Jacob, it can be misleading using the sharpie. IMO it’s a good guiding tool to get you in the ball park. Unless you view the knife edge under magnification it may appear your removing the sharpie at the knife edge while really your not quite there. You’re really not apexing the edge.
Several things will prevent the sharp edge your used to. First if you not reaching the edge with your bevel work on one side, the other side or both sides. Then you haven’t brought the two knife sides together precisely at the apex. Finally you have to put enough time and effort to bring the two bevels sides together precisely and completely down the full length of the knife edge.
That precise intersection of the flat planes you’re making with the stones, that is the bevels your making on either side of the knife. Where these planes intersect forms a line. This line is the knife edge. The finer, the straighter and the more precise the intersection of these planes to form this line, the knife edge, the sharper the knife the will be. If your doing all these things and your knife isn’t sharp then it suggests your technique needs improvement or you haven’t worked each step in your stone progression long enough or well enough with enough attention to detail. Which is another way of saying the same thing: your technique needs improvement. Maybe you need to check your guide rod angle setting with each and every grit change to insure your working at the same angle setting for each stone. Concentrate on keeping your bevels straight and flat. Finish each stone’s work with side alternating, (left-right-left-right) edge leading strokes, ( i.e., down and onto the knife edge), to be sure your removing any remnant burr. Before you moving on to the next grit.
Even, if you are somewhat off in your knife clamping position, for this resharpen job, compared to the first position you clamped it at, when it was originally sharpened. If you utilize proper technique every stone step of the way the knife edge will be reprofiled to this current clamping position and it will get sharp.
Technique, time, effort and attention to detail. Go back to the basics.
Did the knife feel sharp after the 600 grit stone? I like to test the sharpness as I progress through the grits by using phone book paper. This is convenient because you don’t have to remove the knife from the clamp in order to test the edge. Once you have raised a burr on both sides and then cleaned it up with alternating strokes the knife should be sharp.
I suspect that you are either not quite reaching the apex with the 800 and 1000 or your stropping technique needs work. It took me some time to figure out how to get good results from the strops. It seemed like they were dulling my edge rather than helping. What eventually worked for me was to drop the angle by 1.5 degrees per side like you have been doing and then to use firm pressure.
So I think I may have been going to fast last time. I sharpened a kitchen knife this morning and went slow and methodical. I used mostly edge leading strokes after getting the initial burr.
I also got in the 1500 diamonds and 6 micron lapping film. I followed it with 5,3.5,1,0.5 leather strops. It is the sharpest knife I have ever done on the wicked edge.
I still can’t seem to get it to whittle hair but I think my stropping technique still needs refined. Part of me feels like that’s part of what was giving me problems. Maybe I’m stropping too much? Should I use all 4 of my strops or just use maybe the 3.5 & the 1?
Jacob, what we can share with you is what we do, that is what techniques and methods we employ, as a suggestion or guideline for you to try. It doesn’t mean that it will necessarily work as well for you as it does for those of us making the suggestions. Each of our styles and technique nuances may be just different enough to give that difference between the sharpest knife you’ve ever achieved and “hair whittling sharp”.
It reads like you are certainly on your way. Remember, it takes time and practice, so be patient. Your attention to detail and technique is paying off for you. I personally do not know if every knife or every steel is capable of being sharpened to hair whittling sharpness. That being said, I’d do everything the same for a couple more knives, with the same, or even more, attention to detail and see if your results might improve. If you still don’t get the edge you’re seeking, you may just need to tweak it a little by trying things like changing up your stropping progression or maybe the stropping angle reduction or the pressure you utilize. Only make one subtle change at a time. Then apply that change to the next knife you sharpen. See if it responds with a better outcome for you. Do this till you get it dialed in, with slow incremental tweaks
Also you may want to try the hair test prior to stropping. Stropping, in my opinion, smooths and refines the edge. The stropped edge has less of that slight roughness, and possibly has lost the “wire edge” sharpness. For the paper slice test, the stropped edge feels smoother because it doesn’t grab or catch the paper because you’ve removed that roughness with the stropping. We equate this smoothness and less cutting resistance as being a sharper edge. But, this same roughness we remove with stropping may be just enough to grab a hair and “whittle” it.
For a working edge, such as my kitchen knives, I only do a two step strop; 4µ, then 2µ. I consider using multi step strop progressions when I’m looking for a mirror reflective “show-off” edge.
I don’t know if it is possible to strop too much when done properly. I sharpened a knife yesterday that came out hair whittling sharp and I used a full progression of strops: 14, 10, 4, 2, 1, and 0.5 micron. The edge cleanly cuts hairs with the hanging hair test and can also whittle hair as well.
The edge geometry might be important for this cutting task. The edge was 12 degrees per side and is very thin behind the edge on this particular knife.