Razor Edge, grinding relief ruins finish? (sharpening)

B

biogon

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Jan 2, 2002
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I just got the Juranitch Razor Edge guide to Sharpening.

Interesting read; I'll have to go home and try it out on an old knife. I see his point about there being so much excess thickness directly behind the edge.

I think I have a misunderstanding about how he grinds in relief, though.

It sounds like to me that in the process of grinding relief, you'll do a good job in completely ruining the finish (or taking off the black coating) of any knife. I can't imagine the whole blade looking like the edge when I've attacked it with a coarse hone... *shiver*.

Also, it seems to me that if you tilt the blade up a bit, then the relief that's ground in doesn't have any kind of guide, and won't follow the contour of the edge, and it'll look really awful. The pictures aren't too clear, but somehow he's managed to get really pretty looking relief (very even).

Lastly, on a thick, swedged spearpoint (like the Buck Strider) there's no way you can grind in relief at the tip area without completely ruining the tip structure.

Is there a trick to this?

Thanks!

-Jon

keywords: razor edge sharpen sharpening grind relief juranitch edge
 
Simple... don't grind that relief then....
IMO the relief grinding thing from Juranitch cannot possibly apply to every knife. The relief grinding helps making the knife really really sharp, but without that metal backing the knife, they may break on certain tasks.
 
Hi,
I use the razor edge guides and think they are great!
What works for me when grinding the relief is lay the blade flat on the side, then lift the back of the blade up just high anough that you grind about a 1/8" to 1/4" relief on the edge.
Then put your guide on and sharpen the edge.
I got his hones also. Don't really care for the coarse one. The fine one is great.
I use my blue DMT for the relief. I then put my guide on and use the red and green DMT. Sometimes I use the razor edge fine hone also.
Make sure you try his double edge that are in the instructions that came with your guide :)

Let us know what you think of the razor edge system.
I really like it.

pahl
 
pahl pretty much sums up what I was going to say. the better the relief, if you want a real cutter, the larger it shoudl be, all things beign equal. I ground in relief on my benchmade AFCK, and my relief is 1/8" wide, about. All I did was hold the knife at 20 degrees andle and then make it more shallow, kind o fopposite to what pahl did, but either works. You can grind in the relief with the coarse hone and then clean it up with the fine hone to make it look nicer, if you want. Relief grinding sure makes a difference in cutting performance, as well as sharpening time. But you need not do as Juranich does and lay the blade flat and sctrub in relief. That would be great, but it does ruin the finish. SO, do the smaller relief that pahl said.
 
Crayola:
Hi,
Do you have the razor edge steel that folds up?
I'm thinking about ordering one.
If you have the steel, what do you think of it?

Also I see they have a sharpening video. Have you seen the video.
Just wondering if the video shows anything new that the book does not have in it.

Thanks,
pahl
 
Ditto what Cliff said. i think steels should only be smooth, and this is the smoothest I have seen. f.Dick makes a good steel too, but the Razor's Edge folding steel is, well, a very smart idea. Well worth the money.

Joe Talmadge, writer of the Bladeforums.com sharpening FAQ, told me that the video is worth it. It is one thing to read about techniques and another to SEE a person do them. I suspect from Joe's recommendation, as well as my experiences in trying to learn things from books, videos, and from teachers, is that the video would be a welcome addition. I too want the video.
 
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