Sharpening Beginner's First Day

Few tricks to implement that will help a beginner:

Sharpie trick. Already mentioned but the most important thing about sharpening is maintaining a consistent angle and being able to visually see where it is and then correct it on the fly. Early on I was applying it almost every pass to get my muscle memory down.

Keep at the coarse for longer than you think you need to. Like most people early on I figured that the higher the grit and finer the stone the finer the edge you get. While technically true, if you have not yet fully set your bevel than you are going to be grinding away with a 1000 grit finishing stone forever without actually making any progress. Finer stones are to refine an edge already created on the coarse stones.

Burr removal. This is another thing that isn't mentioned enough when it comes to cheap knives. These knives are usually running absurdly soft and cheap steel. Everyone will always tell a beginner to start on super cheap knives for good reason; you dont want to mess up a knife you love and spent a lot of money on while learning. The downside to this is that super soft steel can be a real nightmare to remove a burr, they tend to want to flip back and forth OR even worse create a wire edge that will give a newbie the impression that they have gotten a sharp edge only to fall off on the first cut of anything more significant than newspaper. Its all the rage right now to do burr removal on hard substrates like wood but for cheap steel in my experience nothing beats old fashioned leather. You can make your own strop for $10 with a block of wood and a strip of leather from an arts and crafts store. Super glue the leather to the block of wood and get yourself some green compound and see if that does the trick.

Good luck
 
GAGL said:
did you try to paint the edge with a waterproof marker?

i find this method very helpful.
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I was late, but I was going to suggest this too. If you can't see or feel if you're removing metal from the right places, some judiciously applied ink from a Sharpie on the edge bevel will let you know quickly.
 
Another day on the Course stone, another burr on each side, but still not much of cutting edge.

Keep going? Try something else? Maybe the problem is the cheap-o knife steel?
 
Mister Coffee said:
Maybe the problem is the cheap-o knife steel?
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cheapo knives come in tough ductile steels and form malleable positive burr:

"True that those inferior steels are easier to grind, but that shiny stainless steel is a pain to deburr. Getting rid of the burr these cheapo knives usually produce is so difficult that you can clean the edge apex only at the cost of rounding it. In response to your deburring efforts the highly malleable burr just keeps bending back and forth like a foil leaf. To get rid of this crud of metal you take a higher and higher angle, gradually realizing that in the process of removing the existing burr you're also drawing new metal out past the apex and creating a new burr – the reason we call them mutant burr. Overall, sharpening junk knives can be extremely frustrating." (quote from a book)
 
Mister Coffee said:
Another day on the Course stone, another burr on each side, but still not much of cutting edge.

Keep going? Try something else? Maybe the problem is the cheap-o knife steel?
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After achieving the burr on the second side, how did you go about trying to remove it?

Did you gently remove it to the point where you could no longer feel it or snag a thumbnail on it?
 
Mister Coffee said:
Another day on the Course stone, another burr on each side, but still not much of cutting edge.

Keep going? Try something else? Maybe the problem is the cheap-o knife steel?
Click to expand...
Have you tried sharpening on a different type of stone?
Maybe try a $20 Norton India or crystolon first to get your technique down?
I find the India or crystolon provide good feedback to let you know when you're at the right angle and you don't have to worry about too much pressure ruining the stone.
When sharpening lower grade steels I find they respond better "softer" abrasives than on diamond.
 
Mister Coffee said:
Another day on the Course stone, another burr on each side, but still not much of cutting edge.

Keep going? Try something else? Maybe the problem is the cheap-o knife steel?
Click to expand...
After raising a burr on both sides, try a couple of edge trailing strokes. Or edge leading strokes. Alternating the side of the blade each time. The lighter the pressure the better. This usually helps to remove the burr.
 
Blues said:
After achieving the burr on the second side, how did you go about trying to remove it?

Did you gently remove it to the point where you could no longer feel it or snag a thumbnail on it?
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After achieving the burr on the second side, I started to alternate strokes with decreasing pressure on the stone until I could not feel a burr on either side.
 
Toothy Wolf said:
After raising a burr on both sides, try a couple of edge trailing strokes. Or edge leading strokes. Alternating the side of the blade each time. The lighter the pressure the better. This usually helps to remove the burr.
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I think that's what I've been doing. :)
 
jiggyfly16 said:
Have you tried sharpening on a different type of stone?
Maybe try a $20 Norton India or crystolon first to get your technique down?
I find the India or crystolon provide good feedback to let you know when you're at the right angle and you don't have to worry about too much pressure ruining the stone.
When sharpening lower grade steels I find they respond better "softer" abrasives than on diamond.
Click to expand...

I may graduate to other stones eventually. I'm especially feeling like a 6 x 2 is a little small. And I need a base, for heaven's sake.
 
Mister Coffee said:
I may graduate to other stones eventually. I'm especially feeling like a 6 x 2 is a little small. And I need a base, for heaven's sake.
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If you go off of abrasive hardness with India being aluminum oxide and Crystolon being Silicon carbide, it's a downgrade from diamond, but the India and crystolon is much easier to learn on in my opinion. I usually stick with the standard 8 in. length unless you sharpen big blades often.

