper wheels using both the grit and slotted wheel with excellent although short lived results. :rolleyes::D
 
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Great thread RichardJ.

Im new to the forum and have some questions. How does the paper sharpening compare to wet stone? I've been following https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H76iosa5r0 (virtuovoice) And would really love to re-profile my bk2 but wanted to know if the same level of sharpness and finesse could be replicated with just a grizzly sharpening system.
 
kwackster said:
The owner of this Sebenza 25 bought the knife brand new through an official dealer in the Netherlands, but although he was and is still very pleased with the knife itself, he soon found that the factory edge didn't cut too well.
He tried to improve things with the help of a Spyderco Sharpmaker and a leather strop loaded with some green compound, but to no avail.
So he sent the knife to me, and the first thing i did was to measure the edge angle.
According to my Tormek Angle Gauge it measured 50 degrees inclusive on the straight part of the edge, going up to 55 degrees inclusive from the belly to the point.(!)
This is how the knife looked before sharpening:







First i removed the apex of the old edge by cutting a few times directly into an old silicon carbide stone, after which i reprofiled it freehand on my Tormek SB-250 Blackstone to an even 30 degrees inclusive.
This was followed by a Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC to smoothen the grindlines made by the Tormek, then refined with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and finally removed the burr with a third Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 diamond compound. (this leaves the 15 micron scratch pattern intact as much as possible to preserve bite)
The resulting edge treetops the hair on the back of my hand, can slice single-ply toilet paper, and survives a few cuts into my laminated testblock without any visible damage (checked under bright light with the loupe in my Victorinox SwissChamp)
This is how the knife looks after sharpening:









Click to expand...

Hello Quackster,
Your work just knocks my sox off! Very generous of you to share your methodology. I have a wet grinder and paper wheels and am wondering how you get those flat, perfect, bevels working on the paper wheels? Any tips you might be willing to share would be most appreciated.

Best regards,

Jeff, 303Tango
 
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