Sharpening stone questions for acuto+

bluntcut said:
Yeah it looks much better. I would ignore the hole but would round the edge around chips, to avoid accidental edge dig. Grind away and post back your result. Also perhaps lower the sak blade angle a little more, say 17-20 degrees per side, it looks a bit obtuse right now (unless the image fooled me).
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Will do. :)
 
O.k. I'm not sure what to think. The knife didn't cut anything before, and now I can sort of slice paper. Please see this video. I can feel a bur and then smooth it out with alternating strokes and even tried the newspaper method, but no matter what I do, the end result is this:


[video=youtube;oV4Rs8tJioo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV4Rs8tJioo&feature=youtu.be[/video]

I probably just embarrassed myself, but who sharp is that? Besides "not at all" haha. I realize it isn't "sharp" but am I actually doing anything, or is this the result of "not" doing anything?

p.s. I don't know if there's a paper slicing technique, so don't mind the hacking...
 
You are doing fine - keep baby stepping forward. Read some more about burr removal & watch more sharpening videos. Watch a couple minutes of my video - start time around 8:24 into the video where I use an rough AlOx stone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgumZxt3ws4 - give my odd burr removal method a shot.
 
bluntcut said:
Yes, it was a stick, any stick or a piece of wood will do.
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I see. What is the most likely problem I'm having? I have tried light pressure (almost none), medium, hard, etc. Steep angles, shallow angles. I can get it only so sharp. I even tried the bottom of a ceramic mug, no sharper no duller. I would think using a shallower angle would make it sharper and a steeper angle duller, but ironically it always comes out about the same sharpness...

I've tried back and forth motions, forward slicing only, backward pulling only. My ripple 2 was so sharp out of the box, it has dulled a lot since I got it, and it's STILL sharper than the knife I'm sharpening. ha. Pathetic.

Any other tips?

I try to feel for a bur, and sometimes I feel something, almost like the blade feels sharp, even though it's not. Sometimes it's on the opposite side of the blade I would expect after swiping a few times. I'm wondering if I'm having a bur problem? If the bur isn't removed or perfectly centered would that keep it from getting sharper than I have it? Unless it is still an angle consistency thing, but how do I tell that? The marker seems to show I'm doing o.k., but maybe that isn't accurate enough?
 
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So here is my blade so far. I've tried to make a smaller angle hoping it would reshape the blade a bit thinner. I'm still cutting the same though. The edge looks messy to me. Any critique?

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDXXdsf

I keep feeling a bur or rough edge or something, and i try to remove it carefully until i don't feel anything. but it doesn't seem to help...
 
From image IMG_2451 - apex view. It seem the edge is not apexed.

Use sharpie marker on the bevel, grind until the marker is gone (use loupe or mag glass to inspect). During sharpening stroke, keep your handle hand lock at target angle, move arm back/forth and up for knife belly toward the tip. To minimize burr, you could try exclusive edge-leading stroke only. Take apex & bevel view pictures as you go along, good diagnosis info for others to help you out.
 
were those photos good enough? it's really freaking hard to get a photo of that with my point-and-shoot camera... :-P
 
They are fine, 2451 shown the edge isn't apexed. So give my suggestions above a shot and hopefully others will chime in...

edit: get a Peak 15x loupe, it's really nice for inspecting & close-up shot (w/ point shoot camera)
As an example, here I just took an image of my sak blade finished on dmt ee with a p&s camera.
sak_apex_15x_20130211.jpg
 
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bluntcut said:
They are fine, 2451 shown the edge isn't apexed. So give my suggestions above a shot and hopefully others will chime in...

edit: get a Peak 15x loupe, it's really nice for inspecting & close-up shot (w/ point shoot camera)
As an example, here I just took an image of my sak blade finished on dmt ee with a p&s camera.
View attachment 330185
Click to expand...

Wow, can you recommend a loupe? ha. I'm using a very low mag magnifying lens. Probably 3x.

