Thank You

Trout Hound · Dec 17, 2014

for getting me squared away. Over the past couple weeks, I have posted a series of questions related to freehand sharpening. Thanks to several of you, the clip blade on my Buck 301 (my favorite knife, which I've carried for almost fifteen years) is now sharper than it has ever been. And, I am the proud owner of a pile of shredded newsprint and several new bald patches on my arms.

I ended up grabbing a Norton Economy stone tonight, and used it with the Norton honing oil to finish reprofiling down to 15 dps. I then used the King 250 to clean up the bevel a bit, and finally used the 1000 grit stone to add a 20 dps microbevel. Results are beyond satisfactory. Scary sharp, but still three-finger sticky; just the way I like it.

A special shout out to Obsessed with Edges, Heavy Handed, and Fred, for providing particularly useful advice.

Thanks, y'all!

Bighaze51 · Dec 17, 2014

That's awesome. I'm always happy to hear when someone has a freehand breakthrough!

Obsessed with Edges · Dec 18, 2014

Great to hear of such successes. Well Done! :thumbup:

David

HeavyHanded · Dec 18, 2014

Outstanding! Nothing better than when you first start to get those strong results and realize you're doing better than the factory edge. And freehand. Nice.....

Trout Hound · Dec 22, 2014

I'm getting better by the day, I think. I finished reprofiling the sheepsfoot blade today. Same angles - 15 dps with 20 dps microbevel. I definitely did a better job deburring this one, thanks to a tip from Heavy Handed in another thread. It will push cut newsprint for one stroke when fresh off the stone (a first for me, and not bad, considering I stopped at 20* on a 1000x waterstone.) Pic below. Entire bevel was done freehand, no jigs or clamps allowed!

calc · Dec 22, 2014

HeavyHanded said:
Outstanding! Nothing better than when you first start to get those strong results and realize you're doing better than the factory edge. And freehand. Nice.....

Finally realizing you can freehand a better edge than the factory is an amazing feeling.

Trout Hound said:
I'm getting better by the day, I think. I finished reprofiling the sheepsfoot blade today. Same angles - 15 dps with 20 dps microbevel. I definitely did a better job deburring this one, thanks to a tip from Heavy Handed in another thread. It will push cut newsprint for one stroke when fresh off the stone (a first for me, and not bad, considering I stopped at 20* on a 1000x waterstone.) Pic below. Entire bevel was done freehand, no jigs or clamps allowed!

Very nice!

Trout Hound · Dec 22, 2014

calc said:
Very nice!

Thanks!

Rey HRH · Dec 23, 2014

I may be just starting out but that looks nicely done.