Community Sharpening Journal

[TkoK83Spy]

Nice Connor! Definitely takes some time with the CBN rods compared to that Hapstone! Nice progress so far.

[The Meat man]

Nice Connor! Definitely takes some time with the CBN rods compared to that Hapstone! Nice progress so far.

Thanks! I worked on it some at lunch break. It's coming along, slow but sure.

[Baron Mind]

Picked up a 30000 grit, .5 micron, resin bonded cbn stone from gritomatic. Used it as my finisher for my Brouwer last night. Was worried it would do a whole lot of nothing, but there was plenty of visible load up on the stone. I was just dressing it with an 8k nagura stone, but I'm going to lap it on some F1200 (3 micron) loose SiC powder tonight. I didn't use a full progression, so its ultimate polishing potential still remains to be seen, but the edge came up hair whittling. Also stropped on .25 micron polydiamond spray from Ken Schwartz on basswood, 1st time using that spray too. So far I'm pleased with both, but I'll report back after some more use. This taichung S30V was an enjoyable sharpen, we'll see how the retention is after one sharpening. You guys notice any difference between Golden and Taichung S30V?

[The Meat man]

Excellent thanks for the write up and the pics. Please describe how you worked the scallops, is it like Sal shows on the sharpmaker video or within each one working back and forth within the small dish of the scallop while using the hapstone.

On the Hapstone, I concentrated on each individual scallop, one at a time. It went a lot faster that way. When using the Sharpmaker, my method was similar to what Sal demonstrated, but instead of going from heel to tip in one stroke, like he does, I used a sort of up-and-down method and slowly work my way from heel to tip over many strokes.

[vivi]

When I sharpen SE I go heel to tip, when I reprofile I do what you mentioned meat man, back and forth strokes. Seems to speed up the process.

[The Meat man]

When I sharpen SE I go heel to tip, when I reprofile I do what you mentioned meat man, back and forth strokes. Seems to speed up the process.

Yep same here. Do you generally use a microbevel when sharpening SE? That's what I had been doing, although I might try running without one for awhile to see how that goes. I like the easy touchups but reprofiling is a pain lol.

Anyway I think I am going to call it done. Nice and shaving sharp. I'm excited to be using serrations again.

[vivi]

When I sharpen SE I go heel to tip, when I reprofile I do what you mentioned meat man, back and forth strokes. Seems to speed up the process.

Yep same here. Do you generally use a microbevel when sharpening SE? That's what I had been doing, although I might try running without one for awhile to see how that goes. I like the easy touchups but reprofiling is a pain lol.

Anyway I think I am going to call it done. Nice and shaving sharp. I'm excited to be using serrations again.

I've tried both methods. The black Pacific Salt I post I've never used a microbevel, the satin finish I do. I plan to grind it off though, for some reason I can't seem to get it quite as sharp as the black one without a microbevel. I think I'm going to try to get around to get this weekend, and if I can find my misplaced tripod I may make a video.

Yours looks nice. Freshly sharpened SE knives taken all the way to shaving sharp are such aggressive cutters, it's going to be fun to use. Zooming in it looks like the tip got a bit rounded in the process, might be worth grinding the spine down a bit to bring the point back.

[The Meat man]

I've tried both methods. The black Pacific Salt I post I've never used a microbevel, the satin finish I do. I plan to grind it off though, for some reason I can't seem to get it quite as sharp as the black one without a microbevel. I think I'm going to try to get around to get this weekend, and if I can find my misplaced tripod I may make a video.

Yours looks nice. Freshly sharpened SE knives taken all the way to shaving sharp are such aggressive cutters, it's going to be fun to use. Zooming in it looks like the tip got a bit rounded in the process, might be worth grinding the spine down a bit to bring the point back.

Thanks! Yeah the tip was a bit rounded to start with. It's actually been ground down once before. About time to do it again. I decided to freehand the tip edge too, which is why it looks the way it does.

