JohnDoe99 wrote: ↑Sat May 30, 2020 4:25 pmWell I thought I had S110V figured out, but I was wrong. This is an extremely frustrating steel. Low sharpness and poor edge retention all around, dmt and ceramic. I have tried the burr method on both abrasives, and I hit the apex. Then, I back off the pressure to almost no pressure and do alternating passes to minimize the burr, and then do slightly elevated passes to remove it. There does not appear at this point to be a burr under the microscope, at least nowhere even close to what it was when I looked at the edge after having deliberately raised a burr. If I look directly at the apex under 120x magnification, I can see some light reflecting off the apex. I know that doing the light test with the naked eye is useful for revealing obvious damage to the edge. If it is still reflecting light at 120x, does that mean it is not yet fully apexed? How could that be after I already raised a burr on each side and cut it off?
At this point the knife shaves hair well, I am actually running out of hair on my arms and thighs from trying to get this s110v to whittle hair because of all the resharpening process of elimination tests I am doing. So, I then slice up 1 large mailing envelope, since that is what I have lying around, and then cut twice directly into some treated lumber. The blade has now lost a noticeable amount of its shaving ability, shaving requires some degree of pressure, and if I look at the edge under magnification, I can see what looks like chips on the apex larger than the abrasive's scratch marks. This is happening every time, regardless of what I do. I honestly have no idea what is going on.
If you're getting micro chips, poor edge retention, and light reflecting off the apex, you haven't fully cleaned up the edge. When you sharpen, check the apex every so often, and put it under the microscope after each stone, to see what's going on. You shouldn't see light reflecting after your first stone, let alone a finishing stone. If it's reflecting light after your first stone, keep at it, minding angles and pressure, until you have a crisp edge. S110V has a reputation for having a stubborn, hard to spot burr. I'm sure opinions will vary, but you're certainly not the first to struggle with it.
You might want to try diamond sharpening only, no ceramics. Lower grit works better for high carbide steels, giving you maximum edge retention. S110V isn't a great steel for trying to whittle hair. It can be done, but you're making a compromise by sharpening to that level. Cedric and Ada (Pete) on YouTube, did some testing on this idea, and found a dramatic drop in edge retention, when sharpening carbide-heavy steels to a high grit. 400-600 grit is a nice sweet spot.
Approximately how many strokes are you using to de-burr? What is your finishing stone? Is this freehand or using a fixed angle sharpener?
