Please help with Spyderco Gayle Bradley

That's actually one of the reasons I stopped using the Aligner. I would keep on grinding to infinity and beyond, but it seemed like the sharpie at the tip just wouldn't go away. I don't know what to tell you about that.

What I did was set the bevels with the aligner, getting as much of the sharpie at the tip off as I could, and just use the knife with a not-so-sharp tip for a while. Then I would freehand from then on, and eventually the tip would get sharp.
 
Well I'm all the way down to the 1 micron and can clearly see a mirror polish beginning to form! The problem is, the tip and the area nearest the ricasso are still looking as if I haven't reached the apex. I will post a few pictures as soon as I can. Obviously poor technique is to blame, but I wonder how to remedy this without starting over from scratch....can I?

I appreciate everyone's patience, I hope to eventually get the point where I have something to contribute, other than what not to do!

http://s1168.photobucket.com/albums/r487/tieguy77/?start=all
 
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I would start by moving the clamp as close to the middle of the blade as possible. It will help the blade make better contact through the curve of the blade. (It's also in the directions ;) )

When grinding a blade where the edge runs all the way to the ricasso or has large flat sections you will need to focus more attention to the grinding of these areas. For example: on the GB if you make heel to tip passes until the edge becomes sharp the belly and tip will reach a apex long before the flat area leading back to the ricasso. The reason for it is simple, concentration of force. As the edge travels over the stone to the belly and tip the area of contact becomes as thin as a pencil line and pressures become magnified thousands of times. All things combined you get faster wear at the smaller points of contact.

Using this knowledge you add the technique of focusing pressure above the bevel with your fingers to pinpoint metal removal. Take a index finger and place it on the blade just above the bevel at the ricasso as the blade is on the hone. With nothing but a push on the aligner move the blade down the hone. When you lift and inspect you will see that a area about the size of your finger in the ricasso is where all the grinding took place. Now you will start to learn to focus pressure with fingertips to selectively grind the edge of blades. :)
 
Thanks Knifenut, I actaully thought about moving the clamp, but thought it would mess up the angle that I had. What stone do you suggest I go back to or should I just start over? In other words, is it foolish to try and maintain the almost polished edge and avoid regrinding them?
 
I hate to burst the happy bubble but its a long ways from mirror polish, 1 micron will look similar to the bathroom mirror. Right now it looks like a mix between coarse and fine but no higher than 600 mesh. The fine hone usually needs to be used longer to transition the grind pattern to the finer grits to follow. If not used long enough the coarse hone marks will stick around until the end. I would start with the fine hone and see where that gets you.
 
knifenut1013 said:
I hate to burst the happy bubble but its a long ways from mirror polish, 1 micron will look similar to the bathroom mirror. Right now it looks like a mix between coarse and fine but no higher than 600 mesh. The fine hone usually needs to be used longer to transition the grind pattern to the finer grits to follow. If not used long enough the coarse hone marks will stick around until the end. I would start with the fine hone and see where that gets you.
Click to expand...

Got it thanks !
 
The area closest to the ricasso is usually a problem because if you look directly into the edge, there is usually a spot where there is no apex. This is due to human error at the factory grinding the blade. This means that if you put your blade's edge right at the edge of the stone when you start your pass, you'll probably see that there is some "convexness" between that point at the ricasso and somewhere down along the length of the bevel. This causes the area near the ricasso to be dull, because the stone is never touching that section's edge.

For this reason, I do skip part of my edge when sharpening. Or you could focus on grinding that part until it's level with the rest of the bevels.

Another thing that helps is sharpening flat parts of your edge (where there is no blade curvature) using the "X-pattern" that's used in straight razor sharpening. Here's a good link with an animation to clarify:

http://straightrazorplace.com/srpwiki/index.php/Beginner's_Guide_to_Honing
 
The tip isn`t getting sharp because the clamp it not in the middle of the blade making the angle more shallow at the tip than the rest of the edge(it is farther from the edge to the clamp at the tip and chiol than the rest of the blade even if the clamp is centered). I would sharpie the edge again and go back to XC working mostly on the tip and near the choil until all the marker is gone then move through the finer grits. That should fix your problem ,I remember going to the finer grits too soon when I started out , you should just stick with the most course grit until the marker is gone then you can move on knowing the hard work is over.
 
Took everyone's combined advice and so far the tip is looking better. I did get a bit "wider" at the tip than I would have liked but I can live it it. Out of curiosity, how would one mimic that brushed finish on the Bradley, just above the bevel?

Thanks
 
What I would recommend is sending your Gayle to the Richard J Spa for hot oil rub down and deep tissue massage! The Gayle is one of my fav knives of all time! Why not send your Gayle to a sharpening master and get a really good edge put on her and then maybe work on your sharpening skills with a diff knife? He uses paper wheels which will put an edge on your Gayle that ll split a hair! No joke! And his edges seem to last a really long time! Im still EDC ing a Grayman Dua that Richard did for me that is still sharp and it has seen a LOT of of use! Send her off to Richard! I am so confident that you will be blown away that if you re not I will pay for all costs involved sending it to Richard. This guy really knows his stuff! I ve yet to see an edge nicer and sharper than his!! Send it!! Trust me!! You will find his contact info in my thread about my Duas!
Cheers!

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/886842-Grayman-Dua-folder!!!!-Wow/page2
 
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