Thankyou Garrett Schmidt :Stropping guide:

[kgd]

Thanks to Garrett who gave some nice tips by providing graphics of the stropping method quoted below. Following his advice I was finally able to make a breakthrough in covexing a couple of my knives.

For the first time I was able to put a convex edge on them and bring them to shaving sharpness and also to push cut through paper. They just feel great! Now I want to convex all my knives

I started off with my JK's first because John's kephart already came to me convexed, even though I had sharpened it earlier with the sharpmaker. I used 3M lapping paper pinned to a mouspad onto a piece of 2x4 wood. I ran through a full grit series (200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 2000).

These things are now just as sharp as I like my v-grinds. Admittedly, I did put a slight touch of a micro-bevel at 40o with a few feather strokes on the sharpmaker (old habits are hard to kill). Love this grind now! Again thanks to all the kind suggestions and particularly to Garrett whose diagrams and patient advice led to my breakthrough.

I agree. Here are some really rough paint drawings that explain how I see the convex taking shape.

Here is where I see the 220 doing the most work. Basically, we are trying to knock the shoulder off of the v-grind. At this point we are not trying to sharpen the edge as much as we are trying to establish a smooth curve.

If that was done correctly, then all we have to do is run up through the grits using the right amount of pressure and it should sharpen it up real nice. In the drawing, I have left space between the blade and the paper in order to show what shapes they have formed. In reality they are touching obviously and the paper should be just barely touching the edge while we draw backward.

This is what I think happens when you apply too much downward force on the blade as you pull back. It is rounding the edge, but too much. It is making the final edge angle so steep that it isn't an efficient cutter anymore.

I am by no means an expert at any of this but this is kind of what I think is happening. Sometimes it helps in explaining to draw it out.

 

[Garrett Schmidt]

Glad to help. Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Let me know if I can help in any way.

 

[Rockywolf]

Thank YOU for sharing the info! Very helpful. (and seems pretty easy too).

 

[Garrett Schmidt]

Thank YOU for sharing the info! Very helpful. (and seems pretty easy too).

It really is. One thing that I gorgot to mention is that as you move the blade across the sandpaper, the sandpaper is getting loaded/worn. Because of this, at higher grits there almost isn't much change between grits other than very gradual.

 

[kgd]

Garrett's pictures and diagrams really provide me with the conceptual breakthrough I needed to successfully convex my knives. Basically, I was angling the knife too high in my past attempts, probably a conditioned response to trying to sharpen at the bevel angle.

When I convert the knives now, I have the spine lifted just slightly above the mouse pad (~1/4"). The give on the mouse pad prevents the angle from becoming too aggressive. I found that I managed to get very even convex bevels on both sides of the knife.

p.s. I still like to put a micro-v bevel after final stropping to enhance sharpness. I find this easier and far faster than stropping until high polish using stropping paste. I basically convex through the grits up to 2000 then set a small micro-bevel with the sharpmaker at the 40 degree angles with a very light tough (about 6 strokes per side).

 

[TheGame]

Nice litle guide. I guess this answers my question about how high I should hold my blade when I go to convex it.