The Sharpening Thread

bring the two sided of your knife to the smoothest meeting point possible. i suggest mothers mag smeared on the inside of a bud light box.
 
I just bought a Gemini Light Brigade. Would I just sharpen it like I would a regular knife and then strop? I'm only worried because I only have one other Busse a NARC and I can't get it shaving sharp. The GLB is a shallow hollow. I think my Narc which is satin finished is Convex. Hoping the shallow hollow is easier. Should it be easier? Thanks.
 
pitt bull said:
I just bought a Gemini Light Brigade. Would I just sharpen it like I would a regular knife and then strop? I'm only worried because I only have one other Busse a NARC and I can't get it shaving sharp. The GLB is a shallow hollow. I think my Narc which is satin finished is Convex. Hoping the shallow hollow is easier. Should it be easier? Thanks.
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Your blade is shallow hollow but not your cutting edge, (Tglb on the right)

colbbladecutaway3med_zpsb2f333da.jpg
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What you need to practice on is hitting the apex on your edge like Resin said in your thread.

resinguy said:
The main reason people have trouble getting any knife sharp is that they are not matching the angle of the primary edge, and therefore are not sharpening the edge. Get a black Sharpie and color the edge bevel. then take a few passes with your sharpener. Now look very closely at the edge, and see where the black is missing ( a loupe or magnifier will help here). Are you sharpening right to the edge, or are you sharpening behind the edge? Adjust accordingly.
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Take a look at the steps i described a little further up using a sharpie, if you try these steps without any luck or want to try sharpening it in a different way, you can send me a PM and i will try my best to walk you trough it.

Len
 
Lennox said:
Your blade is shallow hollow but not your cutting edge, (Tglb on the right)

colbbladecutaway3med_zpsb2f333da.jpg
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What you need to practice on is hitting the apex on your edge like Resin said in your thread.



Take a look at the steps i described a little further up using a sharpie, if you try these steps without any luck or want to try sharpening it in a different way, you can send me a PM and i will try my best to walk you trough it.

Len
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+1
the grind geometry has nothing to do with achieving good cutting edge. In reality practice makes better, sharpening once in a month for example is not enough. This is a muscle memory based skill which deteriorates if not practiced on a reg basis.
 
mainaman said:
+1
the grind geometry has nothing to do with achieving good cutting edge. In reality practice makes better, sharpening once in a month for example is not enough. This is a muscle memory based skill which deteriorates if not practiced on a reg basis.
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Yupp this is true :thumbup: all it takes is practice :thumbup::D

Here is a better wiew of the TGLB blade profile.

colbbladecutaway2_med_zpsf1fa6338.jpeg
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Got home and got to work on the NARC. I used the marker trick and it will now shave pretty good. I know it could still be sharper. My strop is ordered. Now I have to wait till it and my TGLB gets here. Thanks to everyone. I let you know how it goes with sharpening the new knife.
 
I got my strop and used it on my narc. I really dulled it. I went back and tried to resharpen using the marker method on a ceramic rod for about 3 hours. It still wont cut news paper, but it will cut hair when held at an extreme angle when shaving. I'm afraid to touch my TGLB now when I dull it.
 
pitt bull said:
Got home and got to work on the NARC. I used the marker trick and it will now shave pretty good. I know it could still be sharper. My strop is ordered. Now I have to wait till it and my TGLB gets here. Thanks to everyone. I let you know how it goes with sharpening the new knife.
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pitt bull said:
I got my strop and used it on my narc. I really dulled it. I went back and tried to resharpen using the marker method on a ceramic rod for about 3 hours. It still wont cut news paper, but it will cut hair when held at an extreme angle when shaving. I'm afraid to touch my TGLB now when I dull it.
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I think you are close to getting it right, i will be back with some steps for you to try in a little while.
 
I have DMT sharpeners, sharpmaker, EDGE PRO, crocksticks I can also use if that helps you. I can sharpen v grind knives easy. Since the TGLB is a slight convex would it be ok to sharpen it like a regular knife?
 
