Sharpening only edge trailing

awestib

awestib

Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
1,647
Hi guys
Once again a thought of how to change my sharpening approach on the quest to the easiest way to get my knives sharp. Why don't I just "strop" my knives from the very start, e.g. On my coarse diamond stone first until I have a burr, then flip, then finer etc. until I use my leather strop. This way I would ensure that the movement is the same/consistent all along. I would hold the sharpening medium in my left hand and strop with the right.
Any experience with "just" edge trailing strokes. No forth & back at all?
Andy

A few more things! I am not sure how it would work with a knife blade longer than 4-5 inches. Also, this above approach might contribute a bit more to a "natural" convex edge?!
 
If you can remove the burr using an edge trailing stroke then more power to ya. I can only pull that off at higher grit values on a waterstone. I do a simple test if I think I've whipped up a wire edge, I very lightly "strop" the blade at a steep angle along a door frame, edge of a workbench. If it folds over to the light then it wasn't going to last very long in use. For longer blades just do a few inches of the blade at a pass, overlapping a little as you go.
I believe some people do use edge trailing 100% even on hard stones and get good results. In my hands it frequently leads to wire edges that then have to be removed with a ton of stropping (negating any advantage in my experience), even if done on sandpaper with a very light touch.
 
when i sharpened by hand i always went edge trailing. to me it is so much easier to maintain the angle. i tried going back and forth but never liked the results or how the finished edge looked. for a longer blade i find a longer abrasive surface works better than a short stone. having it attached to a bench helps out quite a bit too.
 
Thanks guys. I can see the problem with the burr and particularly its removal. I will see how it goes. I am not too concerned however since belt sander sharpening is exactly that: edge trailing all along. And it gives excellent results for the ones who have mastered the technique I believe. I have not used my belt sander a lot since I am afraid of changing temper etc. plus it removes to much metal to fast for my taste and it's difficult to use "out in the woods".
Andy
 
Last edited:
richard j said:
when i sharpened by hand i always went edge trailing. to me it is so much easier to maintain the angle. i tried going back and forth but never liked the results or how the finished edge looked. for a longer blade i find a longer abrasive surface works better than a short stone. having it attached to a bench helps out quite a bit too.
Click to expand...

I agree on all points except I usually prefer edge leading (personal preference).
 
I'll be interested to hear how things go. Here's a little more detail based on what I observed from my own efforts.

Edge trailing effectively reduces the grit value of the stone/belt/paper you're working with. The act of drawing the edge over the abrasive means it doesn't bite as deep into the apex - it skates over the top. I always thought it was kind of amazing that I could get hair-popping edges backhoning on 220 grit sandpaper till I started using an edge-leading stroke on the same paper. Then the results were more like what I got from a SIC benchstone and actually not quite as nice. Had to go up to a 600 or 800 grit paper (actually a bonded belt) to get the same cutting qualities.

Using edge trailing on sandpaper I was able to get some amazing edges, but none of them held up to the abuse that my edge leading blades can handle. I suspect it has to do with the burr remnants being incorporated into the apex and not removed as cleanly as with an edge leading motion - none of my better sandpaper edges could hold up to the "steep angle stropping on hardwood" test. I did the same test on some knives I sharpened on my diamond stones and there was no trace of edge rolling. I started taking a much closer look at my edges as I prepared them and found I was doing a ton of loaded stropping to remove all the burr - effectively changing the character of my edges from what the stone (paper) produced, to what the strop produced. As a parallel activity I had switched from my powered beltsander to mounting my sanding belts on some boards for doing machetes. With a bonded belt I could do a fore and aft stroke and finish with some edge leading and not tear the media - no persistent burr issues either, in fact the edges were extremely clean in that respect - I could almost remove all trace just using the belts. At that point I concluded that in my hands anyway I was better off not using edge trailing strokes and abandoned my sandpaper, despite the wickedly sharp edges I was producing. Recently I've been experimenting with some edge trailing on waterstones per Murray Carter's method. As a finishing step with higher grit stones following a fore and aft stroke with the lower grit stones, it seems not to have wire edge issues - not sure why it should work different from whetstones or sandpaper in this respect, but for me it does. Also I should add that wire edge formation appeared to be less pronounced with a powered sander as opposed to using paper over leather. And - when I'm talking about wire edges and burrs here I'm not referring to big hairy things that can be seen and felt easily. The wire edges couldn't be detected with a thumbnail test and the burrs were just visible at 8-10x magnification.

And so I'm very interested in what you discover and how different or similar your results are.

HH
 
richard j said:
when i sharpened by hand i always went edge trailing. to me it is so much easier to maintain the angle. i tried going back and forth but never liked the results or how the finished edge looked. for a longer blade i find a longer abrasive surface works better than a short stone. having it attached to a bench helps out quite a bit too.
Click to expand...
Isn't sharpening on the paper wheels essentially edge trailing only? Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it if history is any indication:thumbup:.
 
yes it is. thats one of the reasons i like the wheels. i always sharpened edge trailing and the only time i go edge leading is when i use a ceramic stick to remove a burr.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top