To Steel or not to Steel

[Thomas J Ekman]

I sharpened my Spyderco Native this weekend, and used DMT DuoFold Fine/ExtraFine plus a crock stick Gatco Tri-Seps. I was patient, and allowed several hundred strokes on the sharpeners, but still did not get it right.
By using my thumbnail I finally felt the burr created by the sharpening. I then took a simple sharpening steel and touched up the edge. Shaving sharp!

Don't forget the steel, guys!

 

[Jeff Clark]

You may find that your edge is not as durable as you expect. The steel does not remove the burr, merely straightens it up. You may want to go back to your ceramic rods and increase the angle to about 30 degrees per side for about 5 light strokes per side. Then reduce back to your normal angle for about 10 light strokes per side.

This should get you burr free and down to solid metal. At that point do your steeling again. I think this may be a tougher edge than just steeling when you can feel a burr. Of course, if you didn't really feel a burr in the first place (it's easy to talk yourself into things when you're looking for microscopic things) my suggestion won't improve things at all.

 

[Thomas J Ekman]

You're right. One must finish by using the ceramic rod.

I'ts a good thing these things get ventilated often here.

[This message has been edited by Thomas J Ekman (edited 05-23-2001).]