Pushing or pulling your knife on a stone?

[hardheart]

I get rid of burrs by higher angles, lighter passes, finer grits , or some combination. I make sure the burr is gone before I strop, too much hassle to remove it on leather, imo. I sometimes get to shaving sharp without a burr, but I have to start at no more than 800 grit to do so.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Instructions for stropping straight razors mention that you don't want metal particles from burrs to get embedded in your strop. They will damage your edge. The implication is to try and get rid of burrs before going to your strop.

 

[DrThunder88]

Between the finest hone on my Lansky (1000 grit) and the green-loaded strop, I usually give the blade a few swipes on a ceramic steel.

 

[psy-ops]

Thanks for the responses.

I find better steels don't leave much of a burr but I do go to ultra fine waterstones.

 

[samhain73]

For restoring a really dull edge I work back and forth until I get to a nearly sharp edge. Then I switch to pushing (edge leading) to minimize burr formation. If I finish with a strop I pull using light pressure. On a waterstone I would finish with pull strokes. The hone is so soft and that it seems necessary.

I use this style exactly as well.

 

[Kaizen1]

All I can can is wow and thanks you guys for the sharpening lesson. These are the exact types of posts I needed to read about based on where I'm at with my sharpening skills. This thread so far has a lot more BF vets (percentage wise) than the threads that I've been reading lately.

Thanks again all of you.

 

[Vivi]

I used to use the method described of increasing the angle to knock off the burr, but I've had better results by sharpening at the same angle but using gradually lighter passes. I usually use something coarse to set the bevel, then sharpen with a DMT fine diamond hone at a fairly acute angle using normal pressure until the bevel is cleanly ground and I'm getting a burr formed. I do 2 or 3 passes per side during this stage, then step it down to one per side using gradually lighter passes, checking the opposing edge frequently to feel for the burr. Once it's gone and the edges are crisply aligned and shaving sharp, then it's ready for the strop.

When I first got my strop I used it as a cure-all for a burred edge, but I've found the you get much sharper edges by getting a clean, well-formed edge then stropping.

 

[RKH]

I read an article by Bill Harsey in Tactical Knives a while back that to sharpen and re bevel a knife to push and pull or move the edge back and forth on a coarse edge and then finish on finer stone to finish the edge. It really makes sense as you are making twice as many strokes. BTW, Wayne Goddard recommends finishing the edge to remove the burr at a higher angle and only about 4 or 5 stokes per side. This does work as some of the high performance steel are pretty resistance to stropping. I think between Mr. Goddard and John Juranicth I learned more about sharpening than any where else.
RKH

 

[psy-ops]

I used to use the method described of increasing the angle to knock off the burr, but I've had better results by sharpening at the same angle but using gradually lighter passes. I usually use something coarse to set the bevel, then sharpen with a DMT fine diamond hone at a fairly acute angle using normal pressure until the bevel is cleanly ground and I'm getting a burr formed. I do 2 or 3 passes per side during this stage, then step it down to one per side using gradually lighter passes, checking the opposing edge frequently to feel for the burr. Once it's gone and the edges are crisply aligned and shaving sharp, then it's ready for the strop.

When I first got my strop I used it as a cure-all for a burred edge, but I've found the you get much sharper edges by getting a clean, well-formed edge then stropping.

That is exactly how I finish as well.