What Did You Sharpen Today?

What with my dad having been a surgeon, one would have thought that the knife in his pocket would be sharp. One would have been wrong. This Case Mini Trapper may well have been the last pocket knife he ever carried. The edge was chipped and it was as dull as a brick. It would not cut paper. So it put it on the diamond plates and then the 400 grit water stone and got a working edge on it. It still needs work, but it will at least cut paper now.
https://imgur.com/a/Z7f17iH
 
Touched this up today on the ceramic rods.:)

CDu0S6W.jpg
 
Spyderco Native in CPM M4 got an edge tuning today. I was going to just run the factory edge for a while, but I got bored tonight and couldn't help myself. Knocked the shoulders back as I usually do, but the "microbevel" is a lot steeper than what I normally put on a knife. Wanted an edge suited for being worked hard, so I think this will do. Posted with apologies for the abysmally poor lighting.

i-6nTfpvK-L.jpg
 
rocketbomb said:
Spyderco Native in CPM M4 got an edge tuning today. I was going to just run the factory edge for a while, but I got bored tonight and couldn't help myself. Knocked the shoulders back as I usually do, but the "microbevel" is a lot steeper than what I normally put on a knife. Wanted an edge suited for being worked hard, so I think this will do. Posted with apologies for the abysmally poor lighting.

i-6nTfpvK-L.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks like a blade that will take some hard work. What angle approx did you use for the micro-bevel. ???
 
Spats McGee said:
What with my dad having been a surgeon, one would have thought that the knife in his pocket would be sharp. One would have been wrong. This Case Mini Trapper may well have been the last pocket knife he ever carried. The edge was chipped and it was as dull as a brick. It would not cut paper. So it put it on the diamond plates and then the 400 grit water stone and got a working edge on it. It still needs work, but it will at least cut paper now.
https://imgur.com/a/Z7f17iH
Click to expand...
After I got home, I went back to this one to refine the edges. A few minutes on medium and fine Arkansas stones, and she's right as rain again.
 
Because I really like the Civivi Conspirator I got a few weeks ago, I decided to get their newest button lock: the Chevalier. It's about the same size as the Conspirator but it has a modified sheep's foot blade, which I generally prefer to a drop point. At first blush I don't like it quite as much as the Conspirator. The handle is a little smaller and doesn't fit my hand quite as well, and the button is flush with the handle, which I don't like because it makes it harder to locate by touch. I still like it, though! This one's in 14c28n vs. Nitro-V for the Conspirator. Both sharpen quite easily. Will have to carry for a while to compare edge retention.

Anyway, I sharpened it freehand yesterday @15 dps, using Shapton Pro 120 and Shapton Glass 500 and 1000. And because I'm insane and prefer flat bevels, I sharpened it again today on the Hapstone with Venevs. Because it was already at 15 dps it only took about 15 minutes. Forgot to mention that the factory edge was one of the worst I've seen. It was 25 dps and came in around 290 BESS.

Civivi Chevalier.jpg
 
a spontaneous touch-up session. accidentally stumbled upon this ol' 5$ CN fruit knife in a forgotten drawer (reunion brings joy), removed some rust-like crusts from the blade faces with Barkeepersfriend, tested the sharpness (could cut phone paper okay), and was in the mood of touching it up. the flatness of my modded 302UF was more suitable for the task than my RRS, so i went ahead and created burr and deburred, all on the 302UF (see various marks on the stone):
img_20220428_144230x6jp6.jpg


a matter of 3min. i was actually surprised how well the stone removed the burr, by swallowing it: one couldn't hear the burr scratching on the ceramic, instead i could feel the drag of the knife getting less and less. no subsequent stropping needed, so i didn't strop. i also appreciate the highly visible fine grayish marks left behind from the sharpening session, they are visual helpers from the first to the last second on the stone, i.e. during burr creation and burr removal. 1 sheet of toilet paper w/ Barkeepersfriend (plus a drop of water) cleaned up the grayish marks 100%, a complete white reset.

now the blade breezes quietly🤫 thru thinnest paper like a razor. great stone, i should use it more often. 🤔
 
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Did some touching up to pass the time after finishing up a small project.

First, I took 20 careful strokes per side on the Sharpmaker using the fine rods. Then I gently stropped: 20 strokes on the compound side and 20 on the leather side.

Feels like the devil's own now. Perceptibly sharper to these aging fingertips than when I started.

Now to open some boxes from today's Amazon haul.


Dukes spex.jpg
 
The eagle has landed! My Tormek T-8 was delivered last night and I've been playing with it ever since. This morning's victims:

Tormek.jpg

First impressions:

* Despite having done lots of research and watching tons of videos, there is a learning curve! Not surprising, of course. Even the most user-friendly systems require *some* technique and muscle memory.

* I was able to get the first knife I tried pretty darned sharp! BESS score right off the Tormek and its honing wheel was 135. Got it down to 110 after running it through the KO Belt Grinder with leather belt.

* While my first blades were sharp ... they didn't look great. Hit the edge of the wheel a few times which leaves a nice little gouge. That's still a work in progress, but I've already improved a lot.

* The Tormek will probably never replace a fixed-angle sharpening system for mid/high-end folders. It can leave a nice bright finish (if you don't mess up), but it's not as pretty as the edge from a fixed angle sharpener. Perhaps if I add the Japanese stone...? :) But, it's great for kitchen knives, tools, users, etc.

* Still too soon to know if I'll be able to get fast enough to use this thing for light commercial sharpening.
 
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