Ultra-fine hones for Sharpmaker

G

greenman466

Joined
Nov 3, 2005
Messages
25
Hi everybody,
I am a new guy and have a question.
It started about two month ago, I started to buy knives, (can not stop, probably my wife will kick me out of the house) use them and read about them. My EDC became dull, not badly dull, but not as sharp as I want it to be. So I need to sharpen. I am very bad with my hands, unless you need to break something. I was advised to get Sharpmaker and ultra-fine stones. I bought a Sharpmaker, watched DVD couple times, read a book, sharpen five knives. I did not use ultra-fine stones yet, by mistake originally I purchased only one, but I already placed order for second stone. Knives come out sharp, I shaved some hairs off. I was really impressed, never expected that I will be able to do something like that.
What kind of improvement I can get from using ultra-fine stones?
Thank you
.
 
I have no experience with a sharpmaker, but I can tell you that ultra fine hones should be reserved as a final step when sharpening.

I would buy some medium and coarse hones for your device, and use them to make your edges crisp and sharp...then use the fine hones to finish them up.

Using a fine hone on your dull knives will just make you frustrated, and make your stone wear out
 
The ultrafine will polish the edge some more. The differences will become subtle. Even the fine stones are enough to shave as you experienced. The ultrafine will make the cohesion along the edge smoother. It will become a better pushcutter, but it is not like you are going to see differences that will make you fall off your chair, but in time you will be able to appreciate the improved quality of the edge. The cut will be cleaner and the edge will stay a bit longer sharp aswell. Some people think initially that the edge deteriorates, because it doesn't feel as agressive anymore, but as long as the edge doesn't feel slick it will still become shaper. It is probably best if you devise your own tests, but you can try and cut toilet paper/paper towles, shave hair above the skin (blade not touching the skin) and see how far above the skin you can go. You can fold a small piece of thin paper (advertisement flyers work well) and stand it on its edge and try and cut through it, while it is free standing or you can cut sowing thread under load etc. Just play around with it. Have fun!

Or as Ed Schempp says: "Go out and cut something"
 
After you get (and use) those ultra-fines, then finish it off with a good stropping. And, by the way, you are very close to contracting the dreaded condition that we affectionately refer to as being a "sharp-a-holic".
 
Greenman -

Welcome to the party! Glad to have you here.

My crystal ball sees a strop/hone in your future. The fine white rods of the Sharpmaker are all I use before stropping/honing.


http://www.drsharpening.com/leatherhone.html

Like Ted says sharpening becomes habit forming and for me very frustrating when it doesn't work as expected. I learned the hard way that I don't go to the next level until I'm sharp (read BURR) at the current level. It is just too frustrating to have to go backwards. I also learned that there is no magic number of strokes or passes to obtain the BURR. You just keep going until you have it. Of course working with the course stones first makes things go faster especially on a dull knife.

If the stones don't seem to be doing their job I use a black magic marker and a little magnifier to see exactly where the stone is hitting the blade and whether or not I have to reprofile or just pay better attention to my work.

You want to be discrete about becoming a good sharpner because if the word gets out the spouse and all the friends, relatives, and neighbors start bringing you things to sharpen. Of course you can always extract a little liquid refreshment reward for your services so I guess it isn't so bad!
 
If the stones don't seem to be doing their job I use a black magic marker
Click to expand...
It seems that every, and I mean EVERY time I try to shortcut the process by sharpening a new knife on the S/M without first using the DMT's to set a low back bevel angle, I loose. I make 30 or 40 strokes, and keep telling myself, it's got to start hitting soon. Then I pull out the dry-erase marker and, you guessed it, hitting the back bevel WAY too high above the primary edge. Next step, reach in the fridge for a (fill in your favorite beverage here), go to the box of goodies and pull out the DMT DiaSharp benchstone, and put that low angle back bevel on the blade (raising a burr of course). THEN, and ONLY THEN do I go back to the S/M. And, guess what, the first stroke hits that edge down at the business end, and I know that I'm not too far away from sharpening euphoria.

I'm telling you guys and gals, it's a sad, sad, sad disease...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top