Over think not good

[Danny]

Well on my second knife I got a cheap thin knife from my step boy.  Also a curved knife.  So I decide to re profile this knife. I keep not getting it to the sharpness I’m looking for. So I keep going back to the start. I do this a fee times, few times to many and finally get to a 1000 grit and say this is good enough. Never really got a good burr on the knife,  but just kept trying and thinking of another way. Well at the finish I got to shut the knife and noticed i just took a little to much metal off since now I can see between the blade and the handle. Yes it was a cheap flip knife. The scratch pattern was nice, but just took to much metal from my OCD of wanting the perfect edge. No pic. will be available for this it is not very good.  I told him i would buy him another cheap $5 knife. Lol  lots to learn

[tcmeyer]

Hi Danny:

You’ve brought up a point that deserves discussion here on the forum.  When you’re tackling a blade that seems to resist your attempts at forming a burr with your first stone(s), take a hard look at the edge and try to judge the progress you’re making and whether you’re on the right track.  Should you drop down a step in grit rating?  Should you maybe consider an alternate approach, such as reprofiling with a belt sander or a file?   Or should you increase the bevel angles enough to guarantee a rapid path to the apex?

Don’t waste tons of time trying to accomplish something with the wrong tools.

BTW, draw filing is a method of creating very flat surfaces on metallic components.  An example is the creation of the eight flats on an octagonal muzzleloader barrel.  The gun maker holds his file flat on the barrel facet with both hands very close to the barrel.  There may be only one or two inches of file exposed.   The positioning allows him to guide the file flats as he makes very long strokes, pulling the file towards him.  His knuckles help to guide the file along the barrel’s length.  It’s amazing how much steel can be removed in a single stroke.  The file’s teeth shave off oodles.  You can do the same thing with a blade mounted in your Wicked Edge.

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wickededge

[Danny]

Thanks. Very good info. So even though I know I f**ed up on the knife he was happy with how sharp it was.  I told hos mother to tell him not to show anyone the knife because I felt embarrassed about how it turned out.  Of course she didn’t and he showed hos friends at work and they were surprised how sharp it was. So I watched some of Bob’s videos on sharpening again and really paid attention to his hands and his technique on his knofe. Went home and got my 10 inch lichen knife which was very dull and started out with the 400 grit after finding the sweet spot and angle. After a little hitting with the 400 on each side, decided to go to the 200 grit.  This was about 5 minutes with the 400.  Well around 5 minutes with the 200 had a nice burr coming off both sides of the blade so I knew I had a good apex to start the process.  Went to town for about 20 more minutes progressing all the way up to 1500 grit and shazaam, I had a very sharp knife. Showed my wife so she knew it was sharp. First thing she said is “You trying to hurt me” because the knife was very sharp.  Thanks again for your reply. This forum and the videos are very informative on the best way to use your WE systems.  Thanks.

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