Some homemade micrographs

I think your edges are too sharp to photograph, yuzuha. You need to rub them on a brick first :D.

I don't think you'll see much edge-on at a high level of sharpness with the magnification we've seen so far in this thread.

And I've just sharpened 11 knives, ugh. The para seems to be chipping from sharpening. These are very small chips, but still, I seem to be seeing new ones after every set of passes on the stones. I've only used the fine ceramic and the CrO loaded strop on the Para. The Cara, CPM154 necker, and the AUS6 Partner are all as straight and clean as the M2 (which I did have to correct very near the handle, after all) Everything but the para cl;eaned up very, very nicely under magnification after turns on both the med & fine ceramics. The S30V on the para mostly polishes well, and I have a very straight edge, except for these darned tiny chips. I'll start a new thread for the cardboard cutting, but will cross post pics in this one (once I can take them)
 
yuzuha said:
... but things are just too smooth to get much detail in a pure edge shot
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Yeah, they should be when the edge is fresh as the width should be < 1 micron. What is interesting is to take the same picture when it is used and watch how even the hardest of blades will deform. What is surprising (well to me anyway) is just how much that something like 1095 at 66 HRC will deform at the edge and not chip when the edges are very acute. Of course if the edges are obtuse enough they won't deform.

hardheart said:
I am a little surprised by the chips, as they are somewhat significant under magnification, semicircular in shape.
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That the problem right there, if you have just larger irregularities then this is sometimes just caused by uneven grinding, but what you describe is actually the edge coming apart and considering the angles you are using that is horrible behavior. I would be interested if D2 was better/worse because that sets an lower bound on poor performance in that regard.

Sorry, I don't currently have a VG10 blade.
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I should have been more specific, I just meant any high carbide steel, VG-10 is just really common.

hardheart said:
The para seems to be chipping from sharpening. These are very small chips, but still, I seem to be seeing new ones after every set of passes on the stones.
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If you make a few marks on the blade with a fine maker you can use these to check on the stablity by noting the chips present between marks. Use a couple of different colors or style the lines. That behavior however is again characterisitic of the main problem many people have reported with that steel. Generally they are not looking at the blade in such detail but if it is chipping during sharpening it would be expected to not hold a fine edge in use and this is likely what would be seen on the people who see edge damage in light work.

-Cliff
 
I tried takeing a few pics with a hand magnifier and a camera and just couldn't do it. Even had my wife try with me and she is way smarter than I am, and we couldn't get anything. Dumb me also, mainly by habbit, stropped the edge on the SAK, on my pant leg right before I closed it. I'm shurly no tester :)
 
db said:
I tried takeing a few pics with a hand magnifier and a camera and just couldn't do it.
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There are two main problems, light and focus. Unless the camera and magnifier are fixed in at least one axis it is very difficult so first just attach them to a piece of wood such as kel_aa has done so you don't need to worry about vertical or horiztonal movement. Now your only degree of freedom is the distance between them which you can usually adjust with by the focus on the magnifier. If you are just using an actual lens then have it or the camera on a slider. The object also needs to be well illuminated because it is likely the flash isn't going to hit it at all. You can also adjust the brightness/contrast which can often bring a picture out of total blackness.

-Cliff
 
here's my M2 Rittergrip after 100 slices in cardboard


There was one very minor chip/edge degradation near the handle which I just couldn't get a pic of with the setup I'm using. But the rest of the edge looks like this photo. I'll do the S30V next.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hardheart_7/album?.dir=/ffd0re2&.src=ph
I really need an extra set of hands to do this. I added a few points in paint to try to help show the chips a little better. They're small in the first pic, more to the left.
 
Here is an interesting one... tried holding a fine point ball pen next to the edge for scale, but it is nearly impossible to keep it still:
 
 
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