Super polished edges
- This topic has 475 replies, 72 voices, and was last updated 02/04/2018 at 7:30 am by
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Thanks Josh… You are an expert, and while I’ve said many times, Its easy, if you know how to do it. You speak from a professional vantage point, and reco9gnize that attaining perfection is not for the occasional sharpener. You speak more about technique than precision. Knowing the formula, and recognizing that pressures play a big part in the process. Obviously no o0ne uses pressure sensitive equipment to gage their actual applied pressures. It take experience to know how and where to hold the paddles, apple the pressure, and where to apply that pressure. Ive used the analogy, many times. Its not the gun… its the gunner. If your mind can comprehend the effect of variables and pressures, it easier for this person than if someone buys a WEPS and expects it to be automatic. as if the WEPS does the work. For me, a 50 amateur at sharpening, I recognized my shortcoming and the reason why I could not attain a really wicked edge. I found that I could Not repeat, stroke after stroke by hand, the same stroke angle, so each stroke became counter productive to the stroke before it. The WEPS gave me this stroke angle repeatability.
ON a scale from I to 10, my hand sharpening formerly was about a 5, and that is after 50 years of doing it by hand. When I bought the WEPS, my level of sharpening instantly went from a 5 which took me 50 years to attain, to an 8. That’s a significant difference which occurred almost instantly. It may take me another 50 years to get to a 9 or ten. Ill let you know in 50 years where my technique has increased. I feel good that my head seems to be in the right place, and that an expert like Josh, has similar ideas about sharpening.. His words tell me that I have not gone down the wrong road. I learn something every time I sharpen a knife, and what I learn is not from a precision point of view, but from a technique point of view, making me a better gunner.
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I get what you are saying Clay, I know if I used a straight razor to cut a tomato it would slice it like slicing through air, with little to no resistance.
BUT.
After going through the tomato it would terminate on a chopping block, cutting board or a granite counter. That is unless you held the tomato in the air and sliced it through without hitting anything. IN my mind an acute angle in the 9* to 12* degree range would accomplish this cutting action better than a 15* degree to 18 * degree angle. But the 18* degree angle could better handle the cutting board without defecting the edge. My kitchen knives, hit the copping block on each stroke. A simple tomato or cucumber could easily see 50 or 60 opportunities to deflect the edge. If you are cutting a rope or piece of twine, the edge only sees the victim. LOL
So understanding what is expected from the edge has a lot to do with how the edge is sharpened. Not all knives do the best work at the most acute angle, because the maintenance time could be severely impacted by the wrong angle. No one wants to re-sharpen a knife every time you use it. It not practical.
A Butcher wants a sharp edge to cut through flesh and sometime debone , so they are constantly steeling their edge, to straighten it from the butcher block and from bones. While an 8 degree edge would work better than a 15* edge, the butcher would have to send out his knives every few days. because a 8 * edge does not hold up as well as a 15* edge. A razor glides across skin when shaving with a lubricant added, so an acute edge is desirable, but even at an acute angle the razor edge needs stropping to straighten it. At least this is my understanding. of acute over obtuse
Bill aka ET
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aero garden… Eventually I will use a good sharp knife to cut these herbs… I use this to start my garden tomatoes too. All to become victims of my wicked edge knives.
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Hardness makes for wicked edges, for sure, but the collateral damage ( chips and nicks ) take a lot of work to remove, and re-sharpen. So the type of steel and the work required of it, has a lot to do with practicality. I think most of us have seen a Japanese edge slice through an air born silk scarf with only gravity driving the cutting action. Now that’s sharp.
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Josh, I try to learn something new every day. With that thought, it stands to reason that by the time you get to be my age, you know everything. I’ve already read the whole internet, … Twice !
One of my Profs in college once said; ” It’s not important to know everything, it important to know where to find the answer to everything “.
I learned something last night while sharpening on of my ” Go Too kitchen knives. ” I found that in the final strokes of a touch up, Less is more…
Meaning, one or two stroke, with the ceramics, and a few strokes with the balsa, loaded with # 50,000 grit. ( and extremely light pressure ) I’m finding that well maintained knives can returned to wicked sharpness in a few minutes. The problem is, over working the edge ( because its fun ) can do more to prolong the process and become counter-productive to the sharpening process. AS long as this is fun, it wont be work.
Bill aka ET
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Hi guys, please don’t mind me join in! 🙂
Here’s a blade I sharpened to a mirror polish a few months ago. This edge went through some EDC work like cutting cardboard boxes, paper, occasional plastic bottles, some high pressure hoses, and about 4 coconuts.
It was sharpened once at 18 DPS (limitation on my original WEPS clamps, Pro Pack II on the way) and has the tip reprofiled at a later time because I accidentally banged the tip into my basin. Ever since, it has only been stropped freehand with chromium oxide for maintenance. That should explains the micro convexing on the edge. Shown here is the edges under magnification on 0.1mm grid.
So far I’m pretty happy with it. This knife remains arm hair shaving sharp most of the time. With careful stropping I usually can get it back to hair whittling without putting it on the WEPS.
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Just finished this up the other day…
And here I was playing around w/ the focus settings on my phone lol
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Wow, great edge on a great knife! And the photographs aren’t bad either
.Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
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Josh, your edges are inspirational. Its sets the benchmark for me.
Bill aka ET
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Who made thoses photographs, by the way Josh? They look like they’re done by a professional photographer (maybe ET will disagree
). But I’m not able to make such photographs.Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
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Photographs are well done, in my opinion. I’m not expert, but have been doing this stuff for 55 years. They are well presented. Composition is great. Ant photograph that speaks to me, is a great photograph.
I’m an amateur photographer with a lot of expensive equipment. It hardly makes me a professional.
Mark, Like I said, I’ve been doing this for 55 years, I even have a degree in Photography, but I’m still learning every day. it takes a lifetime to learn the last 10% of any technical discipline.
I am not sure if I could produce such shots… the stuff I post here for the most part, are down and dirty shots with my cell. No consideration for lighting composition, white balance or exposure.
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Who made thoses photographs, by the way Josh? They look like they’re done by a professional photographer (maybe ET will disagree
). But I’m not able to make such photographs. Just done on my phone mark, and hosted on Smugmug. The Nexus 6 does a great job, it’s my go to camera until I get the Canon 6d up and running haha
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