When you can see it, is it a wire edge?

Z

zimmerDN

Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
68
So I just sharpened my D2 mini-grip. It's extreamly sharp right now. However when I put the blade under the light. I can see something that looks like very thin edge on the opposite of what I sharpened. Is this the wire edge? I already tried removing the burr I raised but I can still see something that looks like a wire. Both sides feels very smooth when I rub my thumb over the edges.

Also, any pointers on sharpening the pointy tips? I keep rounding my tips with my sharpmaker. I don't know how to do it properly.
 
I tried removing that burr again and it's just pushing it back and forth. I am using the flat side of the white stone and doing very very light pulls.

Everything feels smooth but doesn't look right. You can see a shiny line at the very end of the blade edge. Is that the wire edge that I need to remove? It seems to be not as sharp as that edge is gone. How can I make my knife as sharp without that wire edge?
 
find a pair of jeans, if your wearing jeans all the better, now take the knife and put it at a 45 degree angle on your leg/jeans and drag the blade SIDEWAYS away from the edge in a stroping motion, first one way then the other repeat this untill the edge you speak of is gone.

dont drag the edge in a cutting motion, im assuming you know what stroping is.
 
Both sides of the edge should look the same. You may have a fine wire edge.

When you say that the potential wire edge is "on the opposite of what I sharpened" it sounds like you were sharpening only one side or only one side at a time. If you work one side at a time you are guaranteed to get a wire edge. Do most of your finish (later stage) work honing alternating sides. Alternate side honing alone will do a lot to minimize burr formation. It likewise does a lot to remove burrs if you hone with edge-forwards strokes (as if you were shaving your hone).

There will typically be a very fine wire edge left any time you remove much edge material even if you hone on alternating sides of the blade. To remove this fine burr you need to do a few very light edge-forwards strokes at around a 45 degree honing angle. This is about twice the "40-degree" setting (20-degree honing angle) on the Sharpmaker. If you hold your blade parallel to the rod which is opposite to the rod you are stroking (rather than verticle) you are about right. I deburr with the flats of the medium rods since they bite into the burr better than the fine rods. Do a couple of deburring strokes on each side (alternating left-right-left-right) then look at the edge to see if the burr looks all gone. Do a couple more strokes just to be sure.

Now restore your fine edge with a standard Sharpmaker sequence. Do about 10 strokes per side (alternating sides every stroke) using moderate pressure at your normal honing angle with the flats of the medium rods. Then do the same with the flats of the fine rods. Finally do a few very light strokes with the spine of the blade tipped slightly away from the hone. This will give you a very fine edge finish.
 
It's a little difficult from your description to figure out what's going on, but if you profiled the blade to say 30 degrees (15 per side) and then finished with an angle around 40 degrees (20 per side) for your final edged you may just have a micro bevel, which is the edge itself, and because it's a different angle it will reflect light at a different angle than the back bevel. This will look like a bright line that maybe as thin as a thread or thinner.

Try cutting through some paper or cardboard and then see if the edge is still sharp.
 
It is really not that big of an issue if you see just a little bit of a wire edge now and then after sharpening. Many companies like Case and others don't bother to take off the wire before shipping because they know that with use the wire will get knocked off anyways.

Some consider taking the wire edge off a step that doesn't need taken. I usually strop mine off best I can. Use the knife for your daily jobs for a week or so and then look at it again after some use. Chances are the wire will be minimal but the blade will still have a very good edge on it.

I tend to take mine down enough to where the wire isn't noticably shifting from one side to the other and if there is a tiny bit still there in places after that I let use take care of it. Just the way I do it, not necessarily the only way.
 
When a wire edge is left on it will cause the edge to break down at a faster rate than if the burr is removed correctly. Stropping often just pulls the burr into line with the edge. It will shave or cut paper, but will be weak. If you do enough stropping to remove the burr some of the removal will be by peeling, pulling, or just fatiguing the burr off, which will leave a ragged surface behind on the edge. If you have an abrasive strop you may get a cleaner removal of the wire edge, but you can leave some burr-like residue where abrasive grit scraped metal up to the edge and left little spurs there. For a more durable edge I would remove the burr with light edge-forwards honing at around 45 degrees. At that point stropping will generally do good things for the edge. By the way, these ideas for handling burrs and stropping come from recommendations for maintaining straight razors. These are things that become important as you go to extremely accute honing angles and extremely sharp edges.
 
PS, The reason that I assumed that you were seeing a burr rather than a micro-bevel is that you said that the shiny stuff was only on the opposite side from the one that you were honing. If it was a micro-bevel it would be on the same side that you were honing or on both sides.
 
I totally agree with Jeff. A couple of light strokes at a more obtuse angle should fix the problem in nothing flat.

Wobbly burrs can be a real pain. I have the same problems with talonite.
 
Jeff Clark said:
PS, The reason that I assumed that you were seeing a burr rather than a micro-bevel is that you said that the shiny stuff was only on the opposite side from the one that you were honing. If it was a micro-bevel it would be on the same side that you were honing or on both sides.
Click to expand...

Jeff, I use your recommendations to remove the burr by taking some little swipes at a higher angle and then finish with some swipes at the regular angle. For straight razors, do you recommend lifting the razor off it's spine and doing some light passes to remove any burr that maybe there? This seems risky as the straight razor's edge is so delicate.
 
On a straight razor you are supposed to go real easy, not remove too much material and not create any significant burr. If you create a burr you have screwed it up and are supposed to start over again. They describe burr removal as going back and honing to 90-degrees. I assume that they mean 45-degrees per side for a 90-degree included angle. Then you go back and gently hone the minimum amount that will get you to your edge. You need to clean of any particulate residue before you strop. You don't want to get debris in your strop. I'm not sure if you are supposed to strop right after you hone. In general you let the edge grow a 'fin' between usages and only strop just before you use it. The fin is the final thin cutting edge that might be mistaken for a burr. The final edge is not only ductile it also moves around microscopically to get into a relaxed smooth state. It is said to "grow". When you strop you are alligning this material, not removing it. You are not supposed to strop right after shaving because the fin gets sort of dinged up when you shave. If you strop after shaving you will tear off the fin, leaving a damaged edge and a metal contaminated strop. If you let the razor rest for a couple days the fin will recover some smoothness and allignment and is ready for stropping.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top