Sharpness Videos

V

Vivi

BANNED
Joined
Dec 4, 2005
Messages
5,095
This morning I got the idea to start making videos demonstrating knife sharpness. Excuse my poor video quality, but it's the best I currently have. I'll get some videos posted of some freshly sharpened knives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_uUCkV-zYE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdg_3y441Cw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTUDVSH8Ors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNiFbXXW32o

Eventually I'll make videos of my sharpening techniques as well.

Maybe others could post videos and we could get a relative idea of each other's sharpening abilities?

I'm going to go make videos showing the cutting ability of thinned out knives. EDIT: Adding more links.
 
I've seen some of your videos Vassili. They're well done. I'll try to get some hair whittling videos posted soon.

What's your usual sharpening method for your daily use knives? I usually just give about 6-12 strokes per side with a ceramic rod then strop it about the same number of strokes. This has good push cutting ability but isn't very polished so it still shows a little aggression on a slice. I reset then finish the secondary bevel with fine stones whenever it starts getting too thick.
 
I have no problem slicing with my knives. I think people really rounded edge when polishing and so it did not cut well. I did some tests. I made some edge without going up to highest polish - they does cut rolled toilet paper deeper if you slice it without any push, but I realize that this is only advantage.

I have one knife with Coarse DMT polish and one with Extra Fine DNT polish and my usual hair whittling polish - I try to use them on my daily cuttings. Turn out that polished edge always cuts better! Because always when cutting I do some push and with polished edge it is just much better, much easier and pleasant.

May be only thing when it work better - when I cut sketch book into two. When edge goes against laying paper, coarse edge feels bit better.

I think that many people can not really sharpen knives to same level, and instead of keep trying, take this psychological escape - like something wrong with high polish. Or may be I use knives differently, I do not know, but my personal preference now based on my personal observation - highly polished edge. Plus it is pleasant to sharpen knife to this extent again and again.

So my daily use knives all sharpened to the point when they able to whittle hair. It take DMT Extra Fine + Green Rouge on leather to restore sharpness, but it is more then 30 strokes - take probably 10 minutes once in a few week.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
What I described I do once or twice a day, which is more frequent than most people sharpen. I do it that way because keeping the edge well maintained means less work overall. Not having to grind away as much metal etc. Also I like to always have that freshly sharpened feel.

I've noticed a similar thing with polished edges. If they're really sharp, they slice just fine. A store near me has the Spyderco Ultra Fine benchstone. I plan to purchase one when I get the money and see how the edge is compared to my DMT fine stone or ceramic rods, which is the highest grit sharpening device I have outside of my strop. I really should start spending more money on sharpening equipment and less on knives. :)

I think there is a lot of misinformation out there based on people not knowing how to properly sharpen their knives (Not that I'm a master myself). The issue of convex grinds being wonder slicers has no factual basis for instance. I think a lot of cases are simply people using a thinly ground convex edge knife when they're used to thick bevels on a "regular" knife edge. Geometry influences cutting ability, the convex shape has little effect at all on this, though the shape of the blade may help push away media while it's being cut in a different manner than other grinds allow for. I also always had the impression that people who like a "working edge" either couldn't sharpen very well or were too lazy to do so. I've never seen any other rationalizing for stating "I prefer a duller edge to a sharper one."
 
All of my knives can whittle hair, but they don't slice through hair as easily as your videos show, Vassili. Maybe it's because I don't try to go too polished on my edges. I use the extra fine ceramic Sharpmaker stone (freehand) on one of my knives, but even on that, I haven't gotten it (yet) too polished. The others, I use the fine Sharpmaker stone.
 
I have Ultra Fine but neer was able to take advantage of it. It may be to hard and damage edge, because at the hair whittling level it is too gentle - this is what I am thinking, but never actually prove it. However, I heard some people have same success, and if I am not mistaken they use soft base for ceramic which absorbs shaking during sharpening, the way leather loaded with Green Rouge absorbs shakes in my case.

And Green Rouge way cheaper.

Thanks, Vassili.

P.S. I do not use ceramic - DMT + Leather loaded with Green Rouge + (in case of extra good steel ZDP189vCPM S90V) Leather loaded with Diamond powder 100000 Mesh (0.15 microns)
 
How long does everyones polished edge stay shaving sharp? I know this depends on how often you use your knife and what you cut. So lets say on average, how many 2 inch cuts into cardboard does it take before you lose the shaving edge?

I tend to think that if my knife doesn't shave, its not sharp enough.:jerkit: Darn this OCD for sharpness!!!

BTW I have a few videos online as well. I don't know if I started the whole bottle cutting craze or not, but I sure dont remember seeing them on youtube before I posted mine up. My sn on youtube is krazichinaman. :o
 
Kaizen1 said:
All of my knives can whittle hair, but they don't slice through hair as easily as your videos show, Vassili.
Click to expand...

It depends on steel also. First clip with nice curving shave is "Chirok" Russian folder made by Marychev & Co. with 95x18 old soviet stainless steel.

Marichev-Chirok-002.jpg


I was very impressed and surprised with it. Get used to see only crap - if it was made in USSR if it was not military equipment, but now things changed dramatically, looks like democracy working...

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Chinese man said:
How long does everyones polished edge stay shaving sharp? I know this depends on how often you use your knife and what you cut. So lets say on average, how many 2 inch cuts into cardboard does it take before you lose the shaving edge?

I tend to think that if my knife doesn't shave, its not sharp enough.:jerkit: Darn this OCD for sharpness!!!

BTW I have a few videos online as well. I don't know if I started the whole bottle cutting craze or not, but I sure dont remember seeing them on youtube before I posted mine up. My sn on youtube is krazichinaman. :o
Click to expand...

This is something I've been paying attention to in my knives, because like you I hate using a knife that doesn't shave with ease. I'm not interested in knives with good edge holding in general as much as I am knives that hold an extremely fine edge for a long time. I could care less how many times my S30V knives hold a working edge compared to VG10 or 440C if the "razor edge" goes away in the same amount of time. I sharpen my EDC's daily though because like I said, my mentality is the sharper the better, so I'm not going to cut up 100+ feet of cardboard at work and then wait a week to sharpen.

In the future I'd like to do edge retention testing but focus solely on the upper threshold of sharpness. Stopping the cutting once the knife takes 80-100g to cut light thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top