Baron Mind wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 11:18 pm
Nice job. I have found it quite difficult to get a clean, keen apex off of my coarse stones. I think what I'm missing is the ultralight pressure strokes at the end, but it certainly is challenging either way.
I've been using this knife on anything I can come up with an excuse for and its making me re-think sharpening again. I love the way it cuts and setting the edge was so much faster than higher grit stones.
Its funny because this is the knife I began my low grit experiments with.
Used to reprofile my knives to 8-12 degrees per side on DMT plates, then touch up with the 15 degree slots on the sharpmaker using the fine or ultrafine rods.
Using this setup my edges had good geometry but did not last as long as I could like. Particularly in PE H1.
With PE H1 and a few other steels I noticed polished edges start out cutting very nice, then when they get dulled to the 80-90% sharp range, cutting ability starts to dramatically fall off. They start sliding around on materials once the apex experiences a little wear or deformation.
I had heard that lower grit edges tended to last longer but never tested it.
I tried using the medium rods I never really used and I was happy with the edge I got. It cut a little more aggressively testing the Aqua Salt on cardboard and could still push cut paper or shave.
I started using that finish on my folders too and came to enjoy the enhanced slicing abilities and extra edge holding.
Eventually I tried finishing the edge with my DMT X Coarse reprofiling stone. Took me a few tries to be able to get shaving sharpness with it, but eventually I was there.
After buying a new four sided diamond plate I gradually worked my way down the grits, starting with 600, then 400, then settled on 300 for a while, now 200.
I see I can get 180 grit plates from the same source. I'm going to try one soon :cool:
Recently took my M4 Manix from a medium rod finish to the DMT black and it doesn't feel nearly coarse enough for my current preferences. Feels half way there.