I read robs website info...and please dont get me wrong....i am not getting down on him or his methods...IS THAT CLEAR? but the idea that a knife is TOO sharp and the rest of the sentence doesnt sit too well with me...I have a sharpening technique...in part taught to me by glenn hornby, in part learned by trial and error (lots of error) and in part by reading everything on sharpening i could for a long time (havent stopped)...as an aside...I sharpen tools for a living...but mostly carbide...different tools and completely different subject....I sharpen a new unsharpened knife with a nice fresh 220 grit belt.....until i get a nice burr...I mean one that a blind man can see....then i go over the edge with a DULL 600 grit belt until all the 220 grit scratches are gone and most of the burr is gone too...then i hit the edge on my 3600 rpm baldor...first on a hard felt wheel with green chrome rouge, the powdery kind, not the gooey kind, then to a close stitched buff wheel with more green chrome....i go over it here about three times per side.....and then....I feel it...that is my criteria for finish...my finger.....but i tell you it is a well trained finger....I know two very very good machinists who can tell you if something is .005 or .008 by eyeball....but that is a well trained eyeball.....sometimes i touch it to a few hairs on my arm...but actually thats just for effect...I know my technique works...i do it the same every time...when someone brings me a knife to sharpen...depending on how dull it is.. i will start with a used 320 belt and go to the 600...or just use the 600 if it doesnt have any flat spots that i can see with my naked eye.....and i wear reading glasses almost all the time in my shop...i hope i have answered your question....i could talk about this for a long time ...about polished edges and molecule size and rough edges and heat treat hardness...there is really a lot involved.....one thing i will reiterate... mostly i make hunting knives...so thats what im into....thats where my brain heads when i think about sharpening a knife...not many of the people who come over to have their knives sharpened are cutting cardboard...although a lot of them are kitchen knives....vegetables etc....well...i wrote all of this then reread the above post and maybe i didnt even answer the question.. bottom line...I try to get the knife as sharp as POSSIBLE without leaving a edge that can be rolled over or damaged easily... what that means is....and this is partly theory cause i dont have a giant microscope to look at my edges...when i polish my edge with the buff....i microscopically roll the edge....microscopic! it still shaves...it still cuts very thin newspaper...but i dont leave the edge so thin that it rolls over at the first use or is so thin out there that it chips off....that is one reason why i polish my edges like i do...i think that the so called working edge that many guys put on their knives leave micro saw blade edges that will break off very easily and cause the knife to get dull very fast...they may be very aggresive at first but when they hit something tough.....end of story...rememeber, i am not the final authority on this...this is my theory...so please dont attack me for my ideas...sincerely
[This message has been edited by tom mayo (edited 09 June 1999).]
[This message has been edited by tom mayo (edited 09 June 1999).]
