At the beginning of April I put a fresh coarse edge on my favorite Pacific Salt 1.
I intended to carry it for two months to see if the edge would last that long for me.
Well, two weeks into that experiment I chipped and rolled the edge, impacting it against metal fencing by accident:
vivi wrote: ↑Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:42 pm
vivi wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 12:00 am
I sharpened my pocket knife tonight.
Reset the edge on an 80 grit diamond flattening stone. Refined it on a 300 grit diamond stone.
Finished with very light strokes until I minimized the burr enough to cleanly shave off the 300 grit stone. Did two strokes per side at 15 degrees with the fine sharpmaker stones using the least amount of pressure I could manage.
Managed to chip the edge today.
Not sure how. I did use this knife to chop through some briars today. Maybe I hit some metal fencing and didn't realize it?
Oh well. Knife still cuts ok so no touch-ups. Leaving the edge as is.
Still cut ok so I carried it another month and a half.
Today I checked the knife out. It was dirty, dull, damaged, lost the very tip and had lost all scrape shaving ability well over a month ago.
Sharpening method: $3 harbor freight 260 grit diamond plate. Free hand. Ten strokes per side flat to the edge bevel. Then another ten strokes per side flat to the edge bevel, this time alternating every stroke. Followed up by ten total strokes, or five strokes per side, at a slightly more obtuse angle to hit the apex, alternating sides every stroke. The last ten strokes were with the lightest touch I could manage.
That was it. One stone, no clean up required due to so few strokes needed, no stropping or follow up.
Result:
Is it my sharpest edge ever? Nope. The most even? No. Will it send arm hairs flying without touching the skin? Nah.
But every part of the edge shaves, and the entire sharpening process took this long:
Yep, less than two minutes to take a very dull and damaged edge back to shaving sharp. I know a lot of folks out there spend much longer than that just setting up their equipment. To each their own, but I think I'm on to something here.