Does sharpening ..DIRECTION... affect "push cutting?"

L

Lavan

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Nov 8, 2000
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This is stumping me. I have edges on some knives that are reeeeeaaalllly sharp. Yet, though they WILL "push cut" paper, it is nowhere near the ability to pull cut it.
Does the direction of the abrasion in sharpening have anything to do with the ability to push or pull cut? Or is it ONLY the degree of sharpness?

:confused:
 
I don't know what a pull cut is, but is there any chance that you might have a wire edge that's folding over? You'd then have a knife that feels super sharp, but won't push cut paper very well.
 
I think the finer (more polished) the edge, the better it is for push cutting. That's why people use polished edges for whittling. Courser edges work better for pull or draw cutting. I don't think it's the direction of sharpening.
 
If you sharpen straight into the hone, the micro "grooves" and teeth will be facing directly at what you are cutting. If you sharpen the Randall way, stroking the knife diagonally, the grooves and teeth run that way.

The answer to your question is yes and no.

Yes, because the direction of the teeth/grooves affect resistance.
No, because at proper push cutting sharpness, they edge is usually so highly polished, that these are insignificant or nonexistent.
 
Lavan said:
This is stumping me. I have edges on some knives that are reeeeeaaalllly sharp. Yet, though they WILL "push cut" paper, it is nowhere near the ability to pull cut it.
Does the direction of the abrasion in sharpening have anything to do with the ability to push or pull cut? Or is it ONLY the degree of sharpness?

:confused:
Click to expand...

think of a saw blade. the teeth are pointed in one direction and they will cut much better when used in the proper direction. your knife eddge has those same teeth, just finer. If you are using 8,000 grit then you have teeth that fine, they still have to point in the right direction for the most cutting effeciancy.
 
One way you easily could test this is by first trying a draw cut through the medium and then a cut where you push the blade in the opposite direction (forward) during the cut. If there's no difference, then it's not the direction of sharpening. If there is a difference, then it is the sharpening direction.
 
Just curious as most people sharpen with a pulling motion on a lot of the V-type ceramics. It's been so long since I used a stone and did it by hand that I haven't even replaced my broken hard Arkansas.

The ONE knife I have that cuts in ANY direction is a factory edge on an AG Russell Folding Camp Knife that I got about a month ago.

That is undoubtedly the sharpest edge I have ever experienced.

Several little bitty nicky careless cuts attest to it.

:)
 
A scary sharp knife finds a lot more ways to remind you to be careful, and punishes harshly when you fail to remain alert! The sharper my blades got, the quicker I learned to watch what I was doing. I used to injure myself a lot before I knew what a sharp knife was, and learned to respect it. I still get little nicks and stuff, but never any of the grave injuries that happened sometimes with dull blades. I used to have a dumb superstition that a knife wasn't really "mine" till I got cut with it. That changed when I learned how to put a scalpel edge on them. . . I hope!!

Just a tangent.
 
moving-van.jpg
 
Good, question, I don't think there is a definitive answer to whether and what influence the direction of the honing has (not so much as in the raising of the burr, but rather whether you are setting the microscopic "teeth").
 
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