Hey guys, I am new to relativily new to the forum and it has truly inspired me to not only start a collection, but also learn the art of sharpening my knives. I am currently using a smith guided set-up with a coarse and fine diamond then finishing with an alumina rod. I can get my knives decently sharp (can shave but takes a few swipes and can also cut paper but it is rough.) but no where near the level my spyderco came brand new. I just ordered a DMT extra fine and extra extra fine diafold. will this get me to hair popping sharp? as I said I am new to this and any and all advice is welcomed! Thanks for the help!
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Sharpening suggestions and advice
- Thread starter DDA2011
- Start date
Jason B.
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 11,184
Fine stones will make a edge very sharp but you will need coarse stone to create a edge that has the ability to be refined.
With a coarse stone you should be able to make a edge shaving sharp but it takes slow and steady movements and light pressure to reduce the burr size. Once a edge is established you can use fine stones to make it sharper.
With a coarse stone you should be able to make a edge shaving sharp but it takes slow and steady movements and light pressure to reduce the burr size. Once a edge is established you can use fine stones to make it sharper.
Assuming the Smiths diamonds are close to the grit rating of the DMT diamonds, the coarse should be capable of making an edge that will cleanly cut printer paper, and probably even phonebook paper. With some good deburring including a *tiny* bit of stropping, it should shave some too.
Off of the fine it should cleanly cut phonebook paper and shave (my) arm hair in one pass, leaving little hair behind.
I'd guess that you're not forming a full length burr on both sides with the coarse. You're probably getting a bit of burr on both sides and then moving on too quickly. This is a HUGELY important concept. At least it was for me.
Brian.
Off of the fine it should cleanly cut phonebook paper and shave (my) arm hair in one pass, leaving little hair behind.
I'd guess that you're not forming a full length burr on both sides with the coarse. You're probably getting a bit of burr on both sides and then moving on too quickly. This is a HUGELY important concept. At least it was for me.
Brian.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,437
Assuming the Smiths diamonds are close to the grit rating of the DMT diamonds, the coarse should be capable of making an edge that will cleanly cut printer paper, and probably even phonebook paper. With some good deburring including a *tiny* bit of stropping, it should shave some too.
Off of the fine it should cleanly cut phonebook paper and shave (my) arm hair in one pass, leaving little hair behind.
I'd guess that you're not forming a full length burr on both sides with the coarse. You're probably getting a bit of burr on both sides and then moving on too quickly. This is a HUGELY important concept. At least it was for me.
Brian.
^^That, on all points covered. Very comprehensive post; pretty much nailed it. :thumbup:
David
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2009
- Messages
- 13,437
The 'burr' is just a thin sliver of steel that forms when the edge is thin enough to make the steel fold over at the edge, under light pressure from honing. That's the indicator the steel is as thin as it's going to get at the edge, therefore the 'apex' has been reached. The goal is to form that burr along the full length of the cutting edge, therefore proving the entire edge's length has been fully apexed. The burr will fold away from the side being sharpened, toward the other side. It usually can be felt with a fingernail slid down the side of the blade to the edge, where the burr will stop/block the fingernail from sliding over the edge. It's generally good practice, when the burr has been confirmed, to 'flip' the burr to the opposite side by honing from the other side. This ensures that both bevels, on each side, are intersecting flatly and cleanly at the apex, and therefore the edge is as sharp as it can be. That's the time to move to the next hone.
Experienced sharpeners will usually do all of that at the first, coarsest hone, then begin removing the burr and refining the apex with subsequent hones. When first getting the feel for this process, it's not a bad idea to continue to look for and form a finer burr with each subsequent hone. That's a good way to make sure you're getting the edge fully apexed and maintaining it, at each stage, without inadvertently rounding off or blunting the edge in later stages. Obviously, as one gets nearer to the finishing steps, it's necessary to keep reducing the size of the burr (smaller & thinner), so it's remnants can be easily removed by stropping in the final step.
With more practice and experience, you'll get better at cleaning up the burr early on, and the latter stages will be just about refining scratch patterns on the bevels and fine-tuning the apex.
David
Last edited:
VictorUnit
BANNED
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2013
- Messages
- 26
to me dmt is the way to go. the folding models with fully coated metal rods are my favorite . they have a conical model for serrations and a 7/32" cylindrical rod for chainsaws that comes in coarse that is helpful as well
7/32" cylindrical rod for chainsaws that comes in coarse that is helpful as well