No ceramics, no strops. Bad idea?
- This topic has 18 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 07/19/2017 at 12:21 pm by
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You are not alone, many reputable people on this forum prefer to use Diamond Lapping Film instead of ceramics
https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/stone-sequence/#post-36201
Another question is if it makes better sense to use bevel and micro-bevel technique. While your technique is better for shaving, but the edge without micro-bevel is not very durable. Toothy micro-bevel cuts meats, veggies and anything else just great.
In my opinion and based on my experience an edge finished with Diamond Film is extremely sharp and polished but not very smooth. It catches and snags for me when trying to cut newspaper to ribbons as a sharpness test. I like to lower my angle setting from my last film by 1-1/2 degrees and hit it with leather strops with 1.0/0.5 micron Diamond Emulsion. This gives me a smooth, extremely sharp, very polished edge.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)Welcome to the forum, Anarchy! I use the progression you describe if a want a very sharp edge, so I think that’s ok. If you want to go any further, you get in the area of strops and stropping compounds. When we’re talking < 0.5 micron, I’d recommend either the kangaroo or the nanocloth strops. By the way, MarcH has a point that stropping can smooth the edge. But you should be careful, since if you use leather, you run the risk of rounding the edge.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
I like to lower my angle setting from my last film by 1-1/2 degrees and hit it with leather strops with 1.0/0.5 micron Diamond Emulsion. This gives me a smooth, extremely sharp, very polished edge.
Just to add a point…after stropping many knives, using them and also visually evaluating the edge under a USB microscope, I have found, for me, that any angle lower than 1-1/2 degrees will indeed result in some rounding of the edge or apex. Higher than 1-1/2 degrees will work OK too but I believe it smooths the shoulder more then the toothyness of the edge.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)I have become a recent convert to the use of strops. I had been having issues with my technique and wasn’t obtaining the results that I was hoping for, but lowering the angle by 1.5-2 degrees per side fixed the issue and now I strop every knife I sharpen. It is imperative that you use an angle cube to measure the angle change rather than relying on the pre-marked angle settings on the Wicked Edge because these are not accurate for every knife and will lead you astray. Like MarcH said, just a few passes with the strops can noticeably improve how smoothly a knife cuts.
If you’re interested in what stropping does to an edge, I would encourage you to read Mark76’s excellent blog posts on the subject.
Not to be a party pooper, Anarchy84, there’s a bit of a learning curve and a break-in period to get past with your new WE System before you have to worry about the fine tuning aspects of your sharpened edge.
There is a general technique to employ when sharpening knives but many of us have picked and chosen various parts and aspects of each other’s techniques and put that together and refined and individualized it into our own personal techniques. I think you need to develop your technique and become comfortable using it with your broke in stones, see some results of your efforts, then these conversations will really make practical sense to you.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)Oh absolutely. I have no delusions of grandeur when it comes to my initial results. I have a drawer full of kitchen knives and cheap pocket knives to practice on, and I fully expect it will be quite a while before I take a stone to any knife in my collection. I simply want to have everything I need to achieve the results I’m looking for before I begin the struggle.
The common issue I’ve seen is, at the beginning, before the stones are broken in and good technique is learned, developed and put into practice, sharpening results don’t meet expectations and users become disillusioned with the system feeling it’s not that good, over-rated, or not for them. It’s OK to get excited. Get your hopes up. It will meet your expectations. It just takes a while before you’ll see you’re true ability with your WE.
I’ve been at it for several years and I’m still learning and improving my technique and results. I got excellent results a long time ago but I’m still improving on them as I set my standards and goals higher.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)
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