Here is my last sharpening:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDXy2DT

I think I see what is happening. It is like I'm grinding the bevel, but not really hitting the tip. My bevel accuracy seems o.k. I think. But I need a steeper angle. Do you concur? The thing that's odd, is that I though you wanted a 20-40 degree exclusive (or whatever) angle. Any higher and I'll be doing a 45 degree angle on one side! I measured it. I tried grinding at the angle I've been using for a while to see if I could reshape the bevel thinner, but these photos were taken in two or three sets each set about 10-15 strokes on each side between sets. I still see marker on the tip.
 
Quality loupe: Peak 15x (good bang/buck)

Sak factory edge is quite obtuse. By raised the angle - from new images - the edge is now almost apexed. Back to sharpie marker and keep on grinding until marker is gone and burr one side then burr the other side. For major grinding like this, you should flip side every minute until marker is gone and burr is detected. You can optional go low angle later, right now grind until the 2 bevel faces meet at the apex.
 
Haven't had a lot of time in the last few days. This is what I have done so far:
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjE1jvrA

I feel the blade and it "feels" the sharpest it has felt so far... I've switched to leading the edge, because I think the stone is nicking the blade. I can rub it on my fingernail and feel it catching. This seems to help a bit. Please let me know what you think... It still aint cuttin' no paper that good. ha. Hope the photos aren't too crappy...
 
When you say the stone is nicking the blade, are any chips showing up? Are you getting a burr to show up yet on the edge of the blade? It appears from the photo's that you haven't reached an apex on the blade yet. However it is hard to really tell from the pictures. What do you think the angle of your grind is?

Blessings,

Omar
 
Um. I don't know what a burr feels like really, but I know that if grind one side enough I feel sort of a fuzzyness on one side. Not really fuzzy, but like a hard fuzziness... Does that makes sense? I assume it's the metal folding over...

At that point I can switch sides and repeat until I feel it on the other side. Then I try back and forth like seems fairly typical. The blade feels sharp, but i've heard that might mean you're feeling the burr? Not sure. I can't tell if there are chips, but when i cut paper it seems to cut ok sometimes but gets caught half way through. I thought perhaps that was a nick from the stone, so I rubbed the blade across my fingernail, and it seems to get caught half way through the slice.

I'd guess my angle is 40 degrees off the stone. Anything less and I seem to rub the bevel close to the flat part of the blade and not take marker of the very edge...
 
A good burr will feel like a fine ledge on one side of the knife. You should be able to feel and see it. It should run the entire length of the blade with no bare spots. After you raise a burr on one side, turn to the other side and repeat until a finer burr appears on the other side on the full length of the blade. Then turn over and very lightly abrade the burr off. The key is to use very light pressure until the burr is no longer felt on that side. Then turn over again and repeat the other side the same way. Use very light pressure. After this, there should be almost no burr, or a very small one. You can then finish on a strop to where there is no sign or feel of a burr. Look along the edge of your knife under bright light and see if there is any bright reflection showing. If so, then the burr is not removed yet, or you rolled an edge with stropping. Use light pressure when stropping and maintain the same angle of attack you used on the stone. You should have a paper push cutter now.

Blessings,

Omar
 
bluntcut said:
You are doing fine - keep baby stepping forward. Read some more about burr removal & watch more sharpening videos. Watch a couple minutes of my video - start time around 8:24 into the video where I use an rough AlOx stone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgumZxt3ws4 - give my odd burr removal method a shot.
Click to expand...

This video taught me so much and removed an incredible amount of mystery from the black art of sharpening!
I pulled out all my sharpening tools and got a rock, wood hockey stick and paper, after an hour of trying everything including a plate I made a sandwich on I am happy to say my crappy test knife is damn sharp repeatedly as in the vid.

Thanks!
 
I watched this a few times, and the technique isn't working for me. It gets sharper than it was, but not paper slicing with ease... :-/
 
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