The people who are interested in coarse vs. polished are the people who are interested in cutting performance.Slash wrote:If you're stabbing/prying with your blade what does it matter?
Yeah, it was meant to be a joke. Guess you didn't get it.chuck_roxas45 wrote:The people who are interested in coarse vs. polished are the people who are interested in cutting performance.
If that's all you do with your knives, then you probably don't need a knife at all.
You tried to be funny and failed and your post just ended up being irrelevant in a thread about coarse vs.polished edges.Slash wrote:Yeah, it was meant to be a joke. Guess you didn't get it.
Cutting performance as in cutting stuff with the least force needed to be applied at the handle. You probably are thinking of edge holding....Slash wrote:Cutting perfomance as in you need to cut stuff all day long?
Yeh, I actually worked at a farm where I had to cut stuff all day.Slash wrote:Unless you're a butcher or chef then I don't think you're cutting stuff all day long. If so then you're most certainly not using a polish edge blade.
Nope, serrated edges don't work with fine work like what I need to do with bamboo. I also don't want to stop to sharpen every few cuts.Slash wrote:For daily utility cutting tasks you're most likely using a serrated edge or carrying a stone/steel to touch up that plain edge. Thus, no polished edge here either.
Again, nope. A polished edge lasts longer for me compared to a coarse edge. Coarse edge slices better but a polished edge push cuts better and that's what you need when working with bamboo. I also cut a lot of green wood(diseased branches) and polished edges glide through where you'd have to saw with a coarse edge.Slash wrote:So, really a polished edge is just nice for pics and displaying, etc...
Think wood working.But since we are all knife nuts here, it's not just about "need". It's about preference and cutting performance. One person here has to cut tires all day, he needs cutting performance for that where a coarse edge just can cut it. Just because your thinking and experience is limited does not mean that everybody has to think like you. :pSlash wrote:Maybe I'm wrong. But, I really can't think of any tasks a knife would need to be polished?
It's possible that this test is something that takes practice to get good at feeling a difference. If you do it 5 times and can't feel a difference in edges, maybe after doing it 100 times the experience starts kicking in and you begin to be able to "feel" the difference. I may start doing this test if for no other purpose than to see if I start to be able to tell a difference. Plus, it's funny when you say to your friend "let me see if your knife is sharp", then he watches you slide your fingers along the edge. Watch his eyes. :D He will think you are going to cut your fingers off. :eek: :D Sliding your fingers along a sharp edge instead of across it goes against every knife safety rule there is.chuck_roxas45 wrote:I dunno Jack, at first I did think that that Carter test was a bit silly. At the moment though, I'm feeling silly because I think I can feel a difference. I'm even imagining that I can feel a difference in bite between S30V and 20CP or M4, in knives I've sharpened to the same degree as much as my skills allow.
Yup, I'm feeling silly because I know I can't be this sensitive.
You beat me to the question Jack. That's what I was thinking at the moment. Most often when I polish my edges on the edge pro, what ever polish is on the bevel is also on the edge. And when I touch up on the sharpmaker, I also finish on the balsa with diamonds up to 1 micron. so I would say that for my knives at least, the polish on the edge is usually the same polish on the bevels.jackknifeh wrote:I just went through most of this thread and I'm a little confused as to what different people are thinking of when they write based on word usage. It seems that some are talking about the very edge and some are talking about the bevel (side of the edge). To me when you say "mirror" I think of the bevel that you can look at and see the reflection of print when setting the edge on a book page. When I see "rough" I'm thinking of the bevel that has been sharpened with a very coarse stone. This is how Spyderco edges (bevel) look brand new. No reflection because of the scratches. Still can be razor sharp though.
When referring to the edge and seeing the word "toothy" I think of the edge that looks serrated when under high magnification. I get this edge with a coarse stone (220 water stone) and can shave arm hair and it also slices through tomato skin very easily because the "teeth" rip through the skin then the sharpness keeps cutting the meat of the tomato. Now, the edge that is smoother than a "toothy" edge. I don't really know of a word to describe that very smooth cutting edge. This edge will push through wood easily but has a little difficulty ripping through the skin of a tomato. Once the tomato skin is cut this edge will cut easily through the rest of the tomato.
So, the thread title "coarse of mirror polished edges?" is referring to what? Is it the side (bevel) of the edge or the very edge (that does the cutting)? And is everyone thinking the same thing?
Did this make any sense? Sometimes I get confused when reading here because the terms used by long time knife people are still a little foreign to me. Sorry about my confusion and/or ignorance.
Jack
Since you took the time to reply to each sentence I'll just ask you this. How quickly or how often does that polished edge need repairing from cutting bamboo? Don't they make special wood working type tools like chisels and such for that?chuck_roxas45 wrote:
The way you talk, you probably don't use a knife for cutting much at all. I guess you can't think of things a polished edge will do because you just pry and stab with your knife.
