The Lowest Sharpening Angles (By Application)

[BladeChemist]

Just wondering how low you've gone with your sharpening angle. I don't personally go much below 15 per side, but I'm really interested in experimenting. For this discussion, let's define low angles as "below 15 degrees per side". So, a bunch of questions for you:

First, to get a really low angle edge on a blade and have it stick the longest- what blade steels are recommended? The typical ultra-hard steels like ZDP-189? S90V? M390? High carbon steels? Forged?

What applications would a very low angle edge perform best in? Slicing soft organic material like rope? Slicing cardboard? Vegetables?

What's the lowest angle you've put on a blade before? What happened? What did you use it for?

What angle are straight razors typically sharpened at?

What angle are high-end Japanese chef's knives usually sharpened at?

Besides potentially having to remove a lot of material, are there any notable difficulties in sharpening a blade to low angles?


Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[ricklee4570]

I just recently put a 20 degree inclusive on a Cold Steel knife. AUS-8 steel. I use this knife for very light duty (letter opener and other mild tasks). It has done well.

I also put a 25 degree inclusive on a CRKT Minimalist and it too has done surprisingly well.

For anything with ZDP-189 or other good steels I have been going 30 degrees inclusive.

I very seldom go 40 degrees unless it is a hard use blade like my Leatherman Skeletool (for example)

 

[Gotsouthern]

For me it's all based on the use of the knife and the steel how low to go. My muscle memory for freehanding is pretty well set at 30 deg inclusive, and most of my knives sport some form or another of the current crop of "super-steels". So that works out well enough. When you get outside that loop though all bets are off. For instance, friends and family typically cheap junk Western kitchen knives they they beat the poo out of get a good solid 40+ deg inclusive, and are left at 600 grit. My couple of decent Japanese kitchen knives get the requisite single-digit per side treatment. And they are VERY carefully used, as in seldom do they come in contact with a cutting board of any sort and are touched up after almost every use. My hard use "bushcraft" and chopper type knives, .18-.25" stock knives that see mostly chopping type uses I prefer a convex edge. Pretty much all over the place I know ha ha

Edit: Sorry missed your last question..as for the hard part (for me anyhow), sharpening any knife below 30 deg inclusive and not scratching the blade!! Blue painters tape is my friend lol.

 

[Hard H2O]

I go as low as I can go on my kitchen cutlery. 11° is as low as I can go with the GATCO. That makes for a nice slicing and dicing edge.

 

[Ankerson]

What angle are high-end Japanese chef's knives usually sharpened at?

Whatever makes the bevel 2 millimeters wide, that will vary depending on how thick the steel is behind the bevel.

 

[KennyB]

Just wondering how low you've gone with your sharpening angle. I don't personally go much below 15 per side, but I'm really interested in experimenting. For this discussion, let's define low angles as "below 15 degrees per side". So, a bunch of questions for you:

First, to get a really low angle edge on a blade and have it stick the longest- what blade steels are recommended? The typical ultra-hard steels like ZDP-189? S90V? M390? High carbon steels? Forged?

What applications would a very low angle edge perform best in? Slicing soft organic material like rope? Slicing cardboard? Vegetables?

What's the lowest angle you've put on a blade before? What happened? What did you use it for?

What angle are straight razors typically sharpened at?

What angle are high-end Japanese chef's knives usually sharpened at?

Besides potentially having to remove a lot of material, are there any notable difficulties in sharpening a blade to low angles?


Thanks in advance for your replies.

First, to get a really low angle edge on a blade and have it stick the longest- what blade steels are recommended? The typical ultra-hard steels like ZDP-189? S90V? M390? High carbon steels? Forged?
I haven't tried it on anything but CPM S30V and 1095 and I feel that at that level they both perform similarly in terms of edge retention outside of the arena of wear resistance. That is to say, each will dent, roll or chip just as easily.

What applications would a very low angle edge perform best in? Slicing soft organic material like rope? Slicing cardboard? Vegetables?
Cardboard would tear most of the smallest bevels I've tried up. 20* inclusive is about as low as something like that can go. Otherwise, they excel in situations where you're cutting soft material that you don't want to put too much force on before the cut is being made. Cooking is one thing people think of, but I also think that opening packages and letters are tasks well suited to low profiles. They also shave a lot better than obtuse angles.


What's the lowest angle you've put on a blade before? What happened? What did you use it for?
I've gone all the way down to 10-12* inclusive. The only thing these knives were used for was very, very delicate tasks that require a cut with pretty much no effort. I tinkered with a lot of leather-crafting with them. Ultimately though, I found that at this level, the edges would roll if they hit anything as hard as wood, or would chip out cutting anything mildly abrasive like paper or leather. That was both between 440 and 1095


What angle are high-end Japanese chef's knives usually sharpened at?

Here is a chart that John Veroehven made for his study

Besides potentially having to remove a lot of material, are there any notable difficulties in sharpening a blade to low angles?

Only one that I can think of is that if the angle is too low, the blade may start chipping out on the stone itself, and you'll have to start back all over again at a slightly higher angle.

 

[dsmegst]

I use 10 degrees per side on my Shun kitchen knives and I mostly stick with 15 per side for folders. I have a S90v fixed blade knife at 10 per side for utility use in and around the house and a S30v folder also at 10 per side but it only sees light office use.

 

[db]

I sharpen all my knives between 10 to 15 per side. A 10 per side edge is alot stronger than you'd think. Even my good old Vic. SAK can handle the low edges without much of a problem. The real nice thing about the low angle edges is they are very easy to resharpen. Even if you get a small chip in the blade raise the 10 per side to 12 13 per side and that chip comes right out. I never go over 15 per side with any of my knives. All my sharpening is done free hand and my angles could be off a few degrees from true but not by much.

 

[pwet]

some of my japanese kitchen knives are below 10°/side. the edge pro hits my takeda and tadatsuna knives right at the edge at 10°. some chisel grind knives are even below 15° inclusive. think usuba or yanagiba.

at these angles you must use with caution.
at these angles no steel withstand coarse polish, it will chip instantly, even at 10k it will chip on poly board no matter what you do. but it really cuts like nothing else.

sharpening knives this low is kinda tricky , mainly for cosmetic reason, you'll scratch the blade eventually. (except chisel grinds one because they just have a flat bevel you lay flat on the stones, same goes for some double bevel knives like shoshui takeda's some carters IP etc) .

and btw not every steel can handle angle below 10°. but i've yet to see a blade chip on the stone, you'll get an unstable edge that will feel and act like a giant burr, but it won't chip on the stone.

actually it can if you use a DMT XXC or XC with some pressure to raise a burr at those angle but that would be a pretty stupid move. shouldn't happen if you use the right equipment and use it correctly.


forget about sub 10°/ side for EDC imho. my edc knives range from 20° to 40° inclusive according to the EP.

 

[me2]

I need to explore this further myself. I have a home made knife in M2 with the edge bevels between 10 and 12 degrees. It will survive a point first drop from 6 feet into concrete without damage, just dulling. It also survived batoning into a pine 1x6 with no damage and no detectable dulling. Please note however that this was a machete style edge, on a short knife. The edge bevel was the only bevel, and it was about 3/16" wide. Pretty much any primary grind behind it and the behavior would have been quite different I'm sure.