What Did You Sharpen Today?

[Gottagofishn]

I'm telling ya Jeweler's visor is the way to go . Some even have lights built in . Hard to loose too .
In the thirty dollar range give or take .
Can use while sharpening . . . say . . . with one of those stones hand held , edge toward you . I'll do that on occasion . Think inexpensive stainless bur using an India stone to take off the bur before final edge finnessing on the Lansky . I don't have a Lansky but . . . hey . . . I can imagine how useful it could be .

Wowbagger, can you help me with the part about the diamonds? Are they creating a problem that the Shapton Glass stones would not?

The next time the knife is ready for stones, I'll try the Glass or maybe ceramic water stones like Kuromaku's or Naniwa Choseras, but I'll have to do that freehand, as the only guided system I have is the Wicked Edge, and I've only got the diamond stones for it. Usually, I'll sharpen two to four times freehand (because I like doing it that way) and then use the WE to get the bevels back to flat, crisp surfaces. Then back to freehand, and when the bevels get convex and sloppy enough, run it through the WE again.

Thanks for the help!

If I am working on a stubborn burr created by a wheel (hollow ground), occasionally I strop the apex with a flat strop as opposed to a wheel. Doing that strops only the shoulders and apex. It can be very effective on stubborn hollow ground (Tormek) burrs.

 

[Sitcomdad83]

Touched up a tops cat 200 drop point. I still can't get this past functional sharp but it's thick so don't expect it to slice amazing anyway.

 

[bdaabat]

Customer dropped off several knives, most of which were in decent shape. This little Global paring knife was the reason he sought me out. It had seen some things, but is doing better now!

image removed by staff for failure to comply with rules

 

[bdaabat]

My bad!
Before:



After:



Bruce

 

[Gary W. Graley]

My neighbor had a Gyuto with about a 9” blade and octagonal handle that had several chips along the edge with a few major ones. He asked me if I could bring it back so I took it home, used my 1x30 with a coarse belt to bring the edge back to shape and then used my 8” diamond stones, extra coarse, medium and fine to get it razor sharp again.
The edge was still quite thin so I didn’t need to adjust it. I was quite surprised how quickly it became so sharp, I used the sharpal angle block to reference a 14 degree angle.
Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures… but it was a nice sharpening session
G2

 

[Khromo]

This Blue Paper #2 blade came out of the box at 157 grams on the BESS tester. I stropped it with red Harald-Solingen paste on leather down to about 125, then with the black H-S down to about 105. Not especially low for this steel.

I switched to Jende Nanocloth and diamonds at 2 mu for about 95 grams, then 1- and finally 0.5 mu to consistently hit the mid-eighties. Finished on plain rough side leather. I think I can get to about 70-75 after putting it on the waterstones and stropping again, but I will use it first! This knife wants to fly! Fly like the wind!

 

[Gottagofishn]

This Blue Paper #2 blade came out of the box at 157 grams on the BESS tester. I stropped it with red Harald-Solingen paste on leather down to about 125, then with the black H-S down to about 105. Not especially low for this steel.

I switched to Jende Nanocloth and diamonds at 2 mu for about 95 grams, then 1- and finally 0.5 mu to consistently hit the mid-eighties. Finished on plain rough side leather. I think I can get to about 70-75 after putting it on the waterstones and stropping again, but I will use it first! This knife wants to fly! Fly like the wind!

Two things, first is that clip reads about 20 grams less than the media. The second is, once you get into the low 70’s, 50’s with the speed clip, you should be able to split hairs. Right now your very close… another few passes on your favorite stropping emulsion should do it. Once your into the low 60’s, 50’s you can wave it over your arm hair and top off the hair. It is just for fun, but very cool.
When I am shooting for low numbers, I find aluminum oxide removes a lot of steel. I can expect to see numbers drop 25 grams or more a pass. When I move to lower mu diamonds the drop in scores is less per pass, maybe 10 or 15 points per pass and finally, plain leather will only drop the score 5 to 10 grams a pass.
I use a 1x30 variable speed bench sander (Rikon) for stropping.

 

[Khromo]

Two things, first is that clip reads about 20 grams less than the media. The second is, once you get into the low 70’s, 50’s with the speed clip, you should be able to split hairs. Right now your very close… another few passes on your favorite stropping emulsion should do it. Once your into the low 60’s, 50’s you can wave it over your arm hair and top off the hair. It is just for fun, but very cool.
When I am shooting for low numbers, I find aluminum oxide removes a lot of steel. I can expect to see numbers drop 25 grams or more a pass. When I move to lower mu diamonds the drop in scores is less per pass, maybe 10 or 15 points per pass and finally, plain leather will only drop the score 5 to 10 grams a pass.
I use a 1x30 variable speed bench sander (Rikon) for stropping.

I am doing this by hand, so I seem to be getting lower improvement "per pass", but my results are lining up with yours, just not as good! It takes me a while to hit 100, and some serious commitment to get around 70 to 80! It's easier with these very thin blades.

I really enjoy the process! I don't need knives this sharp, anything beyond about 120 with the speedy clips is mostly the fun of competing with myself.

Thanks for the responses, GottaGo, you have really helped me get better at all this!

 

[Rob Babcock]

I just finished a repair of a Shun nakiri. The was a crack perpendicular to the bevel running from the edge to nearly the cladding. I ground it down, thinned it a bit and sharpened it. Forgot to take a pic unfortunately but it came out pretty nice. I'll let the customer know that I can't guarantee that there's not some kind of flaw in the HT or something but he had low expectations that it was fixable anyway. I think he'll be pleased!

 

[Wowbagger]

Wowbagger, can you help me with the part about the diamonds? Are they creating a problem that the Shapton Glass stones would not?

