To the experts, a better compound?

230grains

230grains

Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
3,094
I convex all my edges and power strop on belt sander with leather and this:

http://www.veritastools.com/Products/Page.aspx?p=120


My knives are SHARP, they pushcut newspaper, shave hair and can somewhat split hair. After seeing knifenuts videos of him wittling free hanging hair, I'm wondering what im missing. I can drag a hair against the edge and it either cuts the hair in half or only makes little fuzzies. I cannot under any circumstances get it to split free hanging hair however, and not into hair strips, just little curls.

Is there a better compound than what i'm using? I know the sharpness of my knives are sharper than anyone I know IRL, and can handle absolutely any task, but i'm going nuts trying to get them to just wittle free hanging hairs.
 
Power stropping is fast and will produce a very sharp edge as you know, but you just can't replace a hand strop with diamond compound.
 
Also some steels just plain get sharper than others, the one you seen ine the vid was S90V stropped with 1 micron diamond compound. Try using white compound (4-6 microns) with you belt and finish with 1 or .5 micron diamond compound on a hand strop.
 
The knife in question is a Busse ASH-1.

What kind of compound would you recommenced? Link? I'd like the sharpest edge conceivable.

Also, for hand stropping... should I buy a a belt in addition to my leather on the sander or is some cardboard and the compound ok?
 
Can't give any links now, im on my phone :(

Hand american diamond spray is currently on the top of the list for quality compound and seems to work best with scrubbed bull leather, MDF, or the rough back of plain leather, in that order too.

INFI is some good stuff, grinds like O1 and gets sharp like M4, 1 or .5 micron diamond compound should be making real small curles an lots of them.

I wouldn't suggest cardboard though, it has too many pices of everything in it that could interfere with outcome of the edge. Even dust from you strop sitting over night on a shelf can cause ill effects.
 
After doing this:

safequeen5.jpg


I brought it inside, used a 15 micron belt, then the leather with the compound and got it to do this:

hairsplit.jpg



I'm not sure what im doing wrong. Your video has you basically just filleting the hair in mid air, I can just get little curls.
 
Dude, that is still quite impressive.

-Maybe it's just a difference in the hair you two are using???
 
It could be... I'm not sure though. My hair is very short, so I took this one from my girlfriends hairbrush. She does dye her hair if that matters any.
 
I use my moms hair, middle aged and dyed for years. Hair on average should measure .001 at the root and get thinner as it goes to the tip. There is a bit of technique that goes into doing the split, the main key to getting lots of curles is having a piece of hair that has a bit of a curve. When you try to split the hair you want to be on the inside of the curve so the hair follows the bevel all the way to the edge, this will allow you to take small curles of hair without cutting too deep into the hair. Its all not as easy as it sound though, sometimes I go through a few pices of hair before I can make perfect contact with the edge to get the splits I do. Watch the vid close you will see what I am talking about.
 
230, that curl looks good keep trying at the point you started the first curl you should be able to do more.
 
learnme said:
THAT IS INSANE!

Can a convex edge do that?
Click to expand...

Any edge sharpened to a high enough level can do that.

This is a game warden I recently did for a member here, hand convex with diamond stones then polished.
Picture795.jpg


It made curl's so small I had to use a reference so it could be understood.
Picture794.jpg
 
how well will an edge like that hold against bushwork...say that was the only knife you had on you?
 
learnme said:
how well will an edge like that hold against bushwork...say that was the only knife you had on you?
Click to expand...

Better than a lesser edge, the more refined the edge the better the performance.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Better than a lesser edge, the more refined the edge the better the performance.
Click to expand...

Why is that? Logic tell me that the thinner steel will chip and be more prone to bending than the thicker steel. And just a thought from all my excitement, is it possible to add a micro bevel on that?
 
Its not that its any thinner its just more refined, I don't use microbevels and it would make the edge overly thick on that knife considering its almost 3/16 thick stock. Being convex eliminates the need for any microbevels.
 
That video is the crazyest Sh%$ I ever seen. I was prouder than a father holding is son for the first time when I sharpened my knife sharp enough to shave hair. Now I got to worry about splitting them? Over and Over? Unbelievable!!

Bill
 
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