photos: xm-18 hair whittling sharp

[zyhano]

These xm-18's can get wicked sharp, hair whittling sharp to be exact :thumbup:

Since I started stropping with dmt diamond pastes I get far better results and more consistent than with Cromium oxide. So I'm polishing all kinds of steels to get them to hair whittling sharp highly polished edges.

this one is the duratech 20V steel on the 3" xm-18 that you can also see in my sebenza vs xm-18 youtube video.

In that vid from about two weeks ago, it was not polished. I started today on this project and it took me approximately an hour to do it right (as opposed to doing it the quick way and skipping some steps, not getting a really good polish on the end)

Started with dmt diafolds from Fine to Xfine to XXfine. Fine took away all the scratch marks on the edge from the factory grind/grit. Then to the strop with dmt diapaste from 6 micron, to 3, to 1 as the the final strop.

The edge grind was well done and got more obtuse near the tip. there was a slight grind depression near the choil on both sides, so I guess (and maybe this can be confirmed by rick or rob?) that this is the point where they start sharpening the blade on the grinder.

You can tell there is a depression by the fact that you can't get rid of the scratch marks of the grit used from the shop unless you take away more metal than you do along the rest of the edge of the blade.

here's the pics, enjoy them.

 

[tomsch]

Very nice edge! I have just been touching mine up on my sharpmaker but have been thinking of taking it to my EdgePro after I finish my Swamp Rat reprofile (that is taking hours!).

 

[tanrichguy]

Wow! That is really impressive. I wish I had the sharpening skills to pull that off.
Did you change the edge geometry?

Btw, enjoyed your comparison videos.

 

[rolexkid]

hope this is not a dumb question, but being that sharp,how long will it hold that(edge) sharpness during edc...every day cutting...

 

[zyhano]

Very nice edge! I have just been touching mine up on my sharpmaker but have been thinking of taking it to my EdgePro after I finish my Swamp Rat reprofile (that is taking hours!).

thanks Tomsch good luck on the reprofiling

Wow! That is really impressive. I wish I had the sharpening skills to pull that off.
Did you change the edge geometry?

Btw, enjoyed your comparison videos.

thanks buddy. I just posted in maintenance tinkering and embellishment how I pulled that off in more detail. And you can pull that off too (that's the moral of that post )

I did not change the edge geometry on purpose. Since the edge is somewhat more obtuse than some of my other knives, I wanted to see if I could get it whittling with this edge angle. As you can see, no problem.

At the moment, I see no need to reprofile for the kind of use I put the knife through.

hope this is not a dumb question, but being that sharp,how long will it hold that(edge) sharpness during edc...every day cutting...

Hey man, I was always taught that there are no dumb questions!

In theory the edge should last longer since it starts out sharper and has less edge blemishes than non polished edges (that can detoriate the edge faster). It starts out sharper so you will have a head start on non polished edges.

Also, since it is more blemish free on a microscopic level, it will not deteriorate as fast as an edge that has more blemishes (and thus more chances of a rolled edge, ripped metal, nicks etc. all on microscopic level) and thus dulls relatively slower in going from hair whittling to shaving sharpness than from shaving sharpness to normal sharpness.

But hair whittling sharpness goes away very fast. A little cutting is enough to dull it to where you can't whittle anymore. On top of that the 'distance' from hair whittling to shaving sharp is less than from shaving sharp to normal sharp. So, to make it short, it holds an edge longer and performs better at certain tasks (not all) but it's not that much longer... Maintenance of the edge is easy with stropping tough.

I hope that made sense for you

 

[rolexkid]

sure does. i'll try it on my sebenza, if i can?

 

[zyhano]

yes you can: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=768807

 

[TheNick]

Question!

Where did you buy your DMT stones and which ones.

I have the 2"x6" ones all steel no plastic, but I can't find them anymore in the Canadian store I used to buy them from.

 

[zyhano]

bought most of them online at knifecenter
shipping is good.

got the full range, costs you something, but if you like sharpening it gives you a lot of pleasure in return

benchstones
dmt XXC dia-sharp one sided continuous 8"
dmt XXF dia-sharpone sided continuous 8"
dmt XC/C duosharp 10"
dmt F/XF duosharp 10"

pastes
dmt diapastes 6,3,1 micron

handheld
dmt diafold C/F
dmt diafold XF/XXF

 

[erik markman]

Very nice Rolf! But where did you get the hair?

 

[zyhano]

where did you get the hair?

Lol, don't forget there are 2 women in my house

for those interested, I've posted a demo thread in maintenance, tinkering and embellishment on how to build your own strop with the diamond pastes with loads of pictures and an explanation. It can be found here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770338

 

[tundratrader]

WOW!

That is unreal. I wish I had the patience for that.

Zach

 

[cziv]

Nice job with dia-folds. I love mine too and may never spend the extra $$ to buy the benchstones. :thumbup:

 

[cziv]

I was thinking of doing the same thing to my XM but I have a couple of concerns.

I just put a mirror edge on my ZT 0301 and although it's a beautiful sight, there's times when I feel like I don't get the "bite" with it that I'd get before stropping the grinds out completely.

I also worry that if I "eff" up one stroke, then I'll end up with a hideous ding in my blade. I didn't worry about that with a sub-$200 knife but an XM-24 is giving me second thoughts.

Anyway - you really did a wonderful job on it. :thumbup:

BTW - did you take a LOT of metal out of the blade near the choil or just a little more than the rest of the blade?

 

[tundratrader]

I notice exactly what you are talking about after stropping. It is almost like the knife is a little to sharp. It doesn't have the teeth anymore. My kitchen knives are where I notice this the most. A good course edge will stay sharp and cut everything a little better because of the bigger micro serrations left on the blade.

I usually give my XM-18 a few licks on black and green compounds after sharpening with spydie stones and call it good.