Random Thought Thread

Nathan the Machinist said:
You should try to match your sharpening angle on the leather.

And then, a couple of very light passes at a slightly steeper angle.
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will do thank you for the tip. I will try that shortly. I would agree on the strop technique I kinda feel the same about ceramic rods, but again it could just be my skill set. I like controlled motions to keep my angle as fixed as possible.
 
bluemax_1 said:
So… be careful not to dick around with it?
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If you are using basswood you can go really close to the sharpened angle , with a leather strop ... let's say if your edge is at 20° start stropping lightly around 22° and drop the angle till you find the sweet spot

(Woops didn't see Nathan the Machinist Nathan the Machinist post... listen to him.....99 percent of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about hahahaha)
 
yoko said:
If you are using basswood you can go really close to the sharpened angle , with a leather strop ... let's say if your edge is at 20° start stropping lightly around 22° and drop the angle till you find the sweet spot

(Woops didn't see Nathan the Machinist Nathan the Machinist post... listen to him.....99 percent of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about hahahaha)
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That’s why 1% of the time your advice works!
😂🤣
 
I just can’t seem to find any kind of ideal micron/grit value for the finish.

The more I try, test, and try to understand it,

the more I realize that I don’t understand shit, and I have absolutely NO IDEA what micron value is actually the best finish.

But for some reason lately, I don’t like very low micron values as much.

It feels like coarser values actually work better.

Or maybe not.

I kind of don’t fully understand this: for example, does a 1-3 micron finish make the cutting edge a bit more brittle when hitting something like a really hard knot in wood? Or does it not?


Or does a toothy edge, because it’s more chaotic, actually resist impact against something very hard better?
 
Moorik said:
I just can’t seem to find any kind of ideal micron/grit value for the finish.

The more I try, test, and try to understand it,

the more I realize that I don’t understand shit, and I have absolutely NO IDEA what micron value is actually the best finish.

But for some reason lately, I don’t like very low micron values as much.

It feels like coarser values actually work better.

Or maybe not.

I kind of don’t fully understand this: for example, does a 1-3 micron finish make the cutting edge a bit more brittle when hitting something like a really hard knot in wood? Or does it not?


Or does a toothy edge, because it’s more chaotic, actually resist impact against something very hard better?
Click to expand...


The answer is...... yes lol
 
Moorik said:
I just can’t seem to find any kind of ideal micron/grit value for the finish.

The more I try, test, and try to understand it,

the more I realize that I don’t understand shit, and I have absolutely NO IDEA what micron value is actually the best finish.

But for some reason lately, I don’t like very low micron values as much.

It feels like coarser values actually work better.

Or maybe not.

I kind of don’t fully understand this: for example, does a 1-3 micron finish make the cutting edge a bit more brittle when hitting something like a really hard knot in wood? Or does it not?


Or does a toothy edge, because it’s more chaotic, actually resist impact against something very hard better?
Click to expand...
funny, I was just thinking about this yesterday and came to a similar conclusion. Another knife maker says when microns get so small they really dont do a whole lot. This other maker says 4 microns is as small as he goes and its only a few light passes.

But man at this point I just have Nathan Schmoo all over my knives and call it a day.
 
yoko said:
If you are using basswood you can go really close to the sharpened angle , with a leather strop ... let's say if your edge is at 20° start stropping lightly around 22° and drop the angle till you find the sweet spot

(Woops didn't see Nathan the Machinist Nathan the Machinist post... listen to him.....99 percent of the time I have no idea what I'm talking about hahahaha)
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Can’t believe no one else caught that typo in the quoted post. Went back and bolded it 😂
 
yoko said:
The answer is...... yes lol
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Hahahahaha, this is literally about to make me explode. 😅

A toothy cutting edge is worse because it has stress concentrations that can chip or bend when you hit really hard material.

A polished cutting edge also has stresses and tends to get rolled or deformed from repeated impacts on hard stuff.

SO WHAT THE HELL IS ACTUALLY CORRECT?!
 
