Vassili
Thank you very much for posting this information about sharpening. Please bear with some more questions that I have as I understand that you are really advanced in free-hand sharpening.
Not really, I post this because was excited making it first time/ So I am learning with some success, not teaching. Also I am cheating - using that triangular base which gave me 15 degree, so to have this 15 degree on one half of the edge (30 total) I just keep blade horizontal, which is as easy as eat soup with spoon - same mechanics. In general it is same as Spyderco Sharpmaker set up but in horizontal position.
Do you tend to apply a specific angle to the edge?
Around 30 degree plus-minus, actually it turns out to be slightly convex due to imperfection of hand sharpening.
If yes, how do you make sure that you maintain it throughout the entire sharpening process?
Triangular base helps initially, but now after some practice I can make it more or less around 15 degree.
Also, what are the dimensions of the wooden block that you use and what is the angle of its canted surface?
4" x 12" x 2 3/4" (wide) 15 degree. I bought big Basswood block in Woodcraft store and they were pretty nice to cut it for me under 15 degree and clean it for no charge. I only sand it and glue leather to prevent sliding during sharpening.
What benefit(s) do you see in using it vs. just laying the stone on a horizontal level?
Initially, when I just develop my skills it was easy to maintain angle. Also it provides much better observation and working position - I sit with straight back, which is important because sometime I have to spend quite a bit of time - now Extra Extra Coarse DMT speed thing up significantly, but before I spend hours "meditating" this way. Now I just get used to it.
How do you know while sharpening that you are just about right and you haven't rounded the edge (particularly when you are using the Diamond powder)?
To do this I try to make sure that blade lay on leather completely on edge surface almost not touching very edge itself.Then move. I read somewhere that you need to find position right before it start biting leather and then move, this is what I followed and always had edge rounded. Now I try first to put it flat on edge side almost not touching very edge. When move - it will touch it accidently any way due to the human hand inperfection, touch it slightly, very delicate - exactly as needed.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Currently I am resharpening Active Duty and now I learn that pretty good sharpness I may have right after Green Rouge - no need for diamond powder. It also able to "shave" the hair. and sharpness results on thread test:
30 +++
40 +++++++
50 X+++++
60 ++++
90 +
To shave hear you should move blade from top to bottom (root) of the hair. After 1 micron diamond powder sharpness increased just a little:
30 ++++
40 ++++++X++
50 +++++++
60
70 +
So no really need in investment into diamonds, cheap Green Rouge enough for shaving hair.
I also learn that Green Rouge can be cleaned form the blade coating with warm water and soap. So no problem with keeping knife clean at all.
Thanks, Vassili.
