Hello from the UK
- This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10/26/2017 at 5:06 pm by
.
-
Welcome to the Wicked Edge Forum, AlieN. I can not answer your strop question first hand, since I normal progression with my diamond stones is through 1500 grit. I do know that others on this forum, do strop after 600 grit when sharpening hunting knives. I understand your thinking, it is counterintuitive to go from such a course medium to a polishing medium. Some knives for durability are only taken as far as 600 grit. It’s all that’s necessary to obtain the edge the user prefers. The strop reduces some of the toothiness in the edge and makes for a smother draw cut such as while skinning.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)I can say I did share your same impression when I first started using my WEPS. I was less than impressed with the first edges I produced. I did quickly see an improvement with each and every knife I sharpened, and some, re-sharpened as my diamond stones were breaking in. It took 8 to 10 knives before I saw truly scary sharp results that were on par with what I was hoping for. I do understand your reluctance to use the strops at this point. I too would consider it unnecessary to put that kind of wear on them just yet. Enjoy your journey with the WEPS. I’m sure others will chime in before too long.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)4 users thanked author for this post.
Greetings AlieN!
You are correct that the diamond plates will take several knives before you get the results you’re after. For me it happened on the 7th knife that I sharpened. Prior to purchasing the Wicked Edge, I was using a Lanksy sharpener. I was a bit disappointed and concerned that I had obtained better edges with the Lansky than those first few with the Wicked Edge. That is no longer the case by any means. Be patient and practice your skills knowing that it won’t be long before the results improve dramatically.
As to the strops, I would go ahead and use them now. I don’t see how it is going to do any harm to the strops themselves to use them before the diamond plates break in and you will find that stropping can help a lot on a 600 grit edge. In case you haven’t read this elsewhere already, most people have found that you have to decrease the angle by 1-2 degrees per side in order to get the best results from stropping.
4 users thanked author for this post.
Hi Organic,
Thanks for the welcome and for passing on your experience and advice.
I am a bit of an obsessive researcher, so I was expecting there to be a learning curve and for the stones to need to break in, but even so I was a bit disheartened by the results on the first knife (just a cheap folder). Things have improved in the two knives since so I am happy that I am making progress.
And some good news when I got home this evening – the 800/1000 stones have now shipped, so I should receive them by the end of the week. Let’s see how much more progress I can make over the weekend.
AlieN
AlieN
1 user thanked author for this post.
Welcome AlieN,
I do quite a few knives stopping at 600 diamond and then stropping with 14/10 and/or 5/3.5 normally (I save the emulsions for 1000 or above normally but not always). Most of these are hunting and EDC’s intended for heavy use and dressing game but I have 3 or 4 kitchen knives with 600 to 1000 finish. I would try stropping the edges that you’ve already done for a couple of reasons. 1) Your not really happy with them so why not, you won’t hurt the strop. 2) It’s good practice to see if your edge improves and I’m betting it does with the strop.
Go ahead and do the first knife you did, see if it improves and then see how much you can go before it starts hurting it. Back the angle off between 1 and 2 degrees, the pressure you impart on the blade with the strop will determine how much you need to back the angle down. You will have to determine what works best for you so you may as well get started now rather than later! If you don’t see an improvement but it’s not worse try more pressure or bring the angle a little closer. If you determine the edge is getting worse, less sharp than when you started, it’s probably to much pressure or the angle needs to be backed off a little more. When that happens you wrapped the strop over the cutting edge and will have to re-hone and try again probably.
The pressure you use and the angle you back off have to coincide so the strop gets to the edge but doesn’t roll over the edge. I think everyone has to determine what works for them through trial and error. With leather and 20 to 30 strokes, that’s an estimate as I don’t generally count them, with each side of the strops I find that with a 600 grit edge and stropping with 14/10 with balsa or leather works pretty well, but 5/3.5 works as well, and I see a big difference in the pure sharpness. I don’t over strop this edge as I’m looking for some tooth in the edge and I don’t want to make it overly narrow, mainly deburring the edge while refining a little. That works well for slicing meat, fibrous and tougher materials which makes it great for dressing deer and wild game. I also believe that an edge that is not over refined tends to last longer in the field and holds up better under heavier use with most of the steels that I’ve encountered at this point.
These are some things to help you get started but you will have to determine what you like and what works best for you. Don’t be afraid to experiment and share what you find.
3 users thanked author for this post.
Welcome to the forum, Alain! I’d also say: just give it a try, as long as you don’t round your edges (increase the angle by 1-2 degrees when stropping with leather) it won’t hurt them.
I also regularly strop my edges after a coarse stone finish. It is my experience it does improve the edges. You can even feel it with your fingers. What a strop with diamond stuff does exactly is still regularly debated on this forum 🙂 , but it does work differently from a diamond stone. If it worked the same as a stone, the jump from 600 grit (16 microns) -> 5 microns would indeed be rather large. But a strop is not very abrasive and it helps in removing the burr and it seems to burnish the edge.
And when you strop, use edge-trailing movements only, or you’ll join the group of people here who ruined their first strops by making edge-leading or scrubbing movements 🙂 .
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
4 users thanked author for this post.
Thanks for the advice sksharp and Mark76 – all good information which has got me thinking more about what I want from the edge of a specific knife.
Between you, you’ve used the terms “back the angle off” and “increase the angle” to describe the stropping angle. If I’ve used stones at 20° then should I try stropping at say 18°? Have I got that the right way round?
AlieN
Between you, you’ve used the terms “back the angle off” and “increase the angle” to describe the stropping angle. If I’ve used stones at 20° then should I try stropping at say 18°? Have I got that the right way round?
Glad you understand what I meant, even though I formulated it rather crookedly 🙂 . If you’d strop at 22 degrees, you’d surely round the edge. The point is that leather, especially when you apply some pressure, increases the stropping angle, which could round the edge, so you should decrease the stropping angle.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
3 users thanked author for this post.
Hey AlieN,
Yes you are correct, If you sharpen at 20 degrees 18 degrees would be a good starting point for stropping. I have found that I rarely back off more than 1.5 degrees but I may not use as much pressure as some. I personally back off .5 deg. when I do a light strop, say 20 or 25 strokes just one set of strops with lighter pressure and as much as 1.5 when I’m doing more passes with multiple strops and more pressure. Do 20 or so strokes on both sides of the blade with the first strop. By then you should be able to tell if it’s starting to get sharper, duller or no change. Sharper you are on the right track, duller you rolled the strop over the edge and no change means you need more pressure or less difference in the angle. Check the edge every 20 strokes or so to determine how you are progressing. I check for sharpness with 3 fingers…CAREFULLY…and phone book paper held at the opposite end and push the paper into the blade and go the full length of the blade. This also helps tells me if I have any ruff or bad spots in the blade. As a blade gets sharper you will feel and hear the difference while cutting the paper. Good luck and please don’t be afraid to experiment. We are all looking for new techniques and methods.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.