Michael Lingard

[Michael Lingard]

Ok, I have been reading this ongoing, and it’s fascinating.
But please forgive my ignorance…I thought I knew what you were talking about, until I didn’t.
Can someone please define ‘leading vs trailing’? I thought you were talking about going tip to heel or vice versa. Call me a noob, but this one has confused me.

Think of edge leading as if you were trying to cut the medium. Edge facing the direction of movement. Edge trailing is the opposite where you drag the blade across with the ‘edge trailing’.

Hope that helps you. It’s actually a controversial topic in the sharpening community… haha;)

[Michael Lingard]

I have sharpened my Kabar Kukri machete on the WEPS. It works fine but you might end up with a fat bevel at the tip unless you can clamp fairly far up the blade. It’s fine for a user edge, but you might want to do it by hand if you want even bevels.

[Michael Lingard]

It’s sometimes hard to sift out the truth when so many seemingly experienced knife people can have directly opposing viewpoints on how to achieve the best edge…

Ain’t that the truth! Most of the knowledge base in the field is based on anecdote, which doesn’t mean it’s necessarily incorrect, but a lot of it has not been tested rigorously with controlled variables.[/quote]

I like how you experiment and post pictures like this Clay. It really helps sift things out. 😉

[Michael Lingard]

This is an interesting topic.

I’ve recently been reading some stuff on the Spyderco forum where Cliff Stamp was really speaking against any kind of trailing edge strokes and also stropping in general. He was saying something about stropping and edge trailing strokes just push the metal back and forth and fatigue the edge causing a loss in edge retention. This confused me because from my own limited experience, I seem to have better edge retention since getting my WEPS and adding stropping to the finishing step in my sharpening routine.

It’s sometimes hard to sift out the truth when so many seemingly experienced knife people can have directly opposing viewpoints on how to achieve the best edge…

[Michael Lingard]

It can take a while to get good at it, but the foam tape trick Clay shows in that link will work.

Most of my knives are Spyderco with full flat grinds and distal tapers. I have managed to clamp and sharpen them all. If you are having consistent problems still, make sure you don’t have one of the older defective vice jaws. If your vice arm is bent at all, the clamping will not work properly. I had this problem and it was extremely frustrating until I realized the thing was bent.

[Michael Lingard]

Most of the knives in my collection fall into the more “tactical” styling, and I pocket carry at least one per day. I use all of my knives regularly, and none too gently, so my needs for an edge are dictated by overall usability, sharpness, and durability. Appearance ( i.e. polish) is a secondary concern.

I have a number of Striders of various sizes depending on the job I may need to do. Lately, I’ve been carrying a mini SJ75 a lot. This is a bit of a polarizing design; some love it, some hate it (looks wise), but the ergonomics are superb, and it’s a tremendous little knife. The problem is that it’s a knife that, to me anyway, screams for a polished edge, so of course you lose a bit of cutting ability with a good polish. I should mention that my standard for a good polish is different than many of you; for me a good polish stops at 1000 grit, with stropping to 1 micron followed by bare kangaroo leather.

Yesterday, I re-profiled this knife from 22 degrees per side to 20, and took it to my “polished” standard. It was extremely sharp, however I’d lost the tooth that I like to have for things like zip-ties, etc.

In an attempt to solve this, I re-mounted the knife ( I use a Field and Sport, BTW), set the arms at 22 degrees ( remember the knife is now at 20 degrees) and did one pass, tip to heel with a 1000 grit stone.

There is no visible difference, naked eye. With a ten power loupe I can see it pass, but barely. Cutting performance however is improved. I have some tooth back and cutting zip-ties ( which I seem to be doing a lot of lately) is noticeably easier.

My question is this; what other ideas do you have for having a polished edge that still has some tooth? I’ve tried stopping at a lover grit stone and stropping from there, but the toothiness is muted by the stropping. It seems to me that re-introducing some fresh tooth after the strop like this gives a bit more “bite” to the cut, but I’m sure curious about others experiences

Hey Wayne, I read in a thread on Bladeforums a while back that J. Ankerson and some other guys actually get some of the best cutting performance and edge retention as well by sharpening just like you describe.

Putting that toothy micro-bevel on a polished back bevel was supposedly a very good way to sharpen your edc for maximum performance and retention during both slicing and push cutting.

I think you stumbled on to a good thing.

[Michael Lingard]

Hi,
I didn’t see anything like this anywhere…so here goes. (I just guessed ata category)
I’ve got 3 different companies knives, all claiming to be VG-10 at the edge. In profile, they are all kitchen knives, Shun, Calphalon (sp?) and one from AG Russell.
Interestingly enough, I sharpen them all the same, and they retain the edge COMPLETELY differently.
So my question (I think) is there wide variance in VG-10 steel, like you’d find in say 1095?
Call me curious.

