How do YOU get your knives hair-popping, or at least shaving sharp

crimsonfalcon07

crimsonfalcon07

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Dec 27, 2010
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I have a lot of trouble for some reason getting my knives shaving sharp-at least, when it comes to shaving my own hair off. I've tried a wide variety of things, from sending them in to get professionally sharpened, to using diamond hones and leather strops and various other sharpening devices.

So far, the only knives that have EVER been able to remove hair from my body in anything close to a shaving fashion (ie, without sawing) have been the Kabar Kukri Machete and a Bark River Aurora. The Kershaw RAM or Blackout I just picked up, my Manix 2, or any of my Benchmade knives, don't even come close.

In both cases, I was only able to shave off hair with them once. The next time I tried them, having NOT used them to do any cutting whatsoever, they were no longer shaving sharp.

I still have yet to encounter a knife that was hair popping sharp. I've never seen a factory edge that came sharp enough to shave with, and was able to last for more than one shave.

Now, I should mention that all of my knives are sharp enough for most of my friends to shave with. I think at least part of my issue is that my hair is just absurdly hard to shave due to it's being 5 times thicker than normal.

But I'm also relatively amateur when it comes to sharpening, so it's likely I'm doing something wrong.

Basically, I'm curious if there are any special tricks to a hair popping edge. How do you get YOURS that sharp? Mike Stewart of BRKT tells me that I need to get any knife that I plan on reviewing shaving sharp in order to provide a fair test. My problem is that I seem to be unable to do so.

Please share the equipment and strategies that you use to get your knives to a hair popping edge. Anyone else out there unable to get a knife that's shaving sharp?
 
A Sharpmaker should give you that edge pretty easily. With the UF stones, you can get it even sharper. It's just a matter of making sure that you keep the knife straight and don't form a burr.
 
Edge Pro Apex 4 up to 6000 grit polishing tape, then a strop loaded with green compound.
 
I have the Wicked Edge and even though it wasn't cheap, it was worth every penny.

I can set precise angles, get them nice and polished and repeat it exactly the same way for each knife.

I can literally shave with my ZT 0551 after I've sharpened her up on the Wicked Edge.


If you are looking to keep a lower cost, I hear the Sharpmaker is second to none!
 
That's weird..All my knives can take hair off even my pretty blunt lagana hawk could take a few hairs off. Maybe your using too little force on the shave?
 
Thanks for the response guys. Sharpmaker has thus far been unsuccessful. I live 30 minutes from Spyderco, but as of yet, they haven't gotten my Manix 2 sharp enough to shave with. Maybe it just doesn't get that sharp?

I'll take a look at the Edge Pro and Wicked Edge. It's not like I don't shell out enough on knives as it is; might as well keep them sharp, right?

@Nternal.

I thought of that too. I've tried a wide variety of pressure and angles, including pressing hard enough to remove any layers of dead skin I might have. No success. The skin will come off, but the hairs remainly firmly rooted, sneering at my attempts to defeat them. But that's a good thought, since I don't really know the ideal angle to use either. I would be glad of some suggestions there as well.
 
I use DMT Aligner down to extra extra fine (3 micron / 8000 mesh). Depending on the steel this is sometimes sharp enough to split hair, but more than adequate to shave arm hair. Actually shaving arm hair is doable with just a fine stone. Facial hair is a different matter, I have to use a loaded strop finished with a naked strop to get there.
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
Thanks for the response guys. Sharpmaker has thus far been unsuccessful. I live 30 minutes from Spyderco, but as of yet, they haven't gotten my Manix 2 sharp enough to shave with. Maybe it just doesn't get that sharp?

I'll take a look at the Edge Pro and Wicked Edge. It's not like I don't shell out enough on knives as it is; might as well keep them sharp, right?
Click to expand...

I dont know what you are talking about but every single one of my Spyderco knives came hair popping sharp from the factory except for my Endura 4 saber grind. Like you said its probably because you have pubic hairs for arm hairs.
 
Also, if you're trying to shave, make sure that you keep the angle high. Otherwise it won't work, and if you try that on a mirror edge, it will just start slicing up your arm.
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
Thanks for the response guys. Sharpmaker has thus far been unsuccessful. I live 30 minutes from Spyderco, but as of yet, they haven't gotten my Manix 2 sharp enough to shave with. Maybe it just doesn't get that sharp?

I'll take a look at the Edge Pro and Wicked Edge. It's not like I don't shell out enough on knives as it is; might as well keep them sharp, right?

@Nternal.

I thought of that too. I've tried a wide variety of pressure and angles, including pressing hard enough to remove any layers of dead skin I might have. No success. The skin will come off, but the hairs remainly firmly rooted, sneering at my attempts to defeat them. But that's a good thought, since I don't really know the ideal angle to use either. I would be glad of some suggestions there as well.
Click to expand...

I can inconsistently get my knives to hair-whittling sharp, and consistently to hair-popping sharp using the Spyderco ceramics (including the UF) after some diamond stones.

I free-hand sharpen nowadays, which took me about a year to perfect, but before that I used the Sharpmaker.

The Sharpmaker is great for touch ups, but won't work very well, or at least very quickly, for re-doing bevels. To get an edge very very sharp you want to get your microbevel down to 30 degrees or less.

The Edge Pro and Wicked Edge sharpening systems - from watching someone use it once in person, and watching many youtube videos - seem to work better for re-beveling than the Sharpmaker. They will keep your angles consistent, and should likewise make your sharpening have consistent results.

In my experience, getting hair-whittling results usually requires getting to at least 1-3 micron grit sizes.
 
Tools don't make you better and changing the tools you use only makes learning more complex.

Technique/skill is #1 and the tools you use (EP, WE, grinders, or by hand with stones) are just personal preference. I can get hair shaving with a 100 grit stone but its not going to be a smooth shave. To make it smoother and reach hair popping, tree topping, or hair splitting the scratch pattern must be reduced so the edge width is small enough to sever the object. Edge roughness in relation to grit used will make up the amount of drag or pull on the hairs or object being cut.

None of it makes a difference if your not grinding to the apex of the edge though. Sharpening is 3 basic steps, Grinding, Sharpening, and finishing. If one step is not completed correctly none of the other steps will have proper effect.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't thicker hairs make it easier to shave? My thin arm hairs typically won't even bend from an edge while my thicker leg hairs pop right off.

And 5 minutes on my Work Sharp typically lets me split free hanging hairs easily:thumbup:.

If you get a burr using coarse grits, any finer progression of grits will make the edge sharper.
 
$3 cosmetic buffer block it might be kinda gay but it works amazing and it's cheaper than any of my other "better" sharpening systems
 
Just read through the threads in knifenuts sig. Very useful information. I do think that Wicked Edge sharpener looks very easy to use though.

I don't know about the thicker hairs being easier to cut. My arm hairs are thinner for sure than my facial hair, and as you said, they bend and don't get cut. The facial hair just refuses to budge, and dulls an edge like nobody's business.

-edit-

Wow, looked at my Manix 2