What did I do to my edge??

S

sjakh

Joined
Aug 28, 2012
Messages
132
Hey lovers. I just got a brand new EX01 and in spectacular fashion destroyed the edge on a Tormek T7 LEATHER stropping wheel. The knife was already shaving sharp, but I figure a light stropping wouldn't hurt. The wheel has a 3 micron paste on it. BTW I can't sharpen a knife to save myself, even with this supposed "foolproof" system (that I'm trying to get rid of by the way). The edge looks good, still shiny and I can't notice any distinct burr or rolling on either side. What happened? It can't even cut butter right now.
 
Blunted (rounded) the edge by holding the knife at too high of an angle or by pressing into the leather too hard? You may have a rounded apex (vertex?). It could very well still be shinhy. But rounded.
 
Yeap def lost that round...I held the blade virtually flat against the wheel. Figured that's a pretty steep angle.
 
Draw cut or push cut on the butter?

Most high polished edges won't cut cotton cloth. Toothier cuts better, fine india is the last stone to hit my blades before the head out into the world.

Pics?

Moose
 
You definitely rounded off the edge. You will need to reset the apex of the edge on some kind of bench stone or ceramic rod. You shouldn't have damaged it too badly, so fixing it should only take a couple of minutes on a fine ceramic. For future reference, proper stropping requires EXTREMELY light pressure in combination with low angle in order to not round off an edge. Even when stropping by hand a single pass with too high of an angle or too much pressure will ruin an edge, I can only imagine the effects are multiplied when using a powered wheel grinder or strop.
 
thanks guys, I'm probably have to send it out, because my skills are so wack on that thing, lol.
 
Moosez45 said:
Draw cut or push cut on the butter?

Most high polished edges won't cut cotton cloth. Toothier cuts better, fine india is the last stone to hit my blades before the head out into the world.

Pics?

Moose
Click to expand...

that doesn't sound right from my experience... I had high polished blades (espacially if you compare it to india fine) and they cut like laser.
 
I wouldn't give up. You'd only lose twice.

Do you have a jig for the Tormek? Buy a cheap used knife or two and practice your skills. Use a Sharpie and a loupe to help see what's going on. Then, when you have confidence in your skills, fix the EX01.
 
Yeap, have the whole hand tool kit. I tried for awhile. Once, I almost got my beat up mini recon up to hair shaving sharp again. Then proceeded to rounding off the tip and destroying the entire knife. In fact, in the right light you can see two different edge angles on it. LOL, this is embarrassing just talking about.
 
greendude said:
that doesn't sound right from my experience... I had high polished blades (espacially if you compare it to india fine) and they cut like laser.
Click to expand...

Push cut, or draw cut. I've spent time with some great knife makers and knife sharpeners over the last 20 years, I've seen high polished edges that will whittle hairs but won't cut a strip of a t-shirt if they had to.

On the flip side, I've seen a butcher knife sharpened on a file, take a pig down to parts in half an hour. Its all part of what you want, my knives get a fine india to finish, 25-35 micron, then done. Maybe a hit on the strop to knock down the burr, canvas charged with crystolon powder, 35-40 micron, then a hit on each side of jeweler's rouge charged canvas.

Mine will snatch some hair off your arm and cut fibrous materials alike.

To each their own.

Moose
 
You're working too hard. I've used a Tormek for years, works great.
Now, Put the blade in the short knife jig. Put the blade to the wheel and using the angle gage,
set it for 15 degrees. Turn it on and grind lightly on both sides of the blade keeping the
width of the ground edge the same on both sides. Do this until you get a burr, even a small one.
LIGHT PRESSURE!! Move to the hone wheel, a little oil and some grinding paste. Keep the same angle
you ground when you hone. LIGHT PRESSURE again. Just kiss the burr off. You'll get a great edge

Bill
 
Moosez45 said:
Push cut, or draw cut. I've spent time with some great knife makers and knife sharpeners over the last 20 years, I've seen high polished edges that will whittle hairs but won't cut a strip of a t-shirt if they had to.

On the flip side, I've seen a butcher knife sharpened on a file, take a pig down to parts in half an hour. Its all part of what you want, my knives get a fine india to finish, 25-35 micron, then done. Maybe a hit on the strop to knock down the burr, canvas charged with crystolon powder, 35-40 micron, then a hit on each side of jeweler's rouge charged canvas.

Mine will snatch some hair off your arm and cut fibrous materials alike.

To each their own.

Moose
Click to expand...

It doesn't sound right to me either. When I sharpen a knife to a mirror polish you can bet your life it will push cut draw cut whatever cut cotton.

Kevin
 
Here is just one example of a mirror polished edge of mine cutting cotton...

[video=youtube;fX95Kil5t0s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX95Kil5t0s&feature=g-all-u[/video]

A dull mirror polished edge wont cut cotton worth a lick. But a SHARP one, oh yes, they will.
 
A fun little cutting test with the same blade, same edge.

[video=youtube;5qGxaIxKmq4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qGxaIxKmq4&feature=plcp[/video]
 
sjakh said:
Hey lovers. I just got a brand new EX01 and in spectacular fashion destroyed the edge on a Tormek T7 LEATHER stropping wheel. The knife was already shaving sharp, but I figure a light stropping wouldn't hurt. The wheel has a 3 micron paste on it. BTW I can't sharpen a knife to save myself, even with this supposed "foolproof" system (that I'm trying to get rid of by the way). The edge looks good, still shiny and I can't notice any distinct burr or rolling on either side. What happened? It can't even cut butter right now.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, the mistake made by most when mirror polishing is to focus too much on having a pretty shiny edge and not enough on the actual edge apex. Try focusing more on what is actually going on at the apex and I believe you will see improved results.

Kevin
 
One, I never use power tools when sharpening my blades (more control). My advice would to be to either buy or make or nice leather strop and use then to hand strop your knives. It takes a bit more time, but should give you better results.
 
JSMcustoms said:
One, I never use power tools when sharpening my blades (more control). My advice would to be to either buy or make or nice leather strop and use then to hand strop your knives. It takes a bit more time, but should give you better results.
Click to expand...

I have to respectfully disagree. I have made plenty of strops and I have sharpened by hand with just about all the methods (and I still do).

With practice and dexterity you can have extreme control with a belt grinder.
 
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