Uneven Primary Bevels?

[annr]

Right, I see what you mean. I guess I always wondered about this since in my case I have to use the knife to scrape (rather that cut)-- so right off the bat I am tinkering with that "factory set" edge by raising or lowering the angle on one or both sides of the blade. THEN when it comes time to do the dirty work: re-grinding, re-profiling, if possible, I thought that maybe I was doing myself a favor by imagining that I had made things more symetrical from the get go and/or by giving me a better frame of reference when I manipulate the angles.
-a

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Will the uneven bevels that I have put on my knives affect proformance?

Not significantly, it is mainly cosmetic. If the bevel is really uneven like 10 vs 30 it will effect how the edge is loaded during cutting and can cause it to be weaker, but there is no way you would apply anything close to that by hand and not be aware of it, those angles just look too different. Just put a rod in 15 and look at it vs 20. Most people will easily be able to tell one is much more obtuse than another. Almost all freehand shapening tends to produce uneven angles because you will tend to have a different perspective pushing away than coming towards you. But again the difference would be small as the height of the bevel would be proportional to the angle.

-Cliff