Anyone Strop their knives?

[Vivi]

That doesn't look very smooth or comfortable but it's better than I was able to do.

It was just for fun. I've seen a lot of posts about people not being able to get the edge they want on S30V. I've never had that problem. Just showing that S30V can take a decent edge.

Vivi-- Unless you shave with a knife, why do you think a knife is dull just because it's not shaving sharp?

Because a knife that I can shave my face with cuts really damn well. That's all really. I don't like having to put a lot of effort into a cut or slice back and forth a bunch. I just like to touch the blade to an object and have it split apart with ease.

It's not hard to get a knife that sharp, or time consuming, so I don't see much of a reason not to, considering the purpose of my tools.

 

[hardheart]

wow, there is no way I could shave with any proper knife edge, even the ones I take to 10K King followed by stropping with CrO/100K diamond. I can tell the difference between good and not so great Mach 3 cartridges, brand new out of the pack, my face is really sensitive.

Mtn Hawk, I'm sure Vivi will answer, but to me, if I can get a shaving edge at 60 grit, then anything that doesn't shave is dull. In fact, I need to start testingfor hair whittling sharpness at coarser grits, people in the record thread are getting it at Spyderco fine, I wait to check for it at much higher polish. I did one edge at 4K King, which is close to Spyderco ultra-fine. I'll probably try 1200 diamond, Spyderco fine, and some sandpaper in the range to see if I can get it.

On topic, strops are cool...

 

[Mtn Hawk]

Vivi-- I'm not arguing or disagreeing with you. You make some good and valid points. I certainly value sharp edges and think dull knives can be dangerous. Outside the kitchen (where I keep knife edges very sharp), most of my knives are for wilderness use. As long as a knife does what I want it to I'm satisfied, even though it may be a little less than "shaving sharp".

hardheart-- Sounds like fun! Good luck!

 

[Jason B.]

wow, there is no way I could shave with any proper knife edge, even the ones I take to 10K King followed by stropping with CrO/100K diamond. I can tell the difference between good and not so great Mach 3 cartridges, brand new out of the pack, my face is really sensitive.

Mtn Hawk, I'm sure Vivi will answer, but to me, if I can get a shaving edge at 60 grit, then anything that doesn't shave is dull. In fact, I need to start testingfor hair whittling sharpness at coarser grits, people in the record thread are getting it at Spyderco fine, I wait to check for it at much higher polish. I did one edge at 4K King, which is close to Spyderco ultra-fine. I'll probably try 1200 diamond, Spyderco fine, and some sandpaper in the range to see if I can get it.

On topic, strops are cool...

just a little FYI I have been able to get hair whittling sharpness from a spyderco medium stone and a DMT ultra-fine dia-sharp. It is not easy and does not whittle the hair like a blade stroped on some 0.5 micron diamond paste, but it will still do it.

 

[Uncle Rukus]

Technically the blade shouldn't really be "sharper" at finer grits or even after a strop. It should just be more polished and therefore will push cut and whittle hair a bit easier. I stopped using strops because as long as the edge is properly formed and there's no burr under about 100x magnification, all a strop does it round the bevel a bit and make it less aggressive. A strop should never be used to remove a burr, that just tears metal from the edge and leaves you with a crappy edge that has a chunks torn out of it.

 

[Mtn Hawk]

Uncle Rukus--

Thanks for your post. It makes sense and confirms what I've learned about sharpening, stropping, etc., the last few years. I wouldn't think a strop with bits of metal embedded in it from burr removal would do an edge or blade any good, either.

What's your opinion of stropping a convex edge? It seems like this would be ok because there is no bevel.

Thanks!

 

[hardheart]

Technically the blade shouldn't really be "sharper" at finer grits or even after a strop. It should just be more polished and therefore will push cut and whittle hair a bit easier.

what is sharper if not better at cutting? I would think that a sharp edge is one that is well formed, with the bevels coming close to meeting at a perfect apex. You need finer grits to refine that meeting point. Have you seen the pics from Verhoeven's experiments in sharpening? The stropped edges and those sharpened on the finest stones used in the experiment had the narrowest transition from side of the bevel to the other.

EDIT: got a Wenger to whittle hair with the Spyderco med. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5762341&postcount=116

 

[Uncle Rukus]

Uncle Rukus--

Thanks for your post. It makes sense and confirms what I've learned about sharpening, stropping, etc., the last few years. I wouldn't think a strop with bits of metal embedded in it from burr removal would do an edge or blade any good, either.

What's your opinion of stropping a convex edge? It seems like this would be ok because there is no bevel.

Thanks!

I haven't had much experience at sharpening convex edges but I would imagine that a strop would work a bit better because the leather would naturally follow the rounded curvature of the bevel.

 

[Uncle Rukus]

what is sharper if not better at cutting? I would think that a sharp edge is one that is well formed, with the bevels coming close to meeting at a perfect apex. You need finer grits to refine that meeting point. Have you seen the pics from Verhoeven's experiments in sharpening? The stropped edges and those sharpened on the finest stones used in the experiment had the narrowest transition from side of the bevel to the other.

EDIT: got a Wenger to whittle hair with the Spyderco med. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5762341&postcount=116

It's really all about technique and has little to do with grit. The meeting point at the edge should be just as sharp at lower grits than at higher grits. Ultimately this will yield a much much better push cutting edge at higher grits. I've been able to get edges that would whittle hair and shave above the skin with 120 grit stones. At that low of a grit the secret is to apply the same light pressure throughout the entire stroke once the edge is formed. This refines the edge and removes any hint of a burr. I usually use a radioshack 100x illuminated microscope to check out the edge every couple strokes until I can't see any sign of a burr along the edge. At that point the edge will whittle hair and it slices like you wouldn't believe.

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-buy-th...ope-on-http-wwwradioshackcom--pi-2179604.html

 

[Mtn Hawk]

Uncle Rukus-- Thanks!

 

[hardheart]

At that low of a grit the secret is to apply the same light pressure throughout the entire stroke once the edge is formed.

Yeah, but what happens when you use the same light pressure and a much finer stone? To first start from a point where you say 120 is low is where I would note an issue. 120 could be very fine, relative to say, 36 grit. What is coarse and what is not. I used to stop at 280 grit, now I don't like to stop at even 800. Also, hair whittling isn't that fine a measure. Sure, it takes a little work to get an edge to do it, but when increases in sharpness are measured in tenths of a micron of edge width, even human hair is too large to demonstrate the the changes.

I have the same scope from Radio Shack. It works pretty well for what it is, but I want to get a scope with usb camera next, get some 400X magnification going if I can.

And now I have to do some work at 120 grit to get hair whittling. I'm gonna have to end up seeing what I can do with a file again since everyone seems to get knives sharper than me at coarser grits than I'm used to finishing at. I gotta find out where it stops before it drives me nuts.

 

[Uncle Rukus]

Hahaha it never stops... I started seeing how sharp i could get knives at low grits because I realized that an edge will never be as sharp as it could be at finer grits if it isn't as sharp as it could be at low grits. As far as "low" grits though I've never used anything below 60 grit for sharpening, I have a 60 grit ruby triangle stone for my sharpmaker but i usually start at 120. By the way, if you haven't tried a sharpmaker with ruby triangle stones from congress tools I would highly recommend it. I really like sharpening with the stone upright because it allows me to see the point at which the stone contacts the blade.