Sandpaper

[Coad]

I have been using sandpaper to sharpen a mora carbon. I use 150 grain if I really dulled or dinged it up. I follow that with 220. I just use the 220 if its a little dull. If I used a finer grain to follow that, will I notice better edge retention, or is that purely cosmetic.

 

[Magnaminous_G]

You should notice better edge retention. The finer the grit, the more refined the final edge. A more refined edge is less easily deformed. 220 is pretty coarse, so you'd probably be very happy with the results if you went up to 400 and even on to 800.

 

[Coad]

I will give that a try. Thank you.

 

[ryxlyx]

And of course you're starting w/ a sharper knife using a finer grit. I've settled on 1000 for touchups, a few swipes w/ a handheld ceramic on top of that.

 

[TheKallumS]

You're using really low grits. On mine, if my blade REALLY needs a sharpening, rather than a straightning, I start out with 150w/d or 220w/d. If it just needs touched up, I usually start around 600, 400 if it really needs it. I polish it up on 1500 and then go up to 4000, then strop with 6000grit paste and green compound, which is almost the same. Lower grits, buy in emory paper kind, higher grits, get the wet/dry kind. It should help. Full sharpening cycle for me goes(if I am establishing the bevel) 150 emory paper, 220 emory paper, 400 w/d, 600 w/d, 1500 w/d, then 4000 w/d. Strop on green compound and done. Straightening the edge back up, I would drop back down to 600 w/d and go back up from there.

 

[Coad]

I have no experiance with the strop. I geuss that gives me an excuse to get more gear. And order a few more knives. I really like the scandi, im going to try a ffg next.