VG-10 sharpening question.

Steel130

Steel130

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Ok so my question is. I am getting a pretty darn sharp edge on my VG-10 Delica. However it snags in areas when push cutting phonebook paper. I can't feel a burr and it shave hair in both directions. But I'm thinking it could be a burr too small to feel. I finished it iff on Spydercos ultra fine stone and kangaroo leather with. 25 micron diamond spray. Oddly it felt sharper on the medium stone. This is on the Sharpmaker, that's why I'm thinking it could be a burr. Stropping on balsa seemes to help further. I can sharpen Cts-xhp on the sharpmaker but not Vg10 haha.
 
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I think, the UF finishing step created a small/micro wire. A micro-wire edge will shave, whittle, tree-top hairs but will catch when slice newsprint/phonebook paper. Try this:

1) Bent wire/burr over by scrape on a piece of balsa or cardboard start at 10* keep raising spine to about 90* with each scrape/strop stroke - scrape 2 or 3 times.

2) Use light pressure edge-leading strokes -at bevel angle- to remove rolled wire/burr. It usually takes 3-5 strokes depend on amt of pressure. repeat 1) for the opposite side. Expect a clean apex after 2 or 3 pairs of 1+2 steps.

I found it takes more repeat to clean using Spyderco ceramic stones. Depend on the finished sharpening grit, I prefer to clean use leading-stroke on a dmt F/EF/EEF and other surfaces of embeded-diamond-abrasive range from 3um down 0.1 microns.

Use a 20x loupe or high-mag microscope to get visual confirmation that step 1 & 2 are actually removing the rolled wire/burr. Also make sure that you are not dealing with micro chips/deformations.

Please post result. Hopefully this work well, otherwise I need to re-examine this technique or :foot: altogether.
 
VG-10 makes some of the most stubborn and tenacious burrs & wire edges I've seen. I'd bet that's the issue here. More often than not, simple stropping won't remove them. I usually use a med/fine/uf ceramic hone to very gently file the burrs away on VG-10. Light pressure is paramount, because anything heavy will just make more burrs & wires. And the corners of the Sharpmaker rods are the worst for this, because they focus pressure in a very small portion of the edge. Go very light, on a flat ceramic surface to clean them up.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
VG-10 makes some of the most stubborn and tenacious burrs & wire edges I've seen. I'd bet that's the issue here. More often than not, simple stropping won't remove them. I usually use a med/fine/uf ceramic hone to very gently file the burrs away on VG-10. Light pressure is paramount, because anything heavy will just make more burrs & wires. And the corners of the Sharpmaker rods are the worst for this, because they focus pressure in a very small portion of the edge. Go very light, on a flat ceramic surface to clean them up.
Click to expand...

I agree. I love VG-10, but you have to work on knocking that burr off. I *always* put on a micro edge bevel when working with VG-10. This seems to knock off the wire edge well. Then I move to hand stropping on leather with green compound.

TedP
 
I've never had great edges on VG-10 with a ceramic surface sharpener. Japanese stones however takes the burr off quite well I feel.
 
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