To the experts, a better compound?

230grains said:
Beat the hell out of the knife out hunting today, going to sharpen it up and give it another shot.
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Get a good book on dressing and butchering game, and you won't need to beat up your knife.

My Dozier will still shave arm hair after dressing two bull elk.
 
Ben Dover said:
Get a good book on dressing and butchering game, and you won't need to beat up your knife.

My Dozier will still shave arm hair after dressing two bull elk.
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Didn't use it on game, cleared out some shooting lanes while on stand.
 
Could you be more specific about how you got that mirror finish on your Busse, knifenut 1013? And how long did it take...start to finish?
 
jagger67 said:
Could you be more specific about how you got that mirror finish on your Busse, knifenut 1013? And how long did it take...start to finish?
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DMT EEF hone followed by 3 and 1 micron diamond compounds on leather strops. Total time, about a hour.
 
I didn't want to start a new thread about this, since there's already half a dozen sharpening/convex/stropping threads floating around, so here goes. I've been convexing all my knives lately, and I feel I'm picking it up pretty quickly. My level of edge refinement is not fantastic because all I have to work with is sandpaper (finest grit I have is 1500) and Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish for stropping compound. I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting so far (shaving sharp so far, and almost hair popping), and I certainly don't expect to be able to get edges that can whittle hair like knifenut's, but I'm running into some trouble. I can get the edge of a knife beautifully polished and it'll push cut like nothing I've ever experienced, but I lose all slicing capability. So what I've been doing is convexing, refining, stropping, then running the edge very lightly over my 1500 grit paper to put a little bit of teeth back on it.

Question is, how can I strop and polish my edge while maintaining the microserrations? Or can an edge be refined to the point where it will slice effectively without those serrations simple because of how thin and sharp it is?

The steels I'm working with are 1095, 154CM, and Aus8, by the way.
 
Have wondered this myself, sircantaloupe. I'm afraid the answer is that you need the serrations to slice.
 
You don't need the teeth to slice, when a knife is refined and polish it should feel and cut like a very sharp knife. A special touch is needed when stropping/polishing, its not something learned over night and having the right compound and leather or medium that the compound is applied to is critical to the outcome. Another problem I see is that all to often people start stropping too early, your not going to have great success jumping from a 1200 mesh stone to .5 micron (50,000 mesh) diamond compound. The other problem always seems to be rounding the edge, light pressure and less angle usually cures this but you also need to account for the give in the leather. As you run the edge down the strop it will curve around the edge in a convex shape, watch for it and use it to your advantage with a hand sharpened edge.
 
Thanks knifenut. Guess I gotta work on my technique and equipment. I can't seem to find any finer sandpaper, 1500 is the best they had at Ace hardware and my local Home Depot is under the impression that 600 is super fine and should be good enough for anyone. Living in suburban California has its drawbacks.
 
Have you been to a auto parts store?
P.S. you should be getting a really sharp edge with just the 1500 grit, you could strop after that and still get good results. 1500 is like a 3000 or 4000 grit waterstone.
 
knifenut1013,

Is the EEF DMT hone you speak of, the $90 - $110 job? Is the strop a free hanging, like a barber strop, or leather mounted to a board of some kind? Is it the smooth or rough side of the leather or both? I am guilty of too much pressure when stropping, I know. It is like solving a quadratic equation in math when a light goes off and you finally "get" something that you are doing either correctly or incorrectly. Exhilirating!!! Thanks a LOT, knifenut for your help. It streamlines the learning curve IMMENSELY!!!
 
jagger67 said:
knifenut1013,

Is the EEF DMT hone you speak of, the $90 - $110 job? Is the strop a free hanging, like a barber strop, or leather mounted to a board of some kind? Is it the smooth or rough side of the leather or both? I am guilty of too much pressure when stropping, I know. It is like solving a quadratic equation in math when a light goes off and you finally "get" something that you are doing either correctly or incorrectly. Exhilirating!!! Thanks a LOT, knifenut for your help. It streamlines the learning curve IMMENSELY!!!
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It can be had for much less http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTD8EE

I have both a free hanging and board mounted strops, I usually only use the barber strop for touch-up's. I like mounted strops best.

Glad I could be of assistance :)
 
Thanks, knifenut1013. Just ordered one. Did I read somewhere that you put diamond paste on your strops? 3u on one and 1u on another? Does is take a whole tube probably to cover the strop? Rough or smooth strops? Thanks again.
 
In all I have many strops coated with several compounds, 6, 3, 1, .5, .25 diamond compound and one with some old HA chromium oxide .5 micron. 3 and 1 get used the most, the 6 works good for starting touch-up's and the .5 and .25 are for when I have some good steel or when I feel like having fun.

Not much is needed, I apply is one small dot at a time for a more even coat. For paste apply one small pin head dot at a time and progress down the strop as needed. A 5 gram tube should be good for many applications. If in spray form I use 4-6 sprays on a 3x12 strop.

I like the smooth side for paste compound but have been experimenting with the rough side for the sprays, yet to have a conclusion on what side is better for the spray though.
 
I think BryFry is on to something about what hair you use. I find that there is tremendous variability in my own hair. Sometimes I can't even make a dent in one of my hairs while another I can carve up pretty good. I also figured out that it is best to cut on the inside of a curved hair for best results. I imagine knifenut1013 could coat ANY hair with vaseline and still make cute little coils as he has above.
 
jagger67 said:
I think BryFry is on to something about what hair you use. I find that there is tremendous variability in my own hair. Sometimes I can't even make a dent in one of my hairs while another I can carve up pretty good. I also figured out that it is best to cut on the inside of a curved hair for best results. I imagine knifenut1013 could coat ANY hair with vaseline and still make cute little coils as he has above.
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Hair can vary between races and even between parts of your body, hair is also thickest at the root. Even very fine hair can be whittled but not many times, once or twice and that's about it.

The hair I use comes from my mom, I've measured it a few times and always get the same measurement. Divide by the number of splits and then think of how thin the edge need's to be to achieve this ;)

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This was one of my first record splits, knife was a mora2000 with a microbeveled edge around 50-60 degrees inclusive.
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