tcmeyer

I have a Jet double-ended buffer and I’ve learned that if I want to step up my routine sharpening, I’ll stone to 2200 or 3000, then hit the buffer with a 10″ cotton wheel and white polishing compound.  Pink scratchless compound also works great.  One or two passes is all it takes.  Maybe 5 seconds per side.

For the last 6 – 12 months, I’ve on…[Read more]

I’ll agree with Marc on the ease of sharpening hard steels.  I just hardened a batch of four D2 blades using my propane-fired forge.  I used a digital thermometer and quenched using two 1″-thick aluminum plates.  Even after tempering in a 450 F oven for two 1-hour cycles, they’re still hard enough to cause a file to skate without biting.  Sha…[Read more]

The thing to keep in mind is that as your stones move along the edge, there is a change in the contact between the edge and the stone.  Where the edge is convex, the stones tend to make contact at only one point across the face of the stone, and it doesn’t really matter where on the stone face that contact is made.  Where the edge is concave, y…[Read more]

I kinda doubt that Chicago Cutlery would sharpen any of their knives at less than about 17 degrees.  At least not on purpose.  They use stainless which is probably 440C or 420C or something similar.  When sharpening these stainless steels, you get the impression that they’re really tough, as the stones feel like they’re bouncing right off.  At ver…[Read more]

In my experience, the difference between quality kitchen knives and their lower cost competition lies in the thickness of the blades and thin blades really need to be made of high cost steels.

Small (narrow) bevels, especially at low angles, are sure evidence of a blade that is very thin at the shoulders.  Very thin blades are a pleasure to use…[Read more]

I find that it takes very little angular error to make the difference between hitting the apex and not hitting it.  Maybe as little as 0.1 – 0.15 degrees.  Usually, you see the error as the scratch pattern of the current stone not quite reaching the apex (or the shoulder).  Scratch marks from the previous grits will be readily visible, provided th…[Read more]

Coincidently, today I sharpened a half-dozen of my Grizzly knives and two of my kitchen knives.  One of the knives needed for me to start out with my 400 grit stones, but the rest all were good with the 800’s.  Now that I have the 2200-grit stones, I’ve been ending with them.  Most are very short blades, so 15 strokes is enough, even where the ed…[Read more]

What Marc said…

Maybe you could add a very simple (and cheap!) 10X jeweler’s loupe to your GO kit.  I’m officially into geezerhood and I’ve noticed that I can no longer see the tiniest line of black marker right at the edge.  A bright light source will help but the loupe will help even more.  There’s a zillion of ’em on Amazon.

FWIW, I pretty much treat the 3000 grit diamond as the equivalent of 6 micron film, once it’s been fully “broken in.”  If I am not trying for the so-called mirror edge, I will often run the progression through to 2200 or 3000 grit and leave it like that.  If I want a more polished edge, or to polish a convex edge, I’ll jump from 2200 to the 6 a…[Read more]

I make a certain design of skinner that has a similar, tight radius arc to the edge and as Marc suggests, I mount them so that the arc is centered above the vise.  I find that a single sweep of the stones works best.  The edge is too short to make segmenting the strokes practical.  Since there is no or almost no flat section to hold the stone ag…[Read more]

That first photo (looking directly into the joint) looks to me like there is a slotted-head screw holding the two sides together.  It may be possible to take the scissors apart and mount the sides one at a time in the WE vise ( is it thicker than 1/4″? and would the angle work?) or in the scissor adapter for normal sharpening.

I can’t tell from…[Read more]

Scott:  You might ask WE if they would sell you a Gen 1 vise as a separate part.  It’s a minor bit of hassle to change vises, unless you have the Gen 3 Pro, which would require removing the entire top plate assembly.

Before the WE130 came out, I upgraded my Gen 1 system to the new Gen 3 vise.  This left me with the extra Gen 1 vise, so I bo…[Read more]

I’ll add to MarcH’s excellent comments that using very coarse stones at very low angles is asking for trouble and for a couple of reasons:

Low included angles have rather fragile edges, which will tend to break away, just as you are approaching the establishment of a burr.

The bevel widths are larger with low angles, requiring the removal of…[Read more]

Hmmm.   I still don’t see who you’re referring to and where Ganzo appears anywhere in this thread, other than in your and my comments.  I highly doubt that there is a conspiracy to sell Ganzo knives.  The number of readers of any of the WE forum topics is probably close to the number of different knives offered by Ganzo, so I can’t see any rat…[Read more]

I think I just became a “Ganzo” person, as I just received my third.  So far, I’m pretty darn impressed with the quality.  What is your objection to them and how and where are they hijacking this thread?

In the nine years I’ve been on this forum, the only times commenters have been asked to go to a different thread was when it made sense from a s…[Read more]

Yup. if I’m sharpening a knife for someone who I think is anal about their knives, I’ll tape up all exposed areas to protect against accidental scratches.  To prevent marks from the vise clamps, I use the aluminum foil duct tape.  It sticks like a million bucks and cleans up very easily.  The vise jaws bite into it really well too.  Some guys als…[Read more]

So I never have to look up the specifics for that type knife, I always mount them with the key in the bottom holes and with the handle touching the vise.  I always set the angle at 20 degrees.  In fact, I do that for almost all of the small knives I have, so I never have to look for the “sweet spot.”

By the way, if you always use an angle cube t…[Read more]

Back in mid-July, Clay announced that they’re working to release an upgrade of the micro-adjust locking system.  Basically, they’re adopting the larger locking nuts we’ve been passing around here on the forum for a couple years.  I’m not sure if they’ve decided to treat it as a warranty replacement or to sell it as an upgrade.  Certainly, new sa…[Read more]

In my experience, very hard steels tend not to produce large burrs.  As said by airscapes, a USB scope should be the answer.  After raising a burr on the first side and trying to raise a burr on the opposite side, look to see if the stone on the second side is really reaching the apex.  If it is, the size of the burr is unimportant.

Here’s another approach, if you have access to a chop/miter saw (not the type using a backsaw on a fixed fixture).

Find the primary grind angle.  This is the angle from the centerline (ridge?) of the blade to the edge.  Probably on the order of 8 or 9 degrees.

Find a piece of hardwood (maple or oak or other very hard wood) about 1.5 inches t…[Read more]