Sharpening... Have I lost my...edge?

B

Buck268

Joined
Nov 5, 2006
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Corny pun, I know, but this has me somewhat aggitated.

So yesterday evening I spent about 2 hours trying to knock the bevel down on my Delica 4. Using a DMT Coarse, it went fairly quick. Stopped a couple times to scrub the stone to ensure the best cutting performance. The problem is that one side WILL NOT sharpen up. Its like I can't get al the way through the original bevel. Its hard to explain, but basically its like I hit an extremely abrasion resistant portion of the steel or something. The stone feels like its cutting, but even after 10 minutes of vigorous honing (small circles method as that has, in my experience, removed material quicker) there is no noticable reduction in this original bevel!

Now I'm hardly a novice, and I've tried everything I can think of; from alternating stroke to up to 30 strokes per side to the small circles I mentioned above, nothing seems to be knocking this down. The other side is perfect, in fact it came out VERY nice. Its just this one side doesn't want to get down all the way to the edge! I wasn't aware of any work-hardening effect with VG-10, and the stone still cuts (can see swarf in the water)... Its just stalled out on progress.

I'm going to hit it again tonight, but perhaps somebody has a tip that I may not be thinking about, or should I just be more patient? I only went down (by hand) to maybe a 15-20 degree per side angle, its not like I'm trying to do a flat grind by hand!
 
Patience or patience and a coarser hone (do you have 120 grit sand paper, a flat block, and some glue?) will work. Rushing will take longer.
 
I figured 2+ hours is quite some time for VG-10 on a DMT coarse stone... Perhaps I'm wrong.
 
Have you marked that side of the edge with a Sharpie? Most of the knives I buy have different angles on each side of the edge. With tough steels like VG-10, it can take a long time to take off even a few degrees. I find from 20 down to 15 degrees goes relatively quickly, but when you start going down below that, it takes a loooong time.

The payoff, though, is that the longer you spend thining out the primary bevel, touchups with a secondary bevel are a breeze! Maybe you need something rougher than "course".

I think I spend 90-95% of my time with my coarsest stones. After that it's really refining the edge, not sharpening the edge.

Good luck and hang in there!
 
if you dont have any luck i might be able to help you out. i have some pictures i can send you that might help. if you still cant get it, i can even put a good edge on so you will be able to sharpen it easier later.
 
Buck268 said:
I figured 2+ hours is quite some time for VG-10 on a DMT coarse stone... Perhaps I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

That job would be done in 5-10 minutes with a coarser hone and elbow grease or a powered sharpener, but the DMT coarse can be slow. Mine ain't, but I keep it clean with a scrub brush and also push as though the knife is being used to scrape the diamonds clean off the hone.
 
Well, maybe I'll just crack a beer after work and class tonight and see what happens. Thanks for the offer Richard, but I'll get this eventually, just got a little frustrated cuz it seemed like it was taking longer than I expected (first time using the dmt coarse).
 
Maybe you have worn down your stone... (torn off the diamond particles off the plate, it happens with use)
 
If I'm using a DMT Coarse just to sharpen a very dull knife, I usually just use it dry. But if I'm trying to reprofile an edge, I do it over the sink with a trickle of water running and keep constantly rewetting the "stone". This seems to make it cut a lot faster.
 
That's weird, I used my cheap ass 325grit diamond stone that was worn out a lil, and I got my native down to 10deg/side in 30mins lol.
 
You need to be able to see what is happening. Paint the side of your edge with a permanent marker like a Sharpee. You will be able to see what is going on. Then come back and tell us what was happening.
 
Try cleaning the hone off with BreakFree or something similar. An angle guide of some kind might help -- it's sometimes difficult to hone both sides of the blade precisely the same.
 
I think I'm ending up with a muh lower angle on the one (problem) side of the bevel, simply due to body mechanics; according to what the sharpie says... First time I've ever tried that, neat!

Anyways, Gotta keep that elbow up and it should be good.
 
Yup, lifted my elbow just a hair working on that side and it sharpened right up (typically does). Feels decently uniform with the shaving test (the angle required to shave) and felt right working up through the fine, x-fine and strop (with very fine "mothers" metal polish). Might play with it a little more, but its turned out very well and I think I'll let EDC test out my job.
 
Buck268 said:
Yup, lifted my elbow just a hair working on that side and it sharpened right up (typically does). Feels decently uniform with the shaving test (the angle required to shave) and felt right working up through the fine, x-fine and strop (with very fine "mothers" metal polish). Might play with it a little more, but its turned out very well and I think I'll let EDC test out my job.
Click to expand...
You can shave with a 20degree edge though lol.
 
You can shave with a 90* angle if you wanted to. What I'm saying is that depending on the angle, you can only drop the spine so low.
 
blah... i'm having the same problem as the OP... simply cannot get rid of the factory bevel on my Dragonfly... it's smaller than before, but it's still there...
 
DMT course works great on most every steel. I've chopped down the bevel on S30V with a black Silicon Carbide stone even. D2 just grinds away, but on a 6" fixed BM156 CSK with a hideous factory bevel it takes time.
 
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