Tj Johnson

[Tj Johnson]

Here I am again months later with another update. Thank you Cliff for stopping in. You are definitely correct and reading my post where my little experiment obviously took place in the past I have learned much more. I am almost certain that back in the day I would have been using strops, probably incorrectly where it would have a rounding effect, and my stone skills are not what they are today :).

Nowadays most of my EDC edges are just straight 140 grit from my Atoma Diamond plate. Reason being I don’t have a lot of time to progress higher and to be honest if you just take the time to really refine your edge with very light alternating strokes, it leaves an edge that shaves, push cuts newspaper, and slices like an animal. When I do treat myself to progressing higher in grits, I tend to favor edges no higher than 1,000 grit. In fact, I normally stop at 220 or 500 Shapton Glass. With proper technique, of course, for me, those grits are more than enough to handle every day tasks and then some.

Lately I have been experimenting with 140 grits edges, and just giving maybe 5 strokes per side progressively up to my Shapton 8k, just to refine the 140 grit, since I no longer use strops for high grits. The results are interesting. I love the teeth from the 140 but I get the polished sensation when I feel the edge.

More information is surely to come.

Thanks guys.

[Tj Johnson]

Thanks for the replies guys! Since this was posted last year, I have actually changed up my methods and techniques since then. I no longer use my Wicked Edge and an actually going to try to sell it soon. I’ve once again started to free hand again.

Here’s my findings in a great all around edge this far:

I distress the edge by grinding a flat on the edge if needed. Then I reprofile if needed on my Shapton Glass 220 until the flat is gone, without creating a burr. I’ll alternate strokes until I’m satisfied, which is normally about 20 or so LIGHT strokes. I repeat until I stop at around 1,000 grit Shapton Glass. The finish on very few, light stokes on Strop mans black compound, then red, the blue. (Making the switch to Ken Schwartz PolyChristalline sprays on nano cloth soon).

I’m going to cut for a moment and explain why I’ve come to appreciate a well done 1k edge.

I did this experiment I call “5 days of sharp.” Each day I would finish off my Spyderco Tenacious edge with a stone, starting at 220 one day, 500 the next, then, 1,000, then 2,000, lastly 4,000. And each day get a feel of how the edge reacts to daily things I cut.

I noticed that 1k, even though not very reflective, just cut so well. Push and draw cuts. The edge is exactly how I want it. Sticky. SO sticky. If you go to feel for sharpness it grabs you immediately. A scary feeling B)

A lot of this comes down to technique though, I can shave off of my 220 if I did it right. The 1k edge is not super aggressive but it gets into the crazy levels of sharpness once I’m done stropping. (Hair whittling ect…) The finish is a lightly reflective, fine, even satin finish. Very attractive :).

Currently I’ve been playing around in the 1k to 4k realm to see how I like it.

[Tj Johnson]

Thanks again for the video I’ll give that a try.

[Tj Johnson]

Thanks for the help. It’s strange though because I can raise a burr on one side, then erase and re-raise a burr on the other within a few strokes. The angle seems to be off about 1-3 degrees but I don’t want to change one of the angle arms and make it worse or something.

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