Reply To: micro bevel to eliminate tear-out -Spyderco Paramilitary CPM-S110V

[Henry]

Robert, Tc, and Mark,

Thanks for the guidance!

I’ll be the first to admit that user error and a learning curve are likely the root cause of the observed symptoms.

I’ll give the stones more time to break in and see how it goes.

Yes Marc, I need to do a better job taking and posting consistent photos. Heck, I’m happy I was even able to get the pix properly inserted!

I will pay more attention to ensuring each progression, beyond the initial reprofiling using low grits, actually apexes the blade.

Being far from new to sharpening, even with DMT diamonds but mostly whetstones, I “think” I have the light pressure down, but will continue to be cognizant of very light -reassure. I’m thinking that perhaps as I scrubbed with the 100 grit, I may have caused 2 issues?

1. Edge trailing strokes could have caused tear out. The “classic” stroke as demonstrated by many including Clay Allison – the “ bicycle stroke” for lack of a better term, seems to usually show edge-leading… but not always. I will keep this edge leading stroke in mind for sure.

2. I may have put too much pressure on  stones, even though I “Tried”… I know I got … a bit agressive..

 

Robert, I like your idea of testing the steel for hardness… hmmm, another tool to buy at some point. But, I know the Spyderco is hard so…. ‘Does it really matter if I know the actual hardness”?

Finger placement on the stones… yea… after looking in the forums and YouTube, I’ve made a point of trying to grasp the stones near the bottom, one “ tick” up “ feels” right to me; but, I’ll make effort to be 100% consistant.

Regarding abrasive grit side, my hypothesis was that yes, the coarser stones would be a potential cause of tear out, and that’s why I started at 1000…but.. the 1k was just taking forever to make progress… so went down step by step looking for any meaningful progress but fell all the way to my lowest grit of 100 before I perceived any noticeable reprofiling. I sure did not want to spend 20 hours polishing the blade sides and never hitting an apex!

“Patience is a virtue“!!!

I really like the idea of hogging out with the coarser stones till BEFORE I hit the apex, then, as TC states, use nothing less than 600 as I approach and hit the apex using edge-leading strokes.  Good advice. Actually, all this is great to get from the three of you who seem very knowledgeable and active! Thank you!

Marc, regarding magnified edges showing what appears to be tear out but may in fact be just scratch lines, I get where you’re going, but in my case, there were clearly tear outs of significant size, well above any grit line.. I think…? I sound so confidant but respect your thought and will noodle on that thought…

oh, FYI, I did occasionally recheck the angle with the cube and as far as I could read, given the accuracy and resolution of the 2 cubes I have ( one is the WE – wixley 300, my other is a
<h1 id=”title” class=”a-size-large a-spacing-none”><span id=”productTitle” class=”a-size-large product-title-word-break” style=”font-weight: normal;”>Momenturn Level Box Miter Gauge </span></h1>
has a claimed resolution of .05 deg., and seems to have the same readings as the wixley so I assume similar accuracy only higher resolution ( hope accuracy too),  the point being, to the best of my measurements, the angle didn’t change stone to stone, but I’ll pay particular and detailed attention to this next sharpening session.

As a final note, after I wrote this post, I decided to blend the bevels with strops / diamond paste and created a very shiny convex bevel. Yes there are still some deeper scratches left indicating to me, I think, that not enough time was spent on one or many of the progressive grits. But, the blade is beyond shaving sharp, it’s shiny, and I’m thrilled with this first experience.

There is still so much to learn! I’m a newbie and hope through practice and guidance of the community I’ll be able to create any edge il looking for within a few bazillion sharpening sessions!  Lol, ok, I hope a dozen and I’ll consider myself competent.

 

I’ll try and post a photo of the latest blended edge for all’s viewing and constructive critical pleasure and feedback.

Thank you,

-Henry