Sharpening question: Push or Pull

G

Grizz299

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Feb 15, 2018
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A newbie to sharpening and watching video after video... No consensus but for the most part they are showing techniques where the knife is pushed or pulled with the edge leading.
I see that this might create the desired burr while grinding the knife both ways (one stroke leading edge return stroke trailing edge) would eliminate the burr.

I have also seen techniques where they go both ways only emphasize that more pressure should be on the stroke where the knife edge is following. And I find that odd or at least at variance.
There are other techniques where the beginning strokes are all edge leading, and up and down the blade for several strokes. Then the knife is reversed and more multiple strokes all with the edge leading. Then after that initial burr raising (?) they go to a nice rhythm (that I prefer) that combines edge leading and edge following and then flips the blade and does edge following , edge leading.
Hoping that makes sense and wishing I had a video to help explain something that's visually easy and verbally difficult.
I've also found conflicts on stropping. With some experts advocating only a very few light strokes with the blade near horizontal (or flat) and others using multiple strokes and an angle similar to the 15 degrees used on the stones.
For the record I am using three Arizona stones 10 x 3 x 1. Soft, hard (800 grit rating), and black. And a leather strop with a green wax (that came with the strop) of indeterminate grit.
 
I like to pull. I use a sharpmaker on the points vs. the flats and I find when I pull it's easier to be sure I get right to the tip of the blade.

If you pushed you'd have to be very careful each stroke to place the tip. Which you could do but it would take much more time.
 
Yikes. "Pull" when I am convexing on wet dry or strop honing on compound. While drawing the knife towards the tip.

I guess, in effect, "push" when I am using my Sharpmaker rod set up. Top of the rods to the bottom. While drawing the knife towards the tip.
 
Better to use "leading edge", "following edge" because you can use either technique when you pull or when you push.
NO?
 
Lets move this to a more appropriate forum... you're gonna get all kinds of opinions there :D
 
O use a sharpening jig so when I’m grinding I use both, trailing and leading strokes.
I.E. when using coarse and medium stones (240~600 grit)
To remove the burr I use very light leading strokes... if still forming a burr then I remove the stone from jig and put it like sharpmaker using just the weight of the knife using pull movement from heel to tip.

When stroping I use half degree steeper then sharpening angle with very light strokes heel to tip.

Sharpening at 20 degrees I remove the burr at 25 dps and strop at 25,05 dps.
It have been working for me.

I believe that the sharpening key isn’t pressure, the key is the pass multiple times with low pressure, just to illustrate its like angular disc grinder, in this case is the high speed that cuts and pressure without speed will do nothing... and you can read speed as the number as how many times the same spot of disc pass through the metal.
 
When defining the bevel, I will use a motion that is both edge leading and edge trailing.

If your angle control is good, or your stones are hard, as in your case, you can use more pressure on the edge leading and edge trailing stroke. But if your stones are softer, or your angle control is not necessarily perfect, more pressure on the edge trailing stroke is a safer bet for your stone whilst also permitting you increased cutting speed.

I like to deburr with edge leading strokes, but the other half of the time, I'll deburr with a stropping motion. Both of these motions have still resulted in the ability to whittle hair, and neither resulted in noticeably better or worse performance.

Sometimes I'll strop with edge leading strokes. Just kidding. But as far as stropping goes, I have stropped on softer surfaces at a lower angle, moderate surfaces at the same angle, and even hard surfaces at a slightler higher angle so as to cut the burr off and apply a microbevel. Again, all of these attempts have resulted in more or less identical success and high sharpness.

So really you're skinnin' a cat, my friend. Pick one of the thousand ways to do it, and practice a lot. I'm willing to bet great results will come from it.
 
I find, with a microscope, that edge-leading strokes cause more micro chipping than edge-trailing so I use both with coarse to medium stones then use edge-trailing with 5 micron and finer stones. The Science of Sharp blog also shows that edge-trailing strokes will make a much finer edge than edge-leading strokes.
 
Die Master, Thank you, that is sympatico with my intuitive analysis. The edge trailing just feels like it should be finer if slower. But it's also contradicted by the experts on you tube (and I believe they are masters) who almost exclusively go with the edge forward.
 
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