What did I do wrong? (stone sharpening question)

[brossiah]

So...I was bored last night and I wanted to learn proper sharpening technique.

Prior to sharpening, (8cr13mov steel), the knife was razor sharp. It was sharpened professionally.

Anyway, I wanted to tinker with my stone for a little bit (spyderco 600 grit medium) and see if I can re-angle the blade and then re-angle it again to the original sharpened angle and get it razor sharp again. Don't know why I wanted to do this but it was a stupid decision. lol.

I kept a relatively consistent 15-20 degree angle and kept light pressure through each stroke. Created a burr until I switched to the other side and then did an equal amount of runs on the other side. Stropped it and now the knife is super dull. I can run my finger down the middle and it won't even break steel.

Can anyone give me any tips on what I could potentially be doing wrong?

 

[Allen R.]

Was it sharp before stropping? I know I have had knives sharp off stones, and because of improper stropping I rounded my edge. 100 different things could of happened and It's going to be really hard to just guess, do you have pics? Also you can retry and use the sharpie trick and make sure you are hitting the primary edge all the way.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

So...I was bored last night and I wanted to learn proper sharpening technique.

Prior to sharpening, (8cr13mov steel), the knife was razor sharp. It was sharpened professionally.

Anyway, I wanted to tinker with my stone for a little bit (spyderco 600 grit medium) and see if I can re-angle the blade and then re-angle it again to the original sharpened angle and get it razor sharp again. Don't know why I wanted to do this but it was a stupid decision. lol.

I kept a relatively consistent 15-20 degree angle and kept light pressure through each stroke. Created a burr until I switched to the other side and then did an equal amount of runs on the other side. Stropped it and now the knife is super dull. I can run my finger down the middle and it won't even break steel.

Can anyone give me any tips on what I could potentially be doing wrong?

A few possibilities:

• Depending on how consistent the angle was, the edge bevels and/or apex might have been rounded somewhat. Too much variation in angle, from stroke to stroke, will gradually round the bevels and perhaps the apex as well. The net result is an edge that's too wide in angle and/or blunt.
  
  
• The burr should be created & verified from both sides, instead of seeing it on one side and counting to the same number of strokes on the other. It's very common, and even likely, that the factory edge is asymmetrical (wider/thicker on one side than on the other). Assuming so, the number of counted strokes can't be relied upon to make sure the edge is fully apexed from each side. If I were betting, I'd assume it probably isn't fully apexed. This is likely the most common issue faced by most users first trying to learn the process, perhaps in conjunction with the angle variation mentioned above.
  
  
• As mentioned already, it's also possible to over-strop; either with too many passes, or too-aggressive compound for the steel, or both. If so, that could also over-polish and dull the edge.

David

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Start with this thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1014274-What-is-sharpening-a-knife-about

I don't know anyone who's learned to sharpen in an evening, even with clamps, jigs or free hand it takes practice to get it right, there are many bad habits we ask have when we first start,

Maintain angle is one of the hard ones although that's not the most important, convex/Moran edges are rounded and work great for slicing/chopping and general field work with larger camp knives.

My best suggestion is to learn what sharp looks like, so many times I hear people say the same thing and I ask, "do you know what sharp looks like, I mean really looks like close up?

Get yourself a 10X loupe or a good magnifying glass, look at what a sharp edge looks like under magnification this way you have a reference, then it's practice, practice, practice. I've been practicing for close to thirty+ years and I've got thousands of hours free hand, I sharpen almost every night, sometimes for only a half hour other times for a couple of hours.

Once you get the concept of what sharp looks like another issue that most encounter is that they tend to lift the blade as they come off the stone, like spray painting you should follow though and continue your stroke off the stone this way you won't break the edge you just created, this also applies when stropping.

There are many tutorials and videos out there, be patient, don't expect to become proficient over night.