The next time the knife is ready for stones, I'll try the Glass or maybe ceramic water stones like Kuromaku's or Naniwa Choseras, but I'll have to do that freehand, as the only guided system I have is the Wicked Edge, and I've only got the diamond stones for it. Usually, I'll sharpen two to four times freehand (because I like doing it that way) and then use the WE to get the bevels back to flat, crisp surfaces. Then back to freehand, and when the bevels get convex and sloppy enough, run it through the WE again.

Thanks for the help!

Sorry I didn't respond until now .
I just saw your post and was coming back to add to my previous post . . . onnnnnnn . . . the very same topic .

I was over on Larrin Thomas's Knife Steel Nerds site trying to figure out wheather I was going to reprofile my new MagnaCut blade starting with diamond and also what to finish it with . MagnaCut is 4% vanadium and the rule of thumb is 4% Vanadium or more = quit playing and just use diamond .

Here is what other knife makers of the highest level said about sharpening MagnaCut (I'm thinking if it is true for this stuff it should be true for 2% Vanadium in about any case ) :

Devin Thomas reported that it sharpened well even with Shapton Glass stones, which have the standard aluminum oxide abrasive, as opposed to CBN or diamond which is harder than vanadium carbide. He found the Shapton stone to sharpen better than diamond plates on MagnaCut, perhaps due to the finer scratch pattern.

PS : Edge Pros (the old suction cup base versions ) are pretty inexpensive =< $200 . Gritomatic has some of the stones you mentioned and to get the Shapton Glass stones see Chef Knives To Go (I bought my first Edge Pro from them WITH the Shapton Glass Stone Set ) .

 

[Gottagofishn]

On supersteels, I find aluminum oxide still efficient at removing the bulk of the burr. After reducing the size of the burr a bit I switch to diamonds to finish.
Maybe different diamond compounds would be more aggressive but the paste I use is just not good at removing large amounts of steel. I use Tech Diamond Tools 6mu and a 1mu for finishing on occasion with a 1x30 leather belt.

 

[bdaabat]

Customer dropped off a machete. This time, the intended purpose was to help break down a fallen tree.

Here's what was dropped off:


I struggled with this today. Wasn't getting a good, consistent edge. Realized I was using too much pressure while passing the tool along the belts. Once I backed off some, things improved.

Bruce

 

[Rob Babcock]

Today I did a couple of basic kitchen knives, a lawn mower blade and a couple of food processor blades for my neighbor that runs a butcher shop.

 

[Blues]

Touched up a Spydero MicroJimbo in 15V. Learning what the steel likes and doesn't as I go.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Did a folder for a guy I work with, no pics, a pretty basic gas-station/mall-ninja blade.

 

[Khromo]

Sorry I didn't respond until now .
I just saw your post and was coming back to add to my previous post . . . onnnnnnn . . . the very same topic .

I was over on Larrin Thomas's Knife Steel Nerds site trying to figure out wheather I was going to reprofile my new MagnaCut blade starting with diamond and also what to finish it with . MagnaCut is 4% vanadium and the rule of thumb is 4% Vanadium or more = quit playing and just use diamond .

Here is what other knife makers of the highest level said about sharpening MagnaCut (I'm thinking if it is true for this stuff it should be true for 2% Vanadium in about any case ) :



PS : Edge Pros (the old suction cup base versions ) are pretty inexpensive =< $200 . Gritomatic has some of the stones you mentioned and to get the Shapton Glass stones see Chef Knives To Go (I bought my first Edge Pro from them WITH the Shapton Glass Stone Set ) .

That tracks with me. I got great results stropping a couple of Magnacut blades (Giant Mouse) with the factory edges with Harald-Solingen stropping paste on leather. Boosted the BESS scores and they even started to smooth out the factory's scratch pattern.

I believe the H-S is aluminum oxide. That stuff is effective!

 

[Jason B.]

https://imgur.com/bQABQuC

 

[Wowbagger]

That tracks with me. I got great results stropping a couple of Magnacut blades (Giant Mouse) with the factory edges with Harald-Solingen stropping paste on leather. Boosted the BESS scores and they even started to smooth out the factory's scratch pattern.

I believe the H-S is aluminum oxide. That stuff is effective!

Yesterday I reprofiled my Magnacut Para 3 to 14 deg per side measured with goniometer . Nice clean small dots on the scale .
I realize this is stupid acute and I plan up front to put on a micro bevel if / when the edge starts to get dinged . I'm a pretty careful user ; I don't ask a lot .

The Edge Pro Shapton Glass stones and Silicon Carbide stones were PLENTY AGGRESSIVE for MagnaCut and the reprofile when fast .

The progression of too many stones was :
"Boride" Silicon Carbide 120 the typical dark blue SC color stone .
"Boride" listed as Corundum 220 white stone .
"Boride" Silicon Carbide 320 the tipical dark blue SC color stone .
Shapton Glass 500 white stone .
Shapton Glass 1000 white stone .
Shapton Glass 4000 white stone .

The bevels are mirror at this point but not a super clean mirror .

Then just a hint of a strop on my experimental , Edge Pro ,Translucent / white Hard Arkansas stone WITH the lightest amount of 1 micron diamond dust wiped on it .

This last is too fine and next I will try 3 micron . One of the advantages of """Stropping""" on this stone with diamond is I can go edge leading a little tiny bit when I want to .

Easily whittles hair on my arm , beginning to be tree topping , easily cuts curls off the end of my finger nails all the way across the nail in one piece . The last is My Test for sharp and the geometry I like .

 

[Jason B.]

Got this old MK2 in and boy, it was in rough shape. Went through many steps grinding the deep scratches out with small stones and finally wet/dry sandpaper. Pretty happy considering it was my first time refinishing the bevels like this.

 

[Jason B.]

Dont put your knives away wet!