tcmeyer

A few years ago, I was testing a Carson USB ‘scope, and found that I couldn’t use it without unintentionally moving the focus ring.  So I made a clunky ring to hold it with.  Might not be the answer here, but it sure helped.

The concavity shown in your third picture would cause a slightly convex bevel.  Can you show a picture of the concavity in the other axis, with  the straight edge cross-wise relative to the center of the platen?

In any case, the longitudinally concave platens need to be replaced.

Unless Kevin’s been sharpening a bunch of concave blades, this suggests that either (A) the platen(s?) aren’t flat or (B) the diamond matrix has been piled really high along the edges.  Even moderate blade designs have some convexity to them and any stone will tend to lay flat along the bevel.  It would take some effort (C) on the part of the u…[Read more]

I don’t think you can save them, except maybe if you did some aggressive scraping to try to dislodge the foreign bit that have embedded themselves into the leather.  The cost of replacement cowhide strops is only a few dollars and the value of the correct embedded media is too low to matter.

I’ve tried several types of strop media beyond what WE…[Read more]

Marc, I think maybe we’re just looking at the definition of reprofiling.  Reprofiling is simply the act of changing the bevel shape to either correct an imperfect shape or to change it to a preferred shape.  In this case, we’re talking about a situation where one side is mismatched to the other.  Likely, the fellow at the belt sander changed th…[Read more]

Sorry, but I’m jumping in a little late to this thread, but I have a couple of comments that might be important here.  First, Marc may have misstated the issue of blades “leaning to the left.”  This really only applies to blades which have no vertical sides which can be clamped, such as those which are Full-Flat-Ground.  The Gen 1 vise is quite ca…[Read more]

Paddle thickness varies from grit to grit simply because the height of the diamond matrix changes with the size of the diamond particles.  Yes there is some variability due to manufacturing tolerances, but usually the differences are minor.

Generally, as the grit goes up, the thickness goes down.  Assuming there’s been no change in the m…[Read more]

Ideally, the edge would follow a constant distance from the pivot point of the rod to the apex, but this assumes that the blade is the same thickness at the shoulder of the bevel.  But some knives are shaped rather thick at the tip (for strength) and you simply can’t avoid leaving a wider bevel there.  The same situation applies where the p…[Read more]

Here’s a photo of a US Navy KABAR mounted in my Gen 1 vise while sharpening it some 7 years ago.  I don’t recall any problems and don’t have much to share, except that the mounting position is much like Clay described, with the start of the belly lined up with the back face of the vise.  You can see that the bevel width flows nicely through the b…[Read more]

I don’t “test for sharpness” per se.  I check between grits with the ‘scope that I am actually working the apex and then take the appropriate number of strokes with the next grit after a double-check with the angle-cube.  If it’s a routine sharpening, I take 10 – 20 strokes per grit (depending to some extent on blade length) and continue to a f…[Read more]

I bought a set of the same files and got confusing results with them.  I have four skinning knives I made from D2.  I hardened two of them using MAP gas torches and air hardened them.  The other two were hardened using a propane forge and quenched between two 1″ thick aluminum plates flushed with a compressed air nozzle.  The files skated acr…[Read more]

I have a couple of Spyderco ZDP-189 knives and I’ve learned that the edges will chip if I use any stones lower than 600 grit – and with my Delica 600 will do it too, especially with edge-trailing strokes.  ZDP is supposed to be hardened to about HRc-64, according to Spyderco.  Rockstead claims to harden it to 67.  My experience is limited, but I’…[Read more]

I’ve done a couple of Buck 120 “Generals” which are very similar, but don’t recall which vise I used.  In either case, the “sweet spot” is limited by the distance from the belly to the side flats, and I don’t recall that being much of a problem.  I think that the “chamois” trick would help a lot and that you’d only need to bite the flat on one e…[Read more]

Really nice, Alex.  Also, the photo is impressive on its own.  Nice work there, too.

The pristine condition of the knife is equally impressive.  To keep it that way, use masking tape to cover everything that the stones aren’t supposed to touch.  I once scratched one of my sister’s SO’s cheap folders (I don’t think he ever spent more than abo…[Read more]

Oops!  Sorry.  I thought you were Ed.  Late night, old age, etc..

For those of you who are using the micro-adjust “knurled knob” design as supplied by airscapes and whose knobs have a 5/8″ diameter hub, I have resurrected my document to print the 0-9 scale on adhesive-backed label stock.  Simply cut each label out with a scissors and affix it to your hub.  If you would like a set, I will gladly mail you one, f…[Read more]

When I got my first rig, I was wickedly (!) happy with the edges I was getting with stones only up to 600 grit and certainly before they were broken in.

If I was not achieving the edge quality I expected, I would consider my technique above all.  Am I holding the stones consistently and am I keeping my grip below the edge – as far as that’s…[Read more]

One caution is that when you sharpen a knife at some high angle – say, 25 dps – changing the angle to some lower angle – say, 20 dps – is going to take you a long time.  The high angle will rapidly lower the apex, as it has very little metal to remove to do so.  Any lower angle will require that a lot of metal be removed before the apex is r…[Read more]

I’ve seen very similar images of stones in my collection and have seen no evidence of them having caused any harm.  In fact, the little crescent-shaped defect just to the right of the “gouge” is, or was, more likely to produce visible defects in your scratch patterns.  This is the end result of a cluster of diamond particles having been knocked o…[Read more]

Single-sided, or “chisel-grind” kitchen knives are intended for cutting solid foods, like carrots, radishes, turnips and such.  Like a carpenter’s chisel, the design cuts straight down the line of the non-beveled side, which is intentionally positioned to the inside of the hand holding the knife.  The “off-cut”, or the part just cut from the m…[Read more]