Zero bevel or micro bevel and why?

I've found this process very easy with the mousemat method. You can simply lay the knife completely flat on the mousemat and work initially with 400 grit whilst keeping a little bit of pressure until a burr starts. The give of the mousemat means you remove the shoulder but still keep a subtle bevel. you can remove the blade scratches with finer grits and stropping if you wish.
 
Also check out this thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...estion-on-zero-grinds?p=12034569#post12034569

bladsmth said:
On the blades I zero grind, I take them to about .010 for carbon steel and .005 for stainless, before HT. After HT, I grind to near sharp....carefully avoiding heat....and then switch to flat stones or diamond plates to finish the edge.

Most zero grinds are actually slightly convex ground at the edge. It is very hard not to round into the edge.

That said, there are very few blades that do better with a zero grind than they would with a small secondary bevel. Sashimi blades and microtome blades are OK as true zero grinds. Most all others should have a stroke or two done at about 15 degrees or higher to strengthen the edge.

Just to illustrate how small the edge angle is, a zero ground knife with a 1/8" spine and 1" tall bevel will have a 7 degree edge. That is very thin. Any abuse, even a minor bump, and it will chip instantly. Cut any hard materials and it will dull quickly.
Click to expand...

Of course, in our case, we are going for convex from the start, so that automatically convexing at the edge is perfectly acceptable. Another small difference to consider is that the bevel triangle he used as an example is shaped a bit differently for a convex bevel. There is a smidge of extra meat immediately behind the edge. Ours won't chip our deflect or dull quite as easily, but it is weaker with a zero ground edge, and the negative aspects of that are noted above.
 
Andy - I am glad for that post.

When I sharpen a true Scandi - I do my best to set it at a zero grind... then I proceed to convex that grind slightly in the stropping process. I am not trying to convex it - it just happens. The material is leather - so it will naturally put a minor convex into the very edge of the knife. Considering that I do a dozen or so stokes on black, green, pink, and plain (10 ounce leather strop bat) - I am sure the convex could be seen with a keen eye.


This has been awesome for my knives. Makes a super keen edge - I can reset it to zero (or as zero as I can get) without barely knowing - and it is very durable.

GREAT conversation.

I just keep coming back to 'Do what works for you, for your needs, and your sill level.' The reality is, in my experience, when a knife has the right geometry and heat treat - and is made for the job you are using it - and is not abused - you have a KILLER combination to have a great experience with a knife. Andy has done so well over the years of improving his craft where I know his blades will come with the right geometry and heat treat out of the box... or out of of the brown paper and jute twine package.

TF
 
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