Shoulder Cures

Trout Hound

Trout Hound

Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
693
Hey Guys,
I got a little excited reprofiling a sheepsfoot blade last night and uglied up the shoulder a bit. I know it doesn't really affect the cutting, but I'm a little obsessive about stuff like that, and I wish it looked cleaner. Just wondering if there is any way to buff that out a little, or if I'm stuck with the reminder until it sharpens out down the road.

Also, I'm using a guide wedge and trying to lock my wrist to set the angle, which seems to work just fine for either push or trailing edge strokes, but if I start scrubbing back and forth for reprofiling, that's when I tend to lose the angle a bit and roll on the shoulder. Any advice on fixing this, other than, "Slow the heck down, boy!"?

Last thing: if using a scrubbing stroke on a coarse stone, will I always end up with the hazy look just above the shoulder, no matter how solid my angle is? Seems to me that you would, from leading into the abrasive with that part of the blade.

Thanks!!!
 
Remember what I said in your other thread about the stone doing that? The mud from your stone is hazing out your shoulder, you can flush the stone more but it will still do it to some degree. You need a harder coarse stone or a diamond plate.
 
Okay, thanks for the reminder. So, with the waterstone, I'm gonna get some haze no matter what, yes? Thanks.
 
Yes, it's because it's a fast wearing stone. It will remove steel quickly because there is always new abrasive being exposed but it dishes quickly and produces a ton of mud which if not constantly flushed with water can cause unwanted scratches. The stone you have is better suited to traditional Japanese knives whereas newer Waterstones are harder and formulated to sharpen the more standard types of cutlery we use today.
 
Okay, I can deal with that. Just glad to know it's to be expected for now, and I may upgrade my equipment in the future as budget allows.
 
What I find works for scrubbing strokes is to set the stone on a countertop or table, find your angle,

and rock your whole body while keeping your arms, hands, and head still. This way my arms focus on holding an angle, my head isn't trying to adjust to different lines of sight, and my legs/body is moving the blade back and forth.

Sounds weird, I know, but this is what just ends up happening when I really focus on maintaining an angle.

(pros, please tell me this isn't too horrible a technique. This is just for reprofiling.)
 
It is virtually impossible to avoid some rocking when using a scrubbing motion. Using only one direction is considerably easier. Practice can get the curvature to the point its beyond visible by eye, but its still there. Even on wide flat things like 1" disks it will happen, though it won't be apparent until you switch back to using one motion, pulling or pushing. For knife edges, it's really not that big a deal.
 
I discovered something rather by accident tonight. I had been keeping my waterstones nice and wet, like a good little boy, but I noticed, while trying to reprofile a blade, that my King 250 felt more aggressive as it started to dry out. So, I ran with it, and just flushed the surface with a spray bottle whenever it felt like it was starting to glaze. I got a MUCH cleaner shoulder, and it really felt like it was cutting faster, although I could be imagining. At the risk of the sharpening police coming after me, I might not keep that guy nearly as wet from now on when I'm trying to set a bevel.
 
Trout Hound said:
I discovered something rather by accident tonight. I had been keeping my waterstones nice and wet, like a good little boy, but I noticed, while trying to reprofile a blade, that my King 250 felt more aggressive as it started to dry out. So, I ran with it, and just flushed the surface with a spray bottle whenever it felt like it was starting to glaze. I got a MUCH cleaner shoulder, and it really felt like it was cutting faster, although I could be imagining. At the risk of the sharpening police coming after me, I might not keep that guy nearly as wet from now on when I'm trying to set a bevel.
Click to expand...

I use my 220 Norton dry, as in completely dry. Used with water it generates a mud that slows grinding instead of speeding it up. The King 240 (250?) might work similar, I haven't tried. Generally I prefer to keep the rougher stones pretty clean as I go, even on the coarse side of the Crystalon I'll wipe it off if the mud starts to accumulate.
 
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