Please help with Spyderco Gayle Bradley

G

gunguy77

Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
33
Hi Everyone,

I have spent the last hour or so on a DMT continuous Extra course stone, trying to start on a path to a mirror edge. I have all the stones and pastes needed to achieve that result, apparently the only thing I lack is the talent. I am using a DMT Aligner clamp and it is on the second to lowest setting. I have attempted to take some pics of my set-up which I will post here. I also used the sharpie trick. Can anyone please make some sort of diagnosis or give some sort of advice as to what I may be doing wrong? I welcome any constructive criticism, but I do not want to give up and send the knife out to be re-sharpened. I am committed to getting this right. Thank you all so much. Sorry just realized that I cannot post pics so here is a link to the photos

http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums/r487/tieguy77/

Bobby
 
I don't really know what type of problem your having?

By your pictures, it appears your changing the angle of the bevel (which could take a while depending on several variables) and you just haven't reached the apex of the edge yet. As evidenced by the black line of "sharpie" still remaining on the very edge. You just have some work left to do with the XC stone to remove the ALL of the sharpie before moving to the next stone.
 
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Thank you very much Gentleman, I had assumed that I had just killed my blade since I had been at it for so long. Frankly I lost count of my strokes on each side. So, should I be working up a burr on one side before moving on to the next, or just keep alternating sides until the sharpie is gone from the very edge?

I appreciate your help,

Bobby
 
That is up to you as I find it is easier for me to working up a burr on one side and then the other but which ever is more comfortable for yourself. You should also check to see if your stones are clean as when they are clean it is more efficient and save you time.
 
Either way really, however, with your set-up, I'd just continue doing both side until the "sharpie" is gone. And when it's all gone, you should feel, see, a burr too.

BTW, that's a great knife, excellent choice! I liked mine so much after getting the first one, I bought a back-up while they were still around.

I re-beveled mine on the Edge Pro to 30 inclusive and it is as they say "crazy sharp!".
 
Alternate until its sharp. Diamonds will cut very clean grind patterns and leave almost no burr so trying to use the burr as a guide can be misleading.

Like has been said keep going you are almost there. Grind until that black sharpie mark is gone and replaced by a sharp edge.
 
You Guys are great, I really appreciate the time you all take to help out a novice! And the Gayle Bradley is a pleasure to carry!
 
knifenut1013 said:
Alternate until its sharp. Diamonds will cut very clean grind patterns and leave almost no burr so trying to use the burr as a guide can be misleading.

Like has been said keep going you are almost there. Grind until that black sharpie mark is gone and replaced by a sharp edge.
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On the fine stone and up I notice this, but definitely not on coarse and lower. Of course, I've only put soft steel chinese crap on my diamond stones, so that might contribute to my experience.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Alternate until its sharp. Diamonds will cut very clean grind patterns and leave almost no burr so trying to use the burr as a guide can be misleading.

Like has been said keep going you are almost there. Grind until that black sharpie mark is gone and replaced by a sharp edge.
Click to expand...

My findings grinding CPM-M4 (including the Gayle Bradley) with the DMT XC have shown me that a burr will form and is quite easily detected.

I would go so far to say that I can easily feel the burr on M4 with grits up to the XF DMT, but obviously they become progressively harder to detect each time the grit increases.
 
unit said:
My findings grinding CPM-M4 (including the Gayle Bradley) with the DMT XC have shown me that a burr will form and is quite easily detected.

I would go so far to say that I can easily feel the burr on M4 with grits up to the XF DMT, but obviously they become progressively harder to detect each time the grit increases.
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I envy you sir....as I cannot for the life of me detect a burr. In fact, I am so tired of of working on this thing today that I am just know putting it down for the evening. I have progressed up to the fine stone, it's been shaving sharp since the extra course but the blade sort of tugs at the hairs. The biggest problem is that under magnification, the very tiny edge all along the blade appears to still have the factory grind marks. I can see the contrast between my grinding and the factory marks. It's really tiny, but it's there.

So....should I go back down to the course until that disappears...and is this normal for it to take sooooo long?.

Thanks Guys,

Bobby
 
In sharpening the edge almost always has a burr its just how much of one can be the question. It's all about perspective, our level of knowledge on the subject gives us a different perspective and that tiny burr we see as big a beginner has a hard time seeing in the first place. Diamonds when used on quality alloys will only produce a minimal burr as long as you don't use too much pressure, combine the use of the aligner tool and you might only find a burr when the edge reaches the apex.

For gunguy77 though this is not yet the issue. As seen in the pic below more grinding work needs to be done before the XC hone grind marks reach the apex of the edge slopes. Once the slopes meet and a apex of the new angle is formed a solid burr will appear for a short time unless grinding continues then said burr will be ground away leaving a edge that is burr-less and in solid representation of the stone it was ground on. XC 220 mesh DMT hone plus aligner tool will produce a razor sharp hair popping edge if used correctly.

 
I'm curious, should I go all the way back down to the XC stone, or perhaps just the course stone ? That little tiny factory edge seems very difficult to get rid of. I checked out your site yesterday Richard, awesome technique but I want to learn one method at a time. Thanks!

I thought I should qualify this last post Gents.... I am applying the lightest amount of pressure on all the stones, in fact I am doing my best to use only the weight of the knife on the stone. I assume that changing the angle i.e. tipping the blade up a tiny bit to hit that edge is a huge mistake. If I have understood all your responses correctly, I should go back through the stones at least until that "apex" is reached.

Back to the grind! Thanks again Gentleman.
 
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As you get closer to the edge you remove more steel (the bevel gets bigger) so it will take more time to complete. Either way you must reach that point or all efforts will be wasted on grinding metal away from the side of your knife instead of at the apex of the bevel.
 
knifenut1013 said:
As you get closer to the edge you remove more steel (the bevel gets bigger) so it will take more time to complete. Either way you must reach that point or all efforts will be wasted on grinding metal away from the side of your knife instead of at the apex of the bevel.
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Got it my friend, thank you!
 
That first grinding can take some effort because you are removing the most metal, once its set each progressive stone will only take a few minutes as all you are doing is changing scratch pattern.
 
gunguy77 said:
Thank you very much Gentleman, I had assumed that I had just killed my blade since I had been at it for so long. Frankly I lost count of my strokes on each side. So, should I be working up a burr on one side before moving on to the next, or just keep alternating sides until the sharpie is gone from the very edge?

I appreciate your help,

Bobby
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1. Reprofiling can take a LONG time. Hours and hours and hours. That's what you're doing; you're cutting away metal on the shoulder of the bevel, and that takes a long time.

2. I would recommend that you try to do it evenly. This will give you an even edge in the end: /\ instead of something more like |\. You might like to do something like 50 passes on one side and then 50 on the other. And then as you get closer and closer, bring it down to something like 10 passes on each side.
 
Thanks THG any advice of the tip of the Bradley? I just can't seem to get it to match the rest of the bevel.
 
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