I've noticed the same thing about factory edges. The very edge is more refined. To satisfy my latent OCD I keep on polishing :rolleyes:Evil D wrote: Back on topic, i just sharpened my Para last night going by the method i mentioned earlier...take the bevel down to my 650 grit stone and then raise my angle so i'm just hitting the very edge and polish it out with the 1000 grit...and it gets stupid sharp that way with a fraction of the time i used to spend polishing the entire bevel. I know we could split hairs and say that a totally polished bevel may have a fraction less resistance when slicing, but i think it's a great practice for someone who used their knife hard and frequent and doesn't have a long time to polish out their edge everyday. I tried to get pics of the edge to show but i couldn't get the light to stop reflecting wrong.
Also, i believe the factory does something along the lines of what i do....because the factory edge is never polished, but if you look closely the very edge is always a bit smoother than the rest of the bevel.
Evil D wrote:I took the kids out last night to see some fireworks and while we were waiting for dark i whittled on some sticks with my S30V Paramilitary. I made a pretty sizable pile of shavings, most of which i made it a point to cut very hard and really dig the blade in and i made a lot of curved cuts into the wood and overall gave the edge a good workout. I was SHOCKED that after all i cut, the knife would still shave hair with ease. I was shocked, because most people will agree that S30V tends to lose that shaving sharp edge within the first few cuts and then hold a working edge for a long time. I can only assume my recent focus on polishing the leading edge is the reason because this knife has never held a shaving edge through that much cutting.
:spyder: Glad to hear that S30V serves you well :) . . . . My EDC MANIX2 S30V FFG DLC STAG ARMS is so great on edge holding, i tested it with an ENDURA4 VG10 SG reprofiled at 17deg polished up to 1000grit and find that i had to touch-up the ENDURA every day and the MANIX2 S30V reprofiled at 17deg polished up to 600grit , on the same tasks, every five days, doing the flashlight test :eek: . . . . Now i test the MANIX2 S30V FFG DLC STAG ARMS along with the MANIX2 CTS-BD30P and for now i am very pleased with BD30P, we'll see :) . . . . :spyder:Evil D wrote:I took the kids out last night to see some fireworks and while we were waiting for dark i whittled on some sticks with my S30V Paramilitary. I made a pretty sizable pile of shavings, most of which i made it a point to cut very hard and really dig the blade in and i made a lot of curved cuts into the wood and overall gave the edge a good workout. I was SHOCKED that after all i cut, the knife would still shave hair with ease. I was shocked, because most people will agree that S30V tends to lose that shaving sharp edge within the first few cuts and then hold a working edge for a long time. I can only assume my recent focus on polishing the leading edge is the reason because this knife has never held a shaving edge through that much cutting.
:spyder: So true about different wood with different properties, but S30V is a proven 'wood-eater' :D . . . . I'll test my two MANIX2's on the same kind of wood and see what will happen to the edges :confused: . . . . First i will polish them up to 1000grit both, and then all the way up to 6000grit (that is my limit with the EDGE-PRO tapes) :) . . . . :spyder:unit wrote:That is great that your sharpening is progressing well.
I have been doing a LOT of wood work with my knives in recent months. I have learned a couple things you might value.
1. Polished edges are not debatable among wood workers. That is to say, there is no discussion among carvers...they (we) use polished edges and coarse edges will not give the smooth clean cuts I like for carving.
2. Different wood (and even sources) have different properties. Some woods have more silicates (particularly in the bark) that will degrade edges faster.
I have on more than one occasion inspected an edge during carving and been shocked. Some days I can work only minutes before needing the strop and other days I can go much longer with the same knife.
Just because a blade won't pop or shave hair doesn't mean it's dull, steels like S30V will continue to cut for a VERY, VERY long time after that happens.Evil D wrote:I took the kids out last night to see some fireworks and while we were waiting for dark i whittled on some sticks with my S30V Paramilitary. I made a pretty sizable pile of shavings, most of which i made it a point to cut very hard and really dig the blade in and i made a lot of curved cuts into the wood and overall gave the edge a good workout. I was SHOCKED that after all i cut, the knife would still shave hair with ease. I was shocked, because most people will agree that S30V tends to lose that shaving sharp edge within the first few cuts and then hold a working edge for a long time. I can only assume my recent focus on polishing the leading edge is the reason because this knife has never held a shaving edge through that much cutting.
This is similar to the question i ask on this little review (at the end of it):Evil D wrote:...I was shocked, because most people will agree that S30V tends to lose that shaving sharp edge within the first few cuts and then hold a working edge for a long time. I can only assume my recent focus on polishing the leading edge is the reason because this knife has never held a shaving edge through that much cutting.
