Reply To: Preventing Micro chips while sharpening
Kind of hard to diagnose something online, but my patience is going to drive me mad if I don’t try to get some help. Any advice or follow-up questions would be great.
Like you said, Trevor, it’s hard to say on line. I’ll try to help. I’m sorry but I have to start with trying to determine your basic understanding, experience using the WE130 and use of a basic sharpening technique.
I can tell you I see the results of remaining scratch patterns from several previous grits running at several angles across and through the knife bevel. Some of these remaining scratches are quite rough and deep in appearance. I cannot pick up the micro-bevel you said you applied. That’s tough to see from a photo of the knife edge shown on a video screen.
There’s a couple very important basic things to consider. Are the sharpening stones broken in well? This can take more than 10 knives of use with each and every grit to achieve a good break-in. Do you have a good foundation and a basic understanding using your sharpener and a sharpening technique.
I suggest you view this entire video. It should help you to understand some of the different basic strokes and directions they’re used. Both to improve your sharpening skill and outcomes, and so you can better relate to and describe the strokes you are using. Aside from there being different sharpening strokes there are different stroke directions, such as edge trailing, (up and off or away from the edge) and edge leading, (down and into or against the edge). Then these two stroke directions can be used along the knife’s edge from heel to the tips and from tip to the heel. Each different stroke can affect your edge’s appearance and your final outcomes. The stroke you choose to use, the order that you use these, the way that use them, (the consistency and the thoroughness of how those strokes are used) all contributes to the out come. Sharpening is a systematic, repetitive process, that must be done with consistency and attention to detail.
In order to achieve a sharp knife edge the grinding we do with the sharpening stones, to one side of the knife edge must pass up and off the knife edge and intersect with the similar grinding done to the knife’s edge on the other side. These two ground sides, are planes, that is, the bevels, and where the bevels intersect forms a line that is the apex or the knife edge. The keener, and more precise this line of intersection between the bevel planes are, at the apex, the sharper your knives will be.
Each and every grit starting with the first coarsest grit, effects the sharpness outcome. The first grit establishes the knife’s profile, (that is the shape and the angle of the bevels relative to one another). Each subsequent grit refines the bevels for smoothness and consistent flatness and how precisely they intersect at the knife edge. Each step is dependent on the results of the previous step. The amount of work you put into this and your attention to details will determine your outcomes. That is the sharpness of your knives.
With well broken in stones, proper, consistent effort and attention to detail you will have sharp knives. All I can do is try to start you at the beginning with a good and proper understanding of what we’re trying to do here, and work you forward from there. If the user’s basics are not done well and correctly you have no chance to have the results you can rightfully expect.
I’m new to sharpening. I have been sharpening numerous knives and can never seem to get a razor sharp edge. Every final edge that I seem to end up with always has micro-chips in the bevel. Any advice or follow-up questions would be great.
I think the chipping issue will resolve itself if we can help you with learning the basics.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)
