paper sharpening wheels - when your time is important to you

Spyderco Southard with CTS-204P blade, which has been in use for a few years now with a Dutch scout leader.
It has already been sharpened several times by him on stones, plus two times by me on Paper Wheels (once up to 6 micron diamond compound, and once up to 15 micron diamond, the latter performing noticeably longer for the owner)

This time the knife was reprofiled from about 30 degrees inclusive to 25 degrees inclusive with a standard Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC, then deburred with a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
This produces a polished semi-coarse edge with an aggressive bite, as the knife is going to be used to cut a lot of 10 mm polyprop rope in the coming weeks.




foto afbeeldingen
 
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kwackster said:
Spyderco Southard with CTS-204P blade, which has been in use for a few years now with a Dutch scout leader.
It has already been sharpened several times by him on stones, plus two times by me on Paper Wheels (once up to 6 micron diamond compound, and once up to 15 micron diamond, the latter performing noticeably longer for the owner)

This time the knife was reprofiled from about 30 degrees inclusive to 25 degrees inclusive with a standard Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC, then deburred with a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
This produces a polished semi-coarse edge with an aggressive bite, as the knife is going to be used to cut a lot of 10 mm polyprop rope in the coming weeks.
You can click the pics 2 x for a bit more detail.



Click to expand...

They look very nice. Where do you get your grit? Did you do any belt sanding first?
 
A small container with 220 grit SiC came with the Wheels when i bought them, and the edge you see was done on Paper Wheels only.
I don't even have the room for a belt sander in my tiny workshop :-)
 
A Strider SMF with S110V blade from a Dutch forum member.
According to my Tormek angle gauge the old edge measured ~ 40 degrees inclusive from the heel to half an inch before the tip where it changed into 45 degrees inclusive.
The owner uses this knife mostly to cut various kinds of green wood & twigs in horticulture, and had already tried his hand at reprofiling the edge himself with a DMT Diafold.
Together we came to the conclusion that the edge could do with a full reprofiling, as well as with a finer edge finish to better suit his specific purposes.
BTW: the owner also contacted Duane Dwyer by mail, among other things to ask him about the hardness of this S110V blade, and according to Duane it measures 61 HRC.

This was the knife before sharpening:








After reprofiling & sharpening.
The new edge angle came out at ~ 32 degrees inclusive along the entire edge, and it can treetop armhair and slice single ply toilet paper.
Probably due to having the flu at the moment my hands didn't do exactly what i wanted them to do, and as a result i didn't manage to get both bevels completely symmetrical.
Grit progression: a Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC for reprofiling, a second Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound for refining, and a third Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound for removing the tiny burr.







 
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had a problem with my wheels..well my mistake...i had them very round and worked very good..till i put the grinder in my truck to take to my store to use there for the day like i have done many times.. But this time i had to swerve to miss a deer and the grinder went rolling into the the back tail gate{i have an chevy avalanche with seat down} dang the wheels were out of round and wobbling..after much realigning and as good as i could get them i had to take off the grit and when 36 grit is recomended they mean it..i did try 40 grit and just to much.i did find a new belt sander belt that i hadnt used in 36 grit.it did wonders with that pointy grit.and used 40 on the slotted side then finished with 80.. i also did the sides of wheels this time and you do have to go slow for this..put the white elmers on and spooned the grit on but i did what they said not to do i touched the wheel ..Well i took the wide painters tape aout two foot long and folded sticky side together for a foot long peice.. i then put on the grit holding ends of tape and put light pressure and turned the wheel then put tape long again to get all equal...it turned out fantastic and WAY better than when new...it is now so balenced and the grit has to be broken in a bit to soften..i used the flat side of an old hacksaw blade and is super good now..i have seen pictures of the wheels used and the black spots on the slot wheel on many are skipping so they did not get the wheel perfect round, i to at first used a few times this way and it worked but after you get the wheel perfect round and no skip spots its so smooth.. so those new to the wheels make sure you smooth those wheels...a freind of mine could not get his grit wheel round just slight skip of coating you could see on the grit..so had to remove the grit and start over and then was smooth as butter..even though when running you dont notice that skip so much after you use one that is round you just know when you put the knife on it..i also use guided edge pro for sharpening but after learning the wheels use them for most..jeff
 
Update on post 1622:

The owner just informed me how the edge on his Southard is doing so far.
He had used the tip of the knife to cut open about 50 dusty/dirty cardboard boxes filled with porcelain mugs, and this resulted in blunting that tip to a point that it could only barely cut copy paper.
But according to the owner this was most likely due to the fact that the tip hit the mugs every now & then.