The heat treat can make a huge difference.

So yes, VG-10 from different companies can vary a lot.

[Michael Lingard]

Well… I am taking her to Mexico for 10 days on a holiday in October.

You just made me realize I should buy some knives and stuff while my brownie points are still active.

[Michael Lingard]

It has all worked out in the end. I convexed my Tuff by hand with some sandpaper and a cheap mousepad. ( I really like convex edges, they hold better for hard use).

Before I use my WEPS again to touch up my V edges, I will make sure I have an angle cube at least. Most likely I will pick up the new arms too once they have been tried and tested some more.

[Michael Lingard]

I’m a bit disappointed that I have to fork over more money to achieve exact angles on each side. I discovered this after re-profiling a fairly thick blade. Because the one side of the clamp is fixed and the other one floats, your angles will never be symmetrical side to side.

The solution is to use an angle cube to set the angles and not use the preset angle markings on the bars. Rather than buy the new arms that are adjustable, I’m going to try turning the brackets around and not using the pre-drilled divots. As long as those angle cubes are accurate to .1 of a degree and the arms don’t move it should work.

Maybe I will buy the new arms eventually once it looks like all the bugs have been worked out of the changes.

If you are buying the system for the first time, I would definitely recommend getting the angle cube and adjustable arms though.

[Michael Lingard]

Thanks for the input CB. I think the factory grind was pretty symmetrical when I got it. Its most likely the mounting factors that caused this. I could see something funny right away when the sharpy wasn’t being removed the same on both sides even though the bevels looked equal before starting. I guess I should have stopped sooner and researched it. The knife is still sharp though and it’s going to be a user so I’ll just grind more metal off eventually and even them out. I might try hand convexing it, we will see. I ended up with a pretty fat bevel at the top since I sharpened it too far back from the sweet spot. I did it at B and A.5 is closer to the best even bevel spot.

Live and learn. I will likely have to get the improved arms, I’m just scared to spend the money on them until Clay has perfected the changes more. It seems like there have been constant improvements needed on them.

The last angle cube I bought was grossly innacurate compared to my iPhone so I returned it. I need to find a better one. Problem is, every time I spend money on my knife hobby my wife seems to think she gets to buy a new purse! Haha.

[Michael Lingard]

Because only the right side of the clamp is moving the right side angle will be off a little because of the thickness of the knife. The left should be accurate say 20 degrees but you will have to run the right at 21 or 22 to keep the bevels even but how much you have to move it will depend on how thick your knife is. The thicker it is the more you will have to move it. The angle cube helps with this. I hope this helps.

BTW it sounds like the app may be accurate. I’ve also got to ask how do you like the 3V in the Tuff?

This might possibly be the reason. The Tuff is the thickest knife I have sharpened other than my machete. Maybe that’s why the bevel difference is more noticeable. The blade is very thick for its length and would be putting that right side clamp off more and the blade will be off centered a few MM.

The Tuff actually seemed to have a very even and centered grind when I got it, it’s only after I re ground it that they look off. Maybe this would have been a better time to learn to sharpen by hand with a loaded strop… Hard lesson to learn on a $270 knife though.

So far I’m impressed with the 3V. It seems to have similar edge retention to S30V but it’s very tough and chip resistant. It also seems to take a very sticky sharp edge from stropping. I only tested it out on a recent camping trip so I need more time to really assess it. 3V is hard to really use to its best ability in a folder since its going to excel at chopping and even though the Tuff is built like a tank I’m hesitant to beat on it like a fixed blade. I have done some light chopping and batoning though and the steel was unscathed where other high hardness alloys would likely have chipped.

[Michael Lingard]

Thanks Clay.

Sounds like a great improvement.

[Michael Lingard]

Are these going to be available on the website? How much will they cost?

What are the benefits of the new design?

[Michael Lingard]

It’s an interesting knife design for sure. This thing is a beast and it was definitely made for slashing and chopping.

The CPM 3V steel is the star of the show. It takes an almost sticky sharp edge and is extremely tough and impact resistant. I’m sure there will be a trade off in edge retention, but it’s very resistant to chipping and rolling.

After what I have done with this folder so far… I think I would like a larger fixed blade in 3V.

I chose to put a 40 degree inclusive primary bevel and a 46 degree microbevel on it just because I plan on being rough with this knife.

I usually go 30 and 40 degrees or somewhere in between with my slicing knives.

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