My usual progression with my old setup before getting into diamond is:
India coarse ->fine ->old India fine (looks and feels finer than the new ones) -> translucent Arkansas -> Strop with green compund.

That usually got me hair whittling sharp on anything that did not have too many carbides in it.
 
Thinking about it a little more: The problem is probably that my technique is not good enough yet, and I am not reaching the apex. Or I'm reaching it, then moving my hands and messing up the bevel.

More practice, more practice.
 
Mister Coffee said:
Thinking about it a little more: The problem is probably that my technique is not good enough yet, and I am not reaching the apex. Or I'm reaching it, then moving my hands and messing up the bevel.

More practice, more practice.
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If you raised a burr along the entire length, you've apexed (the side you had been sharpening). But technique will determine where things go from there, in concert with the steel. Soft, gummy stainless is harder to remove the burr from.
 
Just a thought here...

I remember I had a tough time figuring out diamond hones for a long while. And trying to figure them out on softer, low-alloy stainless presented other difficult issues, like cleaning up tenaciously-clinging burrs typical of those steels.

Things began to click for me, when I figured out it was easier to focus ONLY on the finer-grit hones in diamond, like 600 or finer, while trying to learn the touch for using them. If one hasn't yet found the touch entirely, it's much harder to do so with a coarse diamond hone. And doubly so, when using it on those softer, low-alloy stainless blades.

Refinement is all about reducing aggressiveness, in terms of metal removal (via the grit size, via the pressure used, etc), in working the edge. A finer hone is a bit more forgiving to a heavier or clumsier touch and won't leave the edge quite so rough if the technique isn't perfect yet.

If you've verified a burr along the full length of the edge after working with the coarse hone, then put that hone down, at that point. Then ONLY use the finer hone (your EF) to do the burr cleanup. I suggest this only in the context of doing so while you're still learning the basics of using diamond hones. With some practice on the finer hones, there'll come a point when your hands will get a feel for it, and then that can be applied to refining with the coarser hones as well. It all gets easier after that.
 
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A few thoughts:

1. Deburring on the same stone you made the burr on is "the gold standard". But it's not the only way. You might do some deburring strokes on a FINER stone (DMT EF) to see if that works better. Finer stones make smaller burrs, so they are actually good at removing the burr from a more coarse stone. Because they won't recreate it the way the coarse stone will.
2. Other deburring techniques are worth considering. Drawing the blade through end grain wood, or cork (like from a wine bottle) are both worth trying. If you do, make sure to observe the wood or cork when you are done. Do you see grey or black stuff? If so, that's burr you ripped off.
3. There's a really powerful deburring technique that I like to use every now and then. I learned it from blade forums member "bluntcut". This video of his is where I learned it. If you do this correctly (with a wooden dowel like he does) it works wonders. Especially on soft steel that makes big ole nasty burrs.


It's a long video, but there's a good bit of wisdom in it if you pay attention.

Good luck!
Brian.
 
Decided to move on to another knife. This one is a Swilling Henkels chef's knife. It also had a beat-up edge, but I was able to sharpen it enough to cut copy paper — somewhat. Process: 1) Course, 2) Extra Fine, 3) Black Compound Strop, 4) Green Compound Strop.

1) The knife had a full flat grind. I didn't know what else to do except put a bevel on it. Maybe that was wrong.

2) The bevel on one side is way larger than on the other side. Guess I blew that. I think the different bevel on each side is forcing me to hold the knife at an angle to get a good slice out of a piece of paper. Does that sound right?
 
Asymmetric bevels can be done on purpose, but those are usually on Japanese style blades. Of course there are chisel ground blades also, which only have a bevel on one side and essentially no bevel on the "flat" side. Perhaps you just spent longer on one side than the other. This is fairly common if you have a lot of grinding to do and you don't switch often enough. "Full flat grind" just refers to the primary grind being the same from spine to edge and then an edge bevel at the very edge. I'm guessing that this blade was so dull that essentially none of the original edge bevel was left. That's normal on really beat up knives. To fix them, you put on edge bevels, which you seem to have done.

As for the "have to hold it an angle to cut" thing, this is probably not an effect that's caused by the asymmetric edge bevels. It's likely just a blade that's not quite sharp enough to do a pure 90 degree cut. It's weird, but it's almost always easier to cut paper at an angle. Strangely enough, you can do the angle in any of the 3 dimensions and it still cuts. So, you could tilt the knife with the handle down a bit and the tip up a bit and it would probably cut the paper equally well. A pure 90/90/90 cut is the hardest one to make. I have a video on this topic if you want to geek out about paper cutting.

Brian.
 
What grit is your coarse DMT? My DMT Dia-Sharp Ultra Coarse is 220 grit and will easily re-profile an edge, which is what I use it for. The red DMT is 600 grit, the green is 1200. It will take a long time to re-profile an edge on the red. When my DMTs load up I clean them with BreakFree CLP, which lifts the swarf right out. Light strokes are all you need with diamond hones. An angle guide is useful for maintaining an even bevel -- I use an ancient BuckMaster but there are others that also clamp on the spine of the blade.
 
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