After all 50 boxes were opened & emptied the Southard was used to cut down each box, which he measured to be a total of about 80 meters or 262 feet of cardboard.
Afterwards the edge was still able to easily shave the hair from his legs (except about 15 mm of the tip), and the owner feels that the knife isn't due for a touch-up yet.
He also noticed that the CTS-204P steel holds this edge noticeably longer than the S30V steel in his Spyderco Sage, which he had sharpened himself and used earlier for the same job.
 
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Hey guys. Been using paper wheels for quite a while now and I have run out of the white rouge compound. Anyone know where I can find some without having to pay a ridiculous amount for shipping?
 
johnnytoxin said:
Hey guys. Been using paper wheels for quite a while now and I have run out of the white rouge compound. Anyone know where I can find some without having to pay a ridiculous amount for shipping?
Click to expand...

Johnnytoxin,
Probably the easiest place to find it is from the place you bought the wheels. If you don't remember, just google the paper sharpening wheels. If you can't find any, just let me know and I'll see if I can find it for you.

Romo
 
Can't seem to find any advice on here for when to add wax. What tells you it's time to add more
I've sharpened about 40 knives since new, without adding more wax, and everything seems fine so far. I can watch a nice burr being formed and no heat issues.
Thanks
 
Generally I rewax as soon as I see ANY indication of a grinding spark, or
if the blade begins to heat up at all. More wax, no problem.:thumbup:
 
That speed is recommended by the mfg of the paper wheels. I have the same buffer, and have been using it for over 3 years without any problem. You do need to be careful when using the grit wheel so as not to grind away too much metal, or to overheat the blade. Just have enough wax to keep the sparks down and go slow and easy. A slower running grinder would be ideal, but they are much more expensive to get into.The HF buffer is what a lot of people use, and are successful with it.

Omar
 
Maybe this is useful for other people as well.
I have coated the inside of the holes in my Paper Wheels with a few layers of the same woodglue i use for regritting.
Just put on a layer, spread it evenly with a matchstick or nail and let it dry overnight, repeat if necessary.
Not only does it remove any slop there might be, it also holds the round shape better than just the cardboard, which is especially useful for me since i change Wheels often.
 
I've used a 3600 rpm motor to buff my edges and had no problems.use just enough pressure to keep it steady and it does just fine.Paper wheels have been around for a long time.I'm still learning more about them after 30 years of using them.If you guys need wax you can make it by melting equal parts of bees wax parffine and candle wax together.When I lived in Arizona it got so hot that my wax would melt and come off the wheels.It would coat you from your belly up to your chin.So I had to learn to work with out it.If you take it easy a 220grit paper wheel is no different than a 220grit belt with a flat platen.My thumb is on top of a knife when I sharpen and will tell me if It's getting to hot.I've used 1/2in plastic gas line as a spacer as my wheels are drilled 5/8 in.You can a couple feet of it and it will last for along time.The glue idea will no doubt make the wheel tougher inside.If you take care of these wheels they last forever.I still have one set of 1/2 x 8" that I started with 30 years ago.
 
Spyderco Paramilitary 2 in CTS-20CP steel.
The previous owner tried to sharpen it on an Edge-Pro, which sadly resulted in quite uneven bevels, several chips along the edge, and a piece of unremoved burr.

I removed the apex of the old edge by cutting a few times straight into a silicon carbide stone, and then resharpened it to an almost exact 30 degrees inclusive on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound, then removed the tiny burr with a second Paper Wheel with 1 micron diamond compound.

Although i couldn't get both bevels exactly even in width, the new edge is now treetopping sharp without chips or burrs.
I call this a bling & bite finish, as to the casual observer it may look like a mirror finish (diamond compounds cut very clean), but when inspected up close with a loupe you can see a fine scratch pattern perpendicular to the edge that still provides for enough bite for most EDC tasks.












Data sheet: https://www.cartech.com/toolsteelspowder.aspx?id=3686

Comparison between CTS-20CP and CPM-S90V steel: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-S90V-vs-CTS-20CP?highlight=CTS-20CP+Ankerson
 
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Great looking job Kwackster! That work with the diamond compound is impressive to say the least.

Omar
 
Nice work. Couple of questions...

Do you buy 'naked' wheels and then charge them with the diamond compound?

What do you use for the adhesive to secure the abrasive to the wheel?

Where do you get the diamond compound?

Thanks
 
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