Sharpening a Ceramic , 0.5micron Finish

[Sadden]

So I have been wanting to do a ceramic knife for sometime now. Now that my Veho is here I figured why not.

So started off with the Atomas. Here I didn't Apex the edge with the 140 , I got really close and then apexed it with the 400.
This isn't where I finished off , I got closer to the apex before moving on.


Then I apexed the edge with the 400 , and followed up with the 600.


Finished up on the atomas with the 1200


At this point I swapped over to Kens Diamond films mounted on glass. On some of these pics you will see the odd chip , that's from me. The knife had several large chips in it , I didn't remove all of them , as that would have been a lot of work. With subsequent sharpenings they will come out.

So here is the 15micron Diamond Film , a slight overlap with the atoma 1200 , but this is an excellent illustration showing how micron ratings are not everything , this 15micron film is actually slightly coarser than the atoma 1200 , yet it leaves an obviously finer finish.


Followed by the 9 Micron


Followed by the 6 micron


Once we started to get into 3 micron territory , to the naked eye she looked like a perfect mirror. This is where you need a microscope to be sure your removing all previous scratches before moving onto your next film.


Now shes starting to pop ,
1Micron


And I finished off on the 0.5micron Film from.


Heres the finished product


Shes one mean potato peeler
I did this for the challenge , and to say that I have done it. I can actually take the finish finer with my Polycrystalline sprays , but I don't have the desire to do so at this point. The next one I sharpen I am going to switch to CBN when I get to 1micron. On paper CBN should cut ceramic , but nobody has tried it yet.

Everything was supplied by ken Schwartz at precise sharpening. Thanks for the help Ken , I was always able to call and troubleshoot any issues I was having.

 

[kwackster]

How sharp did you manage to get it ?

 

[Sadden]

Very much sharp. This finish is equivalent to a 30k shapton finish. I had some issues initially with microchipping from the atomas , and had to go back down and spend a lot of time on the 15 micron film to get them out. Im getting more lower grit Diamond films to help remove the chips from the atomas. Should be here at the start of this week actually.

My theory is that the dot pattern on the atomas actually increases the psi right on the edge to much , and the pressure causes this microchipping. For the record I barely even use the weight of the stone arm when sharpening (I use an EP Professional) But the dot pattern drastically reduces your surface area whilst sharpening , therefore increasing your psi by an equal amount.

Its something that I am going to be re examining in the future , I want to do some more tests and see but by the time I was done with this knife I was sick of sharpening ceramics.

 

[Razorsharp-Travis]

I have reprofiled a few ceramic knives, very fast to do on a ceramic file or a SiC sanding belt