Creating a super “Toothy” edge???

Example of a 120 grit convex edge at ~30 degrees inclusive on a Cold Steel Magnum Kukri machete in 1055 carbon steel, done with a cheap Chinese diamond file.
Also used the same file to create a sharpened back edge, as this was a home defense present for a friend of mine.

A polished edge can cut without the home invader even noticing it, while a really coarse edge besides the cut itself also inflicts a nasty type of pain immediately, and thus the bad guy might rethink his actions much sooner, which could be an advantage for the home owner.
That was at least my idea when sharpening this long bladed machete.








 
i find slicing tomatoes is a good way to compare these "toothy" edge vs more refined edges.

ie. you can really feel the different between a 400 grit (my fav) and something taken all the way up to 5-7K.

you can strop the 400 grit edge too but ive found just the raw 400 grit edge is my favorite on tomatoes. I use the nanohone products as well as shapton pro stones
 
Diamonds work but I get cleaner edges off of Norton India's. Probably has something to do with speed and India's being slower especially with less pressure.
YMMV
 
garry3 said:
Diamonds work but I get cleaner edges off of Norton India's. Probably has something to do with speed and India's being slower especially with less pressure.
YMMV
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I've also liked a Fine India overall, for the clean bite it leaves in the edge. Great for kitchen knives in mainstream stainless, and also for most of my EDC users in steels like 420HC, CV, 1095. That's usually my default for most of the sharpening I do. For the more extreme toothiness I mentioned earlier, the XC diamond + med/fine ceramic is a pretty cool combo too.
 
It takes practice but you can get a coarse edge with just a file that will shave your arm. For a coarse kitchen or EDC type edge, a Norton Coarse India or Crystalon stone works well. One of the scariest edges I’ve seen came off just a 325 grit DMT Blue stone with no further refinement.
 
Inspired by this thread, I sharpened 4 blades on my Norton Crystolon combo stone yesterday: a Mora in carbon, a Cold Steel Bushman, a kitchen knife I made in 1084, and my Leafjumper in K390. It was fast on all of them and the edges straight off the "fine" side (325 grit?) had a lot of tooth and just wiped hair off my arm. Really like the results.
 
I sharpen my hunting knives with a 320 stone and then a few light passes with a 900 stone, they do great on hide and meat.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The toothiest edges I've ever gotten came off my American Mutt stones. I resharpen my box cutter blades and always get an incredible cardboard-slicing toothy edge off it. Not sure what it is about the mixed grit size that does it, but it does.
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Very interesting! I am going to order me a "American Mutt" Sportsman's Puck to play with.

I have been using a DMT extra course but it just feels like it cuts better on some blades than others. For a toothy edge I then to go a 30 year old spyderco sharpmaker with either the fine or xfine white stones.
 
My standard practice, when I want a toothy edge, or if an existing edge has gotten too slick, is to add a slight microbevel with a lower grit stone. After all, the only tooth that matters is at the very apex of the blade.
 
Rather than adding a microbevel with the coarser stone I suggest using it on the established bevel itself, then adding a micro at a much higher grit to crisp up the apex without erasing the scratch pattern set by the coarse stone. If you have time, don't even micro it and do your fine passes at the same angle.
 
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