Hi all. I have sharpened a lot of knives in my life, but I can't seem to get a shaving sharp edge on my kuks. I have diamond steels of all grits, I have tried a file finishing with medium to fine fine sandpaper . No mater how I sharpen, I can't get a really good edge. Sharp, yes, but not razor sharp. Help! What am I doing wrong????
There is nothing wrong in striving for a well honed edge. There are many misconceptions about a well honed edged blade.
Some believe a blade that will shave hairs from your arm is a fragile edge. While this is possible, it isn't necessarily true. As long as the angle isn't too narrow, then honing the edge until it shaves will not make the edge more fragile. It's more about the angle.
Honing( taking a sharp edge to a greater level of sharpness and cutting ability) simply reduces the fragile micro serrations while aligning the edge. This gives a better cutting ability as well as a longer lasting edge. A rough sharpened edge will actually dull faster.
Convex edges.
Convex edges are superior for chopping, but a Khukuri is not a dedicated chopper. It is a multi purpose tool, and it excels very well at this niche. Let's face it, if you want a dedicated chopper, an axe is hard to beat. I've used mine for slicing, a draw knife, and yes for chopping. A convex edge is not a necessity, nor desirable for me.
I have about 15 HI khukuris, and have found them to be of much higher quality in both usability and aesthetics. Both are important to me, but I am utilitarian. With this in mind, I can tell you that few of those blade are true convex grinds, nor do they need to be.
If you feel that you must sharpen your kuk in a rolling manner in order to preserve the grind, check out some of the top axe manufacturers web sites, and read/watch how they recommend their axes be sharpened. The reason I suggest axe manufacturers is because a cross grain axe is built around a convex grind. While a cross grain cutting axe has a pronounce convex edge, axes designed to cut along the grain do not.
It's your blade, do the research and sharpen it the way you wish.