Speaking of serrated, I've got a FFG Rescue 3 that I'm thinking of reshaping and maybe thinning down. Part of what makes SE take longer to reprofile is the very wide bevel. I'm thinking if I can thin that down to close to the width of a PE bevel, it should not only cut like a monster but also be very quick to touch up even without a microbevel. We'll see.

[RustyIron]

I didn't use a full progression, so its ultimate polishing potential still remains to be seen, but the edge came up hair whittling. Also stropped on .25 micron polydiamond spray from Ken Schwartz on basswood, 1st time using that spray too. So far I'm pleased with both, but I'll report back after some more use.

Thanks for the report. To date, my best edges have been on S30V.

My intention was to NOT sharpen any knives until next week when I'll receive two new stones. I'm waiting on a shipment from Ken Schwartz that he recommended specifically for Maxamet. But your report got me excited and I couldn't wait. I went through a logical progression, and ended up with 0.25μ CBN on nanocloth. I'm still learning about how this metal behaves, but from what I've read and my experience so far, I'm optimistic that it will work out nicely for my every-day do-it-all knife.

[Bloke]

Hope someone might like to see how I flatten SiC stones. :)

It’s easy and makes a big difference I reckon. This is a 220grit stone I use to re-profile because I like the way it feels and it gives me a better idea of a particular steel’s wear resistance compared to diamond or CBN abrasives.

Anyhow, I like to use 80grit loose SiC to flatten this particular 220grit SiC stone. As you can see I have a few sheets off newsprint on a flat bench and a clean sheet of glass sitting on that.



I cross hatched the stone’s face with a pencil and saturate the stone with water if it’s porous or it’ll suck up the water you use with the loose grit on the glass.



Add a little water to the loose grit.



I use the face of the stone to disperse the loose grit over the glass. When I have an even layer of loose grit in an area say three times that of the stone I apply just enough pressure to feel the loose grit “rolling” (between the glass and the stone’s face) all while moving it in a figure eight and fairly random pattern. It only takes a few seconds with a previously flattened stone before all pencil marks are removed.



Give the stone a rinse with water and it’s flat, clean and sharp. :cool:

[Bloke]

I damaged the factory edge on my Province a little, chopping bones and figured I’d give it a full sharpen. :cool:

Here’s the same stone from my last post. The stone feels great and at this stage I’d say cutting 4V fairly well.



I wanted to follow the factory edge as best I could but figured 4V with a the factory edge was pretty tough so I’ve set up to sharpen following the relatively thin grind from the plunge line to the beginning of the belly, the straight section of the blade. From there the angle thins more and more all the way to the tip, a bit more than it did from the factory. You have to love a fine tip on a knife! Ah, hahaha!

Here’s a bit of a view of the stones scratch pattern and you can see I’m chasing the last inch or two of factory grind from the tip back. :)



P.S. I was wearing an Optivisor yesterday, a bit careless and stabbed a glass vase just hard enough to bend the very tip to a tiny little barb. :eek:

[Pelagic]

Baron Mind, nice new stone. I like your choices in products. Did it not arrive perfectly flat? Or do you flatten all stones after each use (even finishing stones)?

RustyIron, what stone does Ken Schwartz recommend specifically for Maxamet?

Bloke, thanks for the mini guide. I'm going to pick up some SiC powder soon.

[Bloke]

Bloke, thanks for the mini guide. I'm going to pick up some SiC powder soon.

You’re most welcome ole mate. I’m glad you started this thread and I’ve followed it but I’ve been dead slack and haven’t sharpened diddly in quite a while. If it hadn’t have been for the bloody chicken wing, I had no great plans for sharpening anything. Ah, hahaha, ah, hahaha, ah, hahaha! :rolleyes:

Anyhow, I had to start somewhere and fresh stones seemed a good place, and figured I’d takes some pics and share while I was at it and maybe unveil any mystery for anyone curious. :)

[Bloke]

I've been working at reprofiling my Pacific Salt SE over the last few days. ...