One of my favorite strops, even over my leather strops loaded with diamond sprays, are my balsa wood ones with mothers mag on them. Go to your local hobby store and get some long pieces of balsa wood and try that out. They're super cheap and work great.
 
I reread the first post. I believe I sharpened the Apex only last night causing the blunt edge angle. I tried sharpening for 3 hours. Do you believe I can fix this on my own or will I have to send it back to Busse?
 
pitt bull said:
I have DMT sharpeners, sharpmaker, EDGE PRO, crocksticks I can also use if that helps you. I can sharpen v grind knives easy. Since the TGLB is a slight convex would it be ok to sharpen it like a regular knife?
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Yupp a V edge will work just fine.

pitt bull said:
I reread the first post. I believe I sharpened the Apex only last night causing the blunt edge angle. I tried sharpening for 3 hours. Do you believe I can fix this on my own or will I have to send it back to Busse?
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Yeah sharpening the apex only on any knife will give you blunt edge angle. Now take a deep breath and let's talk about edge angles on a convexed knife. What you have ended up with is most likely a front heavy convex edge taken just a tad too far, to fix the problem you have to remove some material behind the apex and get your edge closer to a centre heavy or back heavy edge. (See the pic) keep in mind the pic is a bit exaggerated.

CEG_One_zps49285a60.jpg
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Hmmmm what you also need to remember is to have plenty of light on your knife when sharpening, the clue to learning how to do it right is to see what you are doing to the edge at all times, a convex edge has more steel behind the apex so when you go too steep on a strop,stone,dmt or ceramic you will be blunting your knife faster than green grass through a goose but when you get it right you get a edge that can be easily maintained on a strop for a long time before you have to sharpen it again.

The pic below shows one side of a convex edge to illustrate convex edge angles, if you imagine that you sharpen that edge at a steeper angle (let's say 45 degrees) you will find that you are removing your apex instead of sharpening it, what you said
it will cut hair when held at an extreme angle when shaving
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is evidence that you have been cutting down your apex to a blunt angle.


convex_edge_blade_zps6f5c51c0.jpg
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Now! if you resharpen your knife you need to get it shaving and paper cutting sharp before you use the strop, when you feel it's time to start stropping you should set the strop down on the table in front of you with plenty of light on your work area, then proceed to put the blade flat on the strop with the edge towards you, lift the spine so that the thickest part of your edge touches the strop, strop this part first so it gets nice and shiny :thumbup:this will also help you dial in your aim on the strop, when you have stropped your edge enough to do the apex you put your blade flat on the strop again and lift the spine until you can see that you are closing gap between the apex on your edge and the strop, strop it gently without much pressure and keep your focus on the angle so you don't go to steep, after a few passes on each side you should feel the edge getting sharper, keep stropping until you are satisfied:D (make sure to inspect the edge every 3-4 passes)


Getting some cheap knives to practice on might be a good idea.

Len
 
Do you think I could use the edge pro to thin the area behind the apex? I have been trying to do it free hand and it does not seem to be working
 
I am trying to thin down the bevel where you said to. I used a DMT stone. Still have not got it yet, but will try again Friday night. Thanks again I will let you know how it goes. I will post close ups of the edge to.
 
One of the keys to stropping is light pressure. If you press too hard into a soft strop, the strop wraps up around the edge, and steepens the angle, or even dulls the edge. This is why firmer strops are preferred over very soft ones.

A trick for finding the right stropping angle is to raise the back of the blade as described above, and very gently push the knife forward, as though shaving the strop surface. You should be able to feel the edge just barely catch on the strop, then you know the angle is right. Note the height of the spine (you can measure it with stacked coins for future reference) and continue to draw the blade away from the edge to strop it.

There are any number of videos out there on stropping, the retail site Knives Ship Free has some nice ones, IIRC.
 
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