Too acute a mirror edge?

[Expidia]

Im still new at this, but I have a similar knife to the one pictured.  The poster posted it in a “show your mirrored edge pics” or something like that in another forum.

I checked the Chris Reeve site before I did mine and they said 18-20 degrees.

I know this poster did his at 14 degrees for a higher showier mirrored bevel.  This is premium steel 59-61 hardness.    Wouldn’t re-profiling at 14 expose his edge to micro chipping?  I did mine at 18 degrees and I was very happy with the results so far, if I see chipping I’ll have to re-profile out to 20 degrees.

I would think the only thing he can now use this knife for is chores like slicing bologna!

But again, Im new . . . so would he be OK with an edge this acute 4-6 degrees less than company specs and not expect it to chip?

 

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[Organic]

While well executed, it is my opinion that this edge is too acute. It may function without chipping (not sure on that, I just have no personal experience to say one way or the other), buy it ruins the proportions of an otherwise great looking knife. If the owner of that particular knife likes it then more power to him, but I would not want my knife to look like that.

By the way, I think 18-20 degrees per side is a pretty standard and safe angle range for just about any knife (unless it is a machete or similar knife used for hacking and chopping). The angle at which chipping becomes an issue is dependent on many factors including intended use, steel composition, heat treatment, and thickness behind the edge.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Marc H, Expidia

[Expidia]

Organic, funny coincidence.  Remember when I asked last month about a acute mirror edge that Josh did on a folder that looked real cool and you guessed the edge to be 11 degrees I think and Josh pm’d me that he did it for a customer at 10 degrees.  The pic I put above in my question came from a thread that Josh started at BF called “show your mirrored edge.”  Haha small world!

[Author]

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