Stupid sharpening

[blade dude]

So when I free handed before, I paid no real attention to angles and thinking back on it last time I sharpened my edc I think I put a 30 degree per side angle using the stone I have. Anyone else ever do something like this at one time?

 

[collim1]

Of course we have. Learning to sharpen takes lots of repetitions, and mistakes. Its also one of those skills that always has room for improvement. I am no master by any means, but I can get a useable and durable edge on most any knife I sharpen. Occasionally one throws me and I am not satisfied with the results, but usually that is the result of the type of steel not working well with my limited equipment.

It took a lot of practice on lots of cheaper knives, mainly cheap paring knives I had in the kitchen. They were almost instantly responsive to whether or not I was keeping a consistent angle and feeling the burr was very easy on those thin little blades.

Excellent choice to practice with. And yes I have "obtused" a blade before. It was still sharp and still cut stuff, but it did not stick in wood or some other materials very well at all. I ended up reproofing eventually and it cuts much better at 20 degrees.

I am actually waiting on some fine grit water stones, up to 6k, to arrive now. I am hoping to really step up my sharpening and take my edges to a much finer finish than the 1k - 1200 grit Arkansas stone and then strop that I finish on now.

Its a never ending process.

 

[sinkrate]

I think we've all been there, i still have a knife which i accidentally sharpened in to a convex chisel grind. But with practice i could now get most of the angle consistent. Keep practicing and sharpen with patience, don't rush!

-Kevin

 

[bucketstove]

So when I free handed before, I paid no real attention to angles and thinking back on it last time I sharpened my edc I think I put a 30 degree per side angle using the stone I have. Anyone else ever do something like this at one time?

I just did it yesterday
i have a practice knife with edge at something like 7?-8?-9-10-11? dps
anything less than 10 degrees and it won't get sharp for a long time
it balances at all those angles
and feels like the correct angle for sharpening
but its basically too low of an angle
....
didn't feel like finding 10dps using other methods
so a very very short practice,
cut off the existing edge on the stone (dull, edge reflective),
then microbevel in ~50pps
completely freehand
at something 20-35? ... lower than 45 for sure
its sharp, it will shave well,
slices magazine paper effortlessly
but its very noticably noisy doing so
noisy like its at least 25dps , a very very obtuse angle, but it will work
dull as a butterknife or 25dps shaver? angles, not that important

 

[gadgetgeek]

All my knives just sort of end up at somewhere. It happens when you free hand, and when your use is your use. I honestly could not estimate any of my edge angles. But the ones that work I keep, the ones I need to thin, I thin, the ones I need to raise, that's what happens. I tend to go thinner than factory, but by how much? no idea. I take a very zen approach to it. they are sharp, when they are sharp. Used to try to be pedantic about it, but its not in my nature.

 

[Gaston444]

I don't understand why you would want your knives duller... 15 degree per side is acceptable for a dagger... Even big single edge knives should be well below that. I think around 12 per side is ideal for chopping wood, but some steels won't take it: Randalls will.

What limits the performance you can achieve freehand is the flatness of the sides; stroking lengthwise in a very slight diagonal helps keep the bevel sides flat. (The slight diagonal away from full parallel stroking is to avoid lengthwise striations that weaken the edge apex).

Another limitation to performance is the edge bevel thickness: That edge bevel base thickness matters more to performance than any sharpening skills you might have, since that thickness is the thickness the edge offers to the materials before the "relief" of the materials traveling up the blade sides occurs...

Highly polished edge finishes only worsen the cutting performance trough most materials.

I freehand with dia-sharp Extra-Coarse, then "finish" with Coarse....: These diamond hones, like all diamond hones, have no depth of grit -unlike stones, once the diamonds have rubbed away, they are gone for good-, and they wear out fairly fast: Better work is done with fresh ones... The burr, if there is one, is usually taken out with a medium stone. What is good with diamond hones is they eat metal fast and stay flat.

Don't be taken in by high polish, large wedge angles (15 per side plus: 30 plus inclusive), and thick edge bevel bases (over 0.030"): Don't trust anything over 30 is my rule: Nothing over 0.030" in thickness and over 30 degrees inclusive (15 per side): When you really need these thicker edges will require a high effort and send you to the hospital. And yes, a dull knife has actually sent me in a vehicle with rotating lights before...

Gaston

 

[gadgetgeek]

Gaston, you sure like to live by arbitrary rules don't you.

I don't think anyone will argue that a dull knife is dangerous, or that a rough toothy edge will cut, and cut quite well, but there is a limit. As for everything else, I'm sure it makes sense to you, and really thats all that matters. But pretty much none of your post relates to the OP at all.

Blade Dude, I forgot to mention, somewhere there exists a mora that I "sharpened" when learning to sharpen that probably ended up with a 45 degree inclusive edge. Stuff like this happens when you are learning. The upside is that while lowering the angle is annoying and takes time, you don't loose overall "height" from the blade. and raising the angle is quite simple, so it evens out.

 

[Ernie1980]

I think we've all been there, i still have a knife which i accidentally sharpened in to a convex chisel grind. But with practice i could now get most of the angle consistent. Keep practicing and sharpen with patience, don't rush!

-Kevin

I am glad that I am not the only one to have done this!
Don't worry Blade Dude, if the blade cuts then move on. The more you sharpen the better you will get:thumbup:

 

[blade dude]

I am glad that I am not the only one to have done this!
Don't worry Blade Dude, if the blade cuts then move on. The more you sharpen the better you will get:thumbup:

It's not that I'm bad I would maintain the angle pretty well, it's that I was putting to steep an angle.

 

[Wowbagger]

think I put a 30 degree per side angle using the stone I have. Anyone else ever do something like this at one time?

Yes; on my Swiss Army knife way back in the day. It wouldn't cut much of nut'in; it wouldn't carve wood very well (think sharpen a pencil) and it would go dull very soon. I got the wrong idea from this that Swiss Army steel was poo and I should look for a better blade.
When I learned to grind back that angle on a coarse stone and make 'er thin I had a whole revelation in what a Swiss Army knife, and my other pocket knives could do.

So yah I was following the factory grind and T H A T - W A S - S T U P I D. Go figure; but it was.