Warning - Don't look at this if you think you're good at sharpening

H

holymolar

Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
67
I warned you but you couldn't help yourself and you decided to look anyway, didn't you. OK, here goes.


Have you ever looked at the tip of your knives under 400x magnification:

I thought that my hair whittling, mirror polishing, sharpening skills were great until I looked at the tips of my knives under high magnification.


Here's the first one I looked at:
zzz.jpg

z.jpg

Here is the same knife tip at 20x and 400x magnification - how embarassing:
xxxxxx.jpg

xxxxx.jpg




Here are a few more tips of knives at 400x magnification:
n.jpg

x.jpg

mmmmm.jpg

mmmm.jpg



Here's a couple of the knives that I went back and resharpened, concentrating only on the tips. I think that this is what the tips are supposed to look like. Now I'm happy:
o.jpg

p.jpg



What do the tips of your knives look like? Let's see 'em if you dare.
 
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Good stuff! I always pay attention to my tips, but I generally just get my stuff to dry-shaving and not beyond that for practical reasons. I simply don't have the time these days to go through the process of getting them hair-whittling. :o
 
This is why it's so important to visually verify that an edge has been fully apexed during sharpening. I'd bet that accounts for about 99% of all sharpening difficulties encountered by those trying to learn the sharpening process ("What's wrong with my edge???"), and many seem to resist going to the lengths necessary to actually SEE what's happening at the edge. At sufficient magnification, the imperfections simply can't hide, and it becomes glaringly obvious what needs to be fixed. I could (and would) benefit from taking such a close look at mine, even if it does make me shudder & cringe to see what's really there. :eek:

It's a very good thing though, because it'll always show much more room for improvement, if one is willing to keep at it. That's what keeps it interesting... :)

Good pics, and good post! :thumbup:
 
I need to start paying more attention when I sharpen. I know my tips are worse off than that.
 
Excellent post. This is why I always check my edges and tips with my little pocket microscope. You see a lot of things under magnification that you would otherwise miss with the naked eye.
 
Amazing what you can find @400x ain't it?
 
IMO, tips are going to be the hardest or second hardest area of the blade to sharpen. You are much more likely to see damage or imperfections at that location from aberrant angles of contact with your sharpening medium due to the change in thickness at the spine and possible change in bevel angle there.
 
I have finally achieved a decent level of consistency with my sharpening, except for one critical aspect, the tip. My tips often become blunted, or when I do manage to get them sharp, become rounded. Seems like you did a fine job the second time around. Props.
 
HotSteel said:
What magnifier are you using ?
Click to expand...

I use a Veho 400X USB Microscope. Highly recommended for us "knife sharpening nuts with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) " and only about $60 on Amazon.com. User friendly. Plug into your computer and see your knife edges at 20x and 400x magnification. Save photos on your computer and transfer them to Photobucket to download to forums, emails, etc. Get one and it will open up a whole new world to your knife sharpening experience.
 
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I took a quick look at some of my knife tips with the microscope at work, hope to put up a pic or two later tonight. Some were not so good, some very nice. I have to imagine any use of the tip, being such a small area and concentrating tremendous pressures, will make it look mighty beat up in short order.
 
Because I use my knives, at 400x mag. I'd expect far worse.

I've been wanting a 20x power glass to check mine...I think that would be more than enough for something that really gets used. Hell, when they shave hair I stop. But yeah, I would like to see how they look at 400X.
 
Im scared to look any closer at my edges. I spend quite a bit of time and effort sharpening, so this is a huge wake-up call because I neglect my tips. Thanks for bringing me back to reality.
 
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