When do you switch grits

[Marc H]

What method do you employ to know it’s time to move on to the next grit in your sharpening progression. Do you just feel for sharpness, do you use visual cues such as with a USB Microscope, or some other method.  Sometimes my blade feels really sharp really fast, sometimes after only a few strokes, especially if it’s a re-sharpening job.  I think it becomes easier to know if your using higher grit stones and then you can watch for the scratches to disappear.  Especially if your sharpening goal is a mirror edge. But when your still working with the lower grit like 400-1000 grit where your still laying scratches I use the direction and uniformity of the scratch pattern.  When its becomes unidirectional, looks even spaced and you don’t have any stray scratches left, how do you decide it’s time to move on.  Sometimes I reach that point very quickly. Especially if you only have about 20 or 30 strokes done.  When do you decide it’s enough.  I do think sometimes if you continue the edge will improve but other times all you doing is eating up metal unnecessarily.

If your goal is strictly to have a sharp edge, does it really matter that all the scratches from the last grit are obliterated?  Does it matter that the scratch pattern is even and uniform?  Does it matter if you have stray scratches left?  Do these things inhibit or lessen the edges ability to be really sharp or is that level of care only important for mirror polished edges?

Please share with me what you think.

Marc

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[dulledge]

When to switch to next grit

When to switch to next grit?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Marc H

[Organic]

Very interesting questions MarcH. I usually don’t go for a mirrored edge when I’m sharpening because I mostly sharpen my main chef knife and a couple of user type EDC blades. I find that a mirrored edge knife cuts very nicely, but tape residue sticks to the bevels and is really hard to remove. Also, it’s a lot of work to maintain a mirrored edge on a user, so I usually just go for sharp.

Most often these days I tend to use a 60x magnification loupe and the feel to determine when to change grits. I will sharpen until I no longer feel the stones cutting significantly and then I go for another 10 or so passes on each side with lighter pressure. I always test the cutting performance of my final edge with news print or catalogue paper and I also test for hair shaving ability on most edges.

I think some sharpening experiments are needed in order to answer all of these questions.

[sksharp]

Every knife is different and every progression is a living entity. I don’t think there is one right answer to your question. Some times everything goes according to plan and some times it does not. 100 thru 1500 diamond stones can progress without a hitch but most of the time there is one or two in the progression that just don’t go the way that they are supposed to,even after re-adjusting the angle several times. Just because one stone doesn’t go to the apex or to the bottom of the bevel does not mean that the knife won’t be sharp when your done. It might however mean that it does not look great, or “mirrored” if you will. Sometimes you will need to take off a little more metal than you would like. I think that is why maintaining a sharp knife determines how long the knife will last, more so, or at least as important, than how it’s sharpened initially.

I personally look at the edge during and after each stone with the naked eye and if satisfied move on, if not look with my loop and determine if I need to take more off or move on.

Normally I only scrub on the first 2 stones in the progression and after that just move thru the progression.

[Marc H]

dulledge wrote:

When to switch to next grit

When to switch to next grit? 

I took the time to read the threads this morning.  I learned from it that the decision it’s time to switch is generally what I call “subjective based” on using tools of observation and experiential cues like sound and feel.  The ability to make this decision comes with time and experience gained from sharpening many knives.  It is a judgement call we make, not an absolute point that is reached in the sharpening process.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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sksharp

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