That’s exactly the thing — quite often a 600 grit edge, with a micro-bevel finished on something like 1500–2000 grit, actually works much better than anything else 😅
That’s pretty much what I’m doing.
It’s just that I don’t really want to go all the way down to something like 0.5 micron just for the sake of experimenting or finding the absolute limits of the steel.
And most of the time, the result simply isn’t worth the time you spend on it…!

In sharpening, no joke, something simple often works best — as long as it’s something you can do automatically and perfectly.
On top of that, without good blade geometry and edge geometry — not to mention the quality of the heat treatment of the steel and all those nuances — no sharpening will compensate for any of that.
 
Fellas, just a quick update regarding the Exchange threads from earlier.

While I've been in touch with NUTRAMAC in reference to both, we have not as yet received satisfactory information to put the issues to bed...so the Shiv sale thread has been closed, (at least temporarily)...and a pending matter where a significant purchase was made via DM for a substantial amount of money, is being looked into as the tracking number supplied to the buyer does not indicate receipt, nor any waypoint scans, by UPS four days after it was alleged to have been dropped off.

Hopefully we'll have positive news to report at some point, but at the moment...that's all I got.
 
Moorik said:
Hahahahaha, this is literally about to make me explode. 😅

A toothy cutting edge is worse because it has stress concentrations that can chip or bend when you hit really hard material.

A polished cutting edge also has stresses and tends to get rolled or deformed from repeated impacts on hard stuff.

SO WHAT THE HELL IS ACTUALLY CORRECT?!
Click to expand...
I just use a sharpening steel.

When I need smaller pieces of meat it just tenderizes the crap outta of it so I can use my fingers to tear the meat.

Cardboard and plastic and stuff I just rip
 
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tinfoil hat timmy said:
I just use a sharpening steel.

When I need smaller pieces of meat it just tenderizer the crap outta of it so I can use my fingers to tear the meat.

Cardboard and plastic and stuff I just rip
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Thanks,dear friend!

Anyway, my sharpening hobby has gone really far — to the point where I even do regrinds and all that sometimes.

But you know, I actually just sharpen on 600 grit and then use leather, sometimes even without any paste at all.

Although I have a ton of leather strops, abrasives with different bonds, cast iron laps, high-diamond-content pastes, and all that stuff.

For some reason, I still keep experimenting, even though in the end I still can't find anything significantly better than the main cutting edge plus a micro bevel on 1500-3000 grit — something like +10-20% from the original angle on the additional bevel.
IMG_8422.jpeg
 
The most important thing is not to leave a burr, but to minimize it as much as possible, and not to over-polish the blade.

In the end, a quality sharpening isn’t so much about specific abrasives, but about a well-worked cutting edge and even geometry — especially if you’re doing a micro-bevel or something like that.

My most frequent setup is something like 40/28 (360 grit) on diamonds or CBN, and then a leather strop with 14/10 (that’s roughly 1500 grit, but with a high diamond content in the paste) on some smooth, dense leather.

As a result, when you look at it under 400x magnification, you get something like a lens — meaning your micro-bevel with +2–4 degrees per side doesn’t create a literal step, but rather a kind of convex lens effect. And contrary to what it seems, even though the angle is larger, the edge doesn’t become duller — it actually becomes slightly convex (lenticular), and anything with this kind of geometry usually penetrates any material much better.
 
Blues said:
Fellas, just a quick update regarding the Exchange threads from earlier.

While I've been in touch with NUTRAMAC in reference to both, we have not as yet received satisfactory information to put the issues to bed...so the Shiv sale thread has been closed, (at least temporarily)...and a pending matter where a significant purchase was made via DM for a substantial amount of money, is being looked into as the tracking number supplied to the buyer does not indicate receipt, nor any waypoint scans, by UPS four days after it was alleged to have been dropped off.

Hopefully we'll have positive news to report at some point, but at the moment...that's all I got.
Click to expand...
Someone posted the knife and image in the FB group too
 
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