Question for Cliff Stamp.

Ben Dover

Ben Dover

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Aug 2, 2006
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I have "touched up" the blade on my Benchmade 710-D-2 on the gray "medium" rods of the Sharpmaker, at 20 degrees per side, until it push cuts newsprint at 1.5 inches from the hold point. (This knife is my EDC.)

I did the same thing to an old Schrade "Old timer" lockback, but at 15 degrees per side.

The medium rods leave the blades feeling "rough and toothy." But they cut, and slice very aggressively.

Would there be any practical gain to polishing these edges with the fine and extra fine rods, and/or stropping?

Thanks,

Ben
 
First off congradulations on actually taking a more coarse finish to that high a level of sharpness, the reason that there are several myths about coarse finishes is often because they are left with pretty much a edge left as shaped with no refinements.

Now as to the benefits of a higher polish, when you are cutting do you notice that there is too much resistance as you are pushing the blade through the material. Does it feel too rough and tend to catch and drag material with it? Are you sharpening a little too frequent? If these sound familiar then you can expect a benfit from a higher finish.

If you go too high then you will notice that the blade doesn't bite well enough, it slips frequently on material, requires heavy force to cut well and again you have to sharpen too often. In that case you would try reducing the grit a little.

What works very well on a lot of blades is to give them a dual finish as popularized by Talmadge. After you finish the blades with the medium rods then you polish one section, often the tip, with the fine rods. This leaves the blade near the choil with aggressive slicing ability and gives better push cutting sharpness and edge retention with the tip.

On some blades the opposite works well also. On large brush blades for example I polish the blade near the choil for chopping and carving woods but leave the tip with a more coarse finish for slicing vegatation.

-Cliff
 
Thanks, Cliff.

I don't notice any "dragging" or roughness in the cutting. I think I will try Joe Talmadge's method with the tip end of the 710.

I think my next project wil be to try to get a push cutting edge on an old Ka-Bar with 320 grit sandpaper. If I ruin that one, it's no real loss.:yawn:

But if I can make it work, well my Cold Steel Master Hunter may be next!:)
 
I used to get my work folder to shave with no irritation with a 280 stone, so you shouldn't have trouble at 320.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
That is a fairly coarse grit (absolute scale) so you are in a fairly select minority if you achieve it.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Well, it will be worth a little extra to try to get into a "fairly select minority.":) I will take this one on as more of a "challenge" than simply a leanring experience!:D

I'll let you now how it comes out.
 
As a final challenge, gather a concrete block or a ordinary rock, without excessively preparing the surface of each and no cheating by driving to arkansas to find your rock; achieve the following :

1) slice newsprint evenly

2) barely push cut newsprint

3) shave smoothly with no draw

4) cut a free standing hair pinched between your fingers

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
As a final challenge, gather a concrete block or a ordinary rock, without excessively preparing the surface of each and no cheating by driving to arkansas to find your rock; achieve the following :

1) slice newsprint evenly

2) barely push cut newsprint

3) shave smoothly with no draw

4) cut a free standing hair pinched between your fingers

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Maybe with a few more years experience!:D Right now, I need every edge (no pun intended) that I can get!
 
Yes, it is just something you try to keep yourself humble. When you are starting out is is best to get nice quality hones and steels with a high edge stability. The principles are the same on all abrasives, the implementation is just easier with higher quality versions.

-Cliff
 
Cliff: Decided to spend part of this lazy Saturday applying some of the information learned from your writings on four cheapie fixed blades. Quite a revelation. I started out on an Edge Pro at 13 degrees with the 120 coarse stone, followed with 220, then 320, then raised angle to about 13.5 degrees for the 600 grit and 1000 grit tape. I quit at that point. Wow! Talk about scary sharp! I'm almost afraid to handle the darned things.
Thanks a million!
 
Yeah, now consider that it is very likely that the steel you are using isn't optimal for that level of finish (few cutlery steels are), and you can go a good deal more acute on the more optimal steels. Just imagine how sharp that something like 1095 at 66 HRC can be at about 5-7 degrees per side with the same finish.

-Cliff
 
Do you know of anyone who sells a 1095 knife at that level of hardness? Or perhaps some other carbon tool steel at high hardness (how is the Becker Knife and Tool blade steel)? I'm not concerned about rust/maintenenace, I just want one knife that I can put a super sharp edge on and have it be somewhat durable. Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Most Japanese knives are much harder than the western production knives and there are some UHC Mora knives which are above 60 HRC as well.

-Cliff
 
Well Cliff, I guess that it's going to be a while before i join that "small select minority.":(

I couldn't get the old Ka-Bar to push cut with 320 grit paper. but I did get it to do so with the gray rods of the Sharpmaker at 15 degrees!:) :)

I think I'll stick to the Sharpmaker and the Eze-Sharp for now. Maybe when I get a little more experience..........
 
Dry sanding often produces a lot of debris on the edge due to electrostatic attraction from friction, this creates often a jagged burr. A little water on the sandpaper usually prevents it.

-Cliff
 
how'd you use the paper, maybe you could just wrap it around the SM stones so you can maintain the angle.
 
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