After many attempts at sharpening with stones and the Edge Pro, some very successful and others not, I thought I would try the sandpaper/mouse pad approach, which many on this forum favor. It has worked spectacularly with some of my knives and just OK with others. Trying to figure out the variables. I was wondering what thickness of the mouse pad people are using and if anyone thinks this is important. I have seen mouse pads from as small as 1/16" to 1/4". Surely, the thickness of the mouse pad must be important. Maybe one thickness is better for some knives and another thickness better for others. I will say that, overall, there seems to be much less precision necessary using the sandpaper/mousepad approach than the stones technique. I REALLY have taken a knife from just barely cuts paper to hair whittling sharp in < 1 hour. I'm not able to do anything like that with stones.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Sharpening question
- Thread starter jagger67
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2006
- Messages
- 5,364
Convex edges are great as you have found out, if you care to try to learn to sharpen with stones again let us know what problems your having.
Sandpaper on mousepad is a pretty forgiving method of sharpening, but If you press too hard the sandpaper will wrap it's self around your edge and dull it. (Just as a strop will) So as long as you keep your pressure light and angle fairly consistent, you should get good results.
Stones are not much harder IMHO. Most problems are people trying to go too fast and not paying close attention to the angle of the blade for every single stroke. After that I'd say its people not working on the course stone long enough. If your not reaching the edge (and I mean the very very edge,) your never going to get your knife sharp. I'm more against "raising a burr," but I do think the beginner freehander should "raise a burr." Just so they know they are reaching the very very edge.
The sharpie trick can also help here. It's very important to get the knife as sharp as you can with the course stone, and from there on up your really only polishing. Go as high as you like
Freehanding with a normal stone and NOT diamonds can take awhile on these new "supersteels." Heck even with diamonds, ZDP and S90V can take awhile. So work your knife over on the lowest grit stone you have, untill you feel it catching on top of your thumbnail. Can also use a bic pen, lay the knives weight only on your finger nail or pen and see if the edge bites down hard enough to NOT slide around your finger/pen. A "shaving sharp" edge should grab your nail/pen pretty good.
Get that with your lowest grit stone, and polish up from there... when you get into 2000-4000 grit range you should be whittling hair easy.
Sandpaper on mousepad is a pretty forgiving method of sharpening, but If you press too hard the sandpaper will wrap it's self around your edge and dull it. (Just as a strop will) So as long as you keep your pressure light and angle fairly consistent, you should get good results.
Stones are not much harder IMHO. Most problems are people trying to go too fast and not paying close attention to the angle of the blade for every single stroke. After that I'd say its people not working on the course stone long enough. If your not reaching the edge (and I mean the very very edge,) your never going to get your knife sharp. I'm more against "raising a burr," but I do think the beginner freehander should "raise a burr." Just so they know they are reaching the very very edge.
The sharpie trick can also help here. It's very important to get the knife as sharp as you can with the course stone, and from there on up your really only polishing. Go as high as you like
Freehanding with a normal stone and NOT diamonds can take awhile on these new "supersteels." Heck even with diamonds, ZDP and S90V can take awhile. So work your knife over on the lowest grit stone you have, untill you feel it catching on top of your thumbnail. Can also use a bic pen, lay the knives weight only on your finger nail or pen and see if the edge bites down hard enough to NOT slide around your finger/pen. A "shaving sharp" edge should grab your nail/pen pretty good.
Get that with your lowest grit stone, and polish up from there... when you get into 2000-4000 grit range you should be whittling hair easy.
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2006
- Messages
- 5,364
Just reread your post again, and see you also have an edgepro. Its a great learning tool to teach the mechanics of getting a scary sharp knife, but in my experiences I produce even sharper knives by freehanding.
But, Without the edgepro I would of never figured out what "exactly" I needed to do to "get there."
My post above can pertain to the edgepro also. Get shaving sharp on your course stone, then polish up from there. :thumbup:
But, Without the edgepro I would of never figured out what "exactly" I needed to do to "get there."
My post above can pertain to the edgepro also. Get shaving sharp on your course stone, then polish up from there. :thumbup:
If you're doing well with some knives and not others with the Edge Pro, chances are that you're not matching the angle of the stone to the angle of the edge on the knives that don't get sharp.
Take So-Lo's advice and use a Sharpie to see what's going on.
Take So-Lo's advice and use a Sharpie to see what's going on.
Both systems are good and can produce an excellent edge relatively simply. We keep looking for a magic bullet. The magic bullet is our brain. Unless the user has a basic understanding of what the heck he's doing, it's hit or miss whether either system will work on a consistent basis.
I consider myself a beginner and have tried both Lansky and Edge Pro and I think mouse pad + sandpaper is easier than the former two. As So-Lo said in his excellent response, "Unless you are getting the edge (and I mean the very very edge) you are never going to get your knife sharp. I think the skill required to get a knife really sharp seems less with the mousepad/sandpaper technique. I still want to develop the skill to get a freehand edge and I am working on it almost every day, but in the meantime, the mousepad/sandpaper technique sure seems to work well for me. In all the videos that I have seen, it mentions that the angle used when using the mousepad/sandpaper technique, is not critical. It IS critical, however, when using stones, Edge Pro and Lansky. I would also add that the mousepad/sandpaper method works better/easier on blades that have a convex grind.
Thanks for the responses and since noone has mentioned the thickness of the mousepad, I assume it is not critical.