Love your work Connor, thanks for sharing! :cool:

I’d give it a go myself but I only have a Ladybug and Dragonfly in SE. :)

[vivi]

I touched up my Pacific Salt today. Been a few weeks. Still cut well, but wasn't anywhere close to razor sharp knife nerd levels.

I started out with my diamond rods in the 15 degree slots. I used back and forth motions on the presentation side until I saw no traces of a microbevel. Checked that I had raised a nice burr on the back.

From there I used extra light strokes heel to tip, using the same setup. I used a 2:1 ratio...two strokes presentation side, one back side close to flat. Did this for a bit until I felt I had the burr minimized as much as I could expect off the diamond stones.

I had a really toothy edge that grabbed my fingernail when I slid it across a large scallop. It was very sharp as is, but I had a new idea I wanted to try.

I setup my white fine rods I haven't used in a while. Put them in the 40 degree slots. Did 2 feather light strokes per side with a 1:1 ratio. I followed this up by stropping each side once to verify there wasn't some burring my eyes were missing. Looked good.

It's very sharp now, showing excellent push cutting ability, but the microserrations from the diamond rods aren't completely gone. It can push cut tiny curls off a post it note and push cut through a plastic shopping bag, and still grabs exceptionally well on a slice. The plain edge tip pops hairs and the scallops catch them above the skin.

Not sure what rods and angles I'll use for my next touch-up, but I'm excited to play around with this edge for a few weeks before I worry about that.

[The Meat man]

I've been working at reprofiling my Pacific Salt SE over the last few days. ...

Love your work Connor, thanks for sharing! :cool:

I’d give it a go myself but I only have a Ladybug and Dragonfly in SE. :)

Thanks Alex!

Great post about flattening stones. It's something I seriously need to do.
Have you ever flattened bonded diamond stones? If so any recommendations?

[The Meat man]

I touched up my Pacific Salt today....

It's very sharp now, showing excellent push cutting ability, but the microserrations from the diamond rods aren't completely gone. It can push cut tiny curls off a post it note and push cut through a plastic shopping bag, and still grabs exceptionally well on a slice. The plain edge tip pops hairs and the scallops catch them above the skin.

Not sure what rods and angles I'll use for my next touch-up, but I'm excited to play around with this edge for a few weeks before I worry about that.

:eek: Now that is impressively sharp!

[Evil D]

Lately I've been playing with my (slightly wore out) diamond rods, seeing how sharp I can get my knives off of lower grits. On my SE knives I've been working on reprofiling the scallop side down to 30 inclusive with the diamond rods but I don't like to use diamonds on the back side because I don't want to create a bevel back there, so I've been using the brown rods on the back, and for whatever reason the combo of diamond on front and brown on the back has been giving me some stupid aggressive edges that will push cut anything and pluck standing hair off my arm.

[TkoK83Spy]

I'll tell ya, you guys are very impressive with your sharpening methods and tricks. This is a great thread, lots to learn from here. The level of sharpness you guys can achieve...wow!! Here I'm all proud of myself that I just finished reprofiling my AEB-L Urban to 15dps and am able to clean cut paper off the CBN rods...then I read all this hahaha! My pride is hurt :p

[vivi]

Lately I've been playing with my (slightly wore out) diamond rods, seeing how sharp I can get my knives off of lower grits. On my SE knives I've been working on reprofiling the scallop side down to 30 inclusive with the diamond rods but I don't like to use diamonds on the back side because I don't want to create a bevel back there, so I've been using the brown rods on the back, and for whatever reason the combo of diamond on front and brown on the back has been giving me some stupid aggressive edges that will push cut anything and pluck standing hair off my arm.

I actually deburred with the brown stone a few times on the back side a couple of times before going to those light 1:1 strokes with the diamond rods for similar reasons.