why can I only cut phone book paper in one direction? cutting it long ways in no problem, it glides thru the paper and has no nicks in the blade, when I try to cut it the other way it seems to grab the paper and tear it, this happens to me with knives I can whittle hair with, i'm not sure if it's technique or what, does this happen to anyone else? it's not that big of a deal, was just wondering why it's happening.
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why can't I
- Thread starter tonymp
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Paper has a grain direction... It's semi easy to cut length wise, but much more difficult to cut across the grain.
Bigfattyt
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Are you talking about easy cutting to the left and the cutting thr opposite direction of the blade (ie it would whittle hair with one side of the edge, but not the other side of the edge).
Very well could be a wire edge that cuts going one way, and not the other.
Very well could be a wire edge that cuts going one way, and not the other.
when I turn the paper 90 degrees it won't cut, I see videos of people using spyderco double stuff free hand cut phone book paper in all direction, i'm coming off .3 micron lapping film after going thru all the grits on the kme and can't cut in both directions, like I said i'm not all that concerned because the knife is sharp, I can't cut in both directions with any factory edge I've had so it may just be me
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And even more difficult at higher polish, which is more prone to just sliding off across the grain. Edges finished to retain some toothy bite in the 320-400 grit range will do it much more easily. It's why I've settled comfortably into that finish ballpark, for almost all my knives.
Some paper is different than others. Some ad paper that I get in the mail is glossy and seems almost wet when I pick it up (in a dry air conditioned room). It flops around and crumples funny. Really horrible low quality paper. That stuff cuts ok with the grain, but is nearly impossible to cut properly against the grain. It tears, even with a rather sharp blade.
Typical phonebook paper will cut with the grain with a blade that is fairly sharp. To cut phonebook against the grain, you need a REALLY cleanly deburred edge. Most factory edges are not cleanly deburred. I find burrs on most factory edges I check.
Have you noticed that your angle of attack on the paper makes a difference too? Cutting at an angle is much easier than at 90 degrees to the paper. In fact, tilting the blade in any of 3 dimensions makes it easier. The most difficult cut is with the blade at perfect 90 degree angles in all three dimensions. Try it!
Against the grain, this pure 90 degree cut is very difficult indeed. I can do it with a highly polished edge. With a regular toothy edge, I can't really do a pure 90 degree cut. I have to angle in some direction to get it to cut.
Maybe I should do a video on this...
Brian.
Typical phonebook paper will cut with the grain with a blade that is fairly sharp. To cut phonebook against the grain, you need a REALLY cleanly deburred edge. Most factory edges are not cleanly deburred. I find burrs on most factory edges I check.
Have you noticed that your angle of attack on the paper makes a difference too? Cutting at an angle is much easier than at 90 degrees to the paper. In fact, tilting the blade in any of 3 dimensions makes it easier. The most difficult cut is with the blade at perfect 90 degree angles in all three dimensions. Try it!
Against the grain, this pure 90 degree cut is very difficult indeed. I can do it with a highly polished edge. With a regular toothy edge, I can't really do a pure 90 degree cut. I have to angle in some direction to get it to cut.
Maybe I should do a video on this...
Brian.
I didn t see phone book at least 20 years ...
if this paper from yellow pages fit for this test... I can cut in any direction , easy .Only i can feel little difference when i make cut in direction of that red arrow .... difference like i feel little steering .......edge is 240 grit diamond.....
Well ....I try that , too . Not difficult but different .................
I didn t see phone book at least 20 years ...
That’s because you’re cutting with the spine.
Just kidding, I need to get some fresh air.
I don t even know what is it that .3 micron lapping film........ ? Try my way ................take 240 grit diamond stone and sharpen both side , then just remove burr on leather .......laser!
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I can bet that this knife will cut even with spine
It is only 1.8mm on spine , full flat grind , 67 hrc M42 steel and probably 0.10 or thinner behind edge ....
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Hi,
its simple,
what exactly do you mean by cutting paper?
hold paper how? hold knife how?
perform what exact motion?
what knife?
can you cut paper after after you do four times one stroke per side?
ken-onion-work-sharp-blade-grinding-attatchment-problem.1543017/page-2#post-17772188
sharpening-what-am-i-doing-wrong.1578550/#post-18059102
i-just-had-a-light-bulb-just-go-off-sort-of.1586552/#post-18124573
it must have been the type of paper I was trying to cut, I went to work and grabbed a phone book and I was able to cut the paper in any direction with no problem at all, the books I had at home were pretty old, I'm not sure how old but that may have been the problem.
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I always notice with phonebook pages, the edge of the sheet where it's glued to the binding will be more resistant to the start of the cut. Even if pages look like they pull out clean from the binding, that little bit of glue residue on the bound edge is still there in the paper's fibers, and it's pretty cut-resistant. This may or may not have anything to do with OP's issue, but it's something to be aware of.
I tried looking for a video about this awhile back and didn't find much, a video would be great if you have the time, thanks,
Tony
That's interesting. Don't remove the pages from a phonebook by breaking the binding or pulling or anything. I take the point of a sharp knife and put it pretty close to where the page meets the binding and then cut through as many sheets as I easily can. I leave a little nub at the top (like 1/4") to hold them in. So when I want a page, I just pull it out and tear the little tiny nub that's holding it to the binding.
The inside edge where I've done the cut is obviously not all that straight. But it doesn't matter much. I still have the other 3 factory straight edges to use.
Brian.
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About half the time, when I tear pages out of old phone books, they'll come out torn anyway, leaving the bound edge behind. I'll do most of my cutting tests against the other three edges otherwise, knowing the quirky behavior of the glued edge will skew my impressions. But I still find it somewhat interesting how resistant the glued edges are to being cut.