rolled the edge on my Cara Cara while sharpening?

hardheart

hardheart

Joined
Sep 19, 2001
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I've had the Cara for a while, and the edge holding has been really nice. It finally got to the point where a minute stropping on the CrO wasn't getting it back to shaving, so I worked it on the 2.5 micron silicon carbide paste on watercolor paper (got the idea from Tai Goo) Well, after twenty-something passes, there was a burr or roll in the last half inch. It was very smooth and even, but the edge didn't have any chips or nicks to begin with. I cleaned it off with a fine Spyderco rod held in hand, and then stropped the blade to clean shaving arm hair. This is a combo edge Byrd, which means the edge bevel is chisel ground, and I did most of the work on one side. The rolling was not really a problem, as it sharpened quickly nonetheless, and did not happen in use-but I thought it was a bit strange how easily it formed. The blade doesn't feel 'crisp' on the stone like S30V, M2, or D2, nor is it 'gummy' like some ATS-34 and softer AUS blades I have sharpened. In those cases I can get a somewhat ragged wire that I have to clean off gently, or a very floppy one that takes multiple passes on alternating sides to remove.
 
Could well have been that the steel had been fatigued by repeated cutting and stropping. I've seen the same on S30V.
 
thombrogan said:
Could well have been that the steel had been fatigued by repeated cutting and stropping. I've seen the same on S30V.
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Sounds right to me. I have lately got into a habit of cutting straight into the stone (per Cliff Stamp's recommendations) after use that would fatigue the steel, and have had good results, much fewer chase the burr sessions.
 
An acute love of sharp edges. The steel at the edge is the thinnest and most likely place to develop fatigue. You can see this when an edge goes less and less time between touch-ups before it dulls and finally stops touching up at all.
 
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