Here is a fun study I started this morning - I’m taking a series of identical blades through the different stones I have. I started with the 50# diamonds and so far have progressed up through the 1um strops. So, without further hesitation, here are the images:
50# Diamond Stone
80# Diamond Stone
It’s difficult to clean the edge of the blade since it’s so toothy and snags just about everything it touches. There is some residue on the edge, especially in the 50# image.
Next step were the 100# and 200# diamond stones. It’s worth noting a couple of things:
All of my stones are very well worn in after many hundreds of sharpenings, so they’re not nearly as aggressive as they were when new. I’ll do another progression soon with brand new stones for comparison.
My 200# stones are more aggressive than my 100# stones because of the two, the 100# stones have gotten much more wear since I generally use them to take off the bulk of metal when I’m cutting the bevels in. By the time I switch to the 200# stones, I’m already in refining mode and so they don’t get much work, especially since I tend to spend more time with the 400# and 600# stones for refining the edge. In the future, I might switch back and forth between the 100# and 200# stones for re-profiling before moving on to the higher grit stones.
100# Diamond Stone
100# Diamond Stone
Onward to the 400# and 600# stones:
400# Diamond Stone
600# Diamond Stone
My 400# and 600# stones are so well worn in now that they give nearly a mirror edge to the naked eye at a casual glance. You can’t read fine print in the reflection, but you can make out your surroundings and easily see whose sneaking up on you.
Next came the 800# and 1000# diamond stones. These stones have seen less use than my 600# stones since I often play around with jumping straight from the 600# stones to strops, ceramics or waterstones. I need to spend more time getting these stones properly broken in:
800# Diamond Stone
1000# Diamond Stone
Next the Superfine Ceramics:
Superfine Ceramic - 1200#
Superfine Ceramci - 1600#
Now the Micro-Fine Stones:
Micro-Fine (Coarse)
Micro-Fine (Fine)
I’ve been intrigued by the small burr continuing along throughout the progression. I’ve been using edge trailing strokes which suggests another study to come. I’ve been especially conscious of stroke pressure, using a whisper-lite tough to finish each stone. Even so, I’m still seeing a tiny burr. From here, I moved onto some strops…
For this portion, I lowered the angle by 2 degrees per side to try and limit the amount of rounding that would occur. I used 1um Diamond on Cow Leather Strops. The first go round was just ten very light strokes per side:
I did another 50 strokes per side with the 1um strops, this time with more pressure and was a little surprised to see some rounding considering I was working a full two degrees lower per side:
The next phase will be to continue on through the strops at least as far as .25um on kangaroo and get a perfect edge (I hope.) From there, I’ll probably do a descending progression so that we’re looking at the grits from a clean slate and aren’t seeing scratches left over from coarser stones.
That’s funny. :cheer:
[quote quote=“wickededge” post=4563]For this portion, I lowered the angle by 2 degrees per side to try and limit the amount of rounding that would occur. I used 1um Diamond on Cow Leather Strops. The first go round was just ten very light strokes per side:
I did another 50 strokes per side with the 1um strops, this time with more pressure and was a little surprised to see some rounding considering I was working a full two degrees lower per ][/quote]
At some point, I’d like to see an edge stropped at a higher angle (4-5 degrees like in Verhoeven’s sharpening study) after the stones or ceramics, to see what it looks like. One theory is that it doesn’t actually round over the edge, because the way the leather contacts the edge changes. Maybe? :whistle:
Sure, I’ll flatten the bevels back out and give it a go.
I did a quick job of re-flattening the bevels with the 800# and 1000# Diamond Stones and the the Micro-Fine Ceramics:
Then I widened the angle by 4 degrees per side and stropped it with the 1um Diamond and Leather Strops with 10 very light strokes per side:
So much for that theory. :sick: Looks pretty rounded.
Thanks!!
[quote quote=“cbwx34” post=4571]So much for that theory. :sick: Looks pretty rounded.
Thanks!![/quote]
You bet. I thought the same thing. It was only 10, very light strokes too.
This could also be an opportunity to try balsa and see the results. Less give in the material might result in less rounding of the edge. Just a thought.
I’d like to see balsa too. Get to work Clay!!! 
This thread has a ton of interesting info… makes me wonder if I spend too much time with leather. Pretty impressive how clean the edge got with just 10 strokes at a lower angle! I’m also wondering about the burr left with the Micro Fine stones… although I noticed it didn’t seem to be as prevalent the 2nd time around (before you did the higher angle stropping). Wonder if an edge leading stroke with the ceramics would eliminate the burr more effectively.
Man, this is good stuff. I’m glad you’re doing this!!
I’d be very interested in seeing the balsa results as well, in particular, how much pressure can be used before rounding the edge. My normal progression after sandpaper is 5, 3.5, 1, .5, .125, .05…all on balsa. Even going as much as 100 passes on each though, I can never fully get rid of the sandpaper scratches with how lightly I contact the blade.
Id also like to see what effect blank cow leather has on an edge, if any.
I can tell you already that kangaroo leather is the way to go if you’re interested in getting rid of all the scratches. Somewhere in these forums is a progression I did ending with kangaroo in which the edge is visually perfect at 500x. I’ve been able to repeat that result many times so I don’t believe it’s a fluke of camera angles or lighting.
[quote quote=“MathewWhaley” post=4586]I’d be very interested in seeing the balsa results as well, in particular, how much pressure can be used before rounding the edge. My normal progression after sandpaper is 5, 3.5, 1, .5, .125, .05…all on balsa. Even going as much as 100 passes on each though, I can never fully get rid of the sandpaper scratches with how lightly I contact the blade.
Id also like to see what effect blank cow leather has on an edge, if any.[/quote]
Interesting info on rounding the edge a little. Would it be advisable for some situations to back off the arms a degree or so if you wanted to maintain really sharp geometry? I’m playing with an old Imperial filet knife as I type this and just finished the 1000 grit diamond stones, so it’s strop-ready. I’m curious to know if there would be a benefit to backing it off a little or just stropping normally.
I would guess that at a slightly shallower angle the tiny facet from the new profile would blend in better as well, but I haven’t toyed with much on my new kit yet
Hi Clay,
Nice!!
Just a couple of questions:
(1) Are these images from your new metallographic microscope?
(2) What is the scale of the images (if you know)?
(3) Are these photos taken as black-and-white?
Looking forward to more of your results. 
Sincerely,
–Lagrangian
[quote quote=“ApexGS” post=4600]Interesting info on rounding the edge a little. Would it be advisable for some situations to back off the arms a degree or so if you wanted to maintain really sharp geometry? I’m playing with an old Imperial filet knife as I type this and just finished the 1000 grit diamond stones, so it’s strop-ready. I’m curious to know if there would be a benefit to backing it off a little or just stropping normally.
I would guess that at a slightly shallower angle the tiny facet from the new profile would blend in better as well, but I haven’t toyed with much on my new kit yet :)[/quote]
One of the things that I found really interesting is that I still experienced rounding with stropping after lowering the angle by two degrees per side. I’ll try the experiment again at 3 degrees lower per side and so on until I find the setting that allows me to just reach the edge without rounding.
