Sharpening questions

ron finkbeiner jr

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I use a standard Spyderco sharp maker set for my knives and it does a great job of making my knives shaving sharp. I was wondering though what is the advantage or benefit of a mirror polished edge besides being cool to look at? Should I invest in diamond rods for my kit? Thanks and please forgive me if I posted this in the wrong section.
 
If your looking for a mirror edge with the sharp maker, the ultra fine are the stones you would want. The diamond are at the opposite end of the grit spectrum. They are coarser than the medium brown stones that come with the sharp maker and allow you to reprofile and reach the apex quicker.
 
Also, I'm not sure I can post the link per rules but check out Michael Christy on YouTube. He does a video about mirror edge and cruwear I think. Short answer, different edges for different jobs.
 
Many strop to put the final polished edge on a knife. I just use bench stones for the most part myself.

You might consider what a polished edge actually means? Generally it suggests a very fine (non gritty/toothy) edge which usually suggests that the knife is very sharp.
 
I own the Sharpmaker with the diamond and ultra fine stones as well as several other benchstonesbenchstones.

The diamond will help you reprofile to the proper angle on the Sharpmaker, I would highly recommend it. The ultra fine not so much, I would consider it an accessory to get after you get the diamond if you felt like it.

When you sharpen a knife the goal is to a fully apexed edge free of defects. That will make a sharp knife. If you finish on a coarse grit it will create a more toothy edge which excels at slicing. If you finish on a finer grit you get a more polished edge which excels at push cutting. They are both equally sharp.

A lot of people are under the misconception a higher grit stone will make it sharper. The reason is quite simple, it wasn't properly sharpened when they finished on the coarser stone so the extra time on the finer grits is helping them. They also may be trying to do things like push cut paper instead of slicing which prefers a more polished edge. If you try to tree top hair, once again a more polished edge is more effective than a toothy. In real world use it doesn't matter what you finish it on as much as your trying to cut material, not do party tricks to show off it's sharpness.
 
Mirror edges for some steels can exhibit higher edge retention. Mirror edges can have better corrosion resistance too.
 
Higher corrosion resistance is true with getting a mirror finish and different levels you finish them off can affect edge retention depending on steel and use. But from my experience the edge retention difference is not noticeable in real world use, under testing I expect it to be different and noticeable.
 
Yes sharpness is really dependent on what you are after. for many years I made woodworking tools for a living. You want your plane blades and chisels as sharp as possible to cut wood cleanly. sharper then you want your knifes. I loved Japanese plane irons they go so sharp I called it scare the crap out of your momma sharp. If you tried to shave your arm hair it would take the thinner layer of skin off to painlessly. the fist Japanese kitchen knife I bought I sharpened it the same way. it would fall though a potato but you had to work to get it to cut meat. . tooth size makes a big difference on how it will cut different things. Also how long it can maintain that sharpness. but all steels will only get so sharp and going past that with finer grits won't make it any sharper.
 
Whether the edge roll or not depends on geometry, steel and heat treatment. Polish or not, doesn’t affect it in anyway.

I shave with my knives, so I prefer polished, but for EDU, many find 600-1000 grit is the best compromise between the two extremes. Also the grit and sharpening medium works together with the steel and heat treatment, which means different steel will respond differently using the same sharpening media, and for different finish. Experimenting is the key to find what works best for your particular use case.

This older thread might be helpful:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/toothy-edge-vs-polished-edge.725090/
 
If you want to do a lot of pushcutting polished edges are great. That's what they're for. If you just wanna slice then they're a waste of time IMO and a "toothy" edge slices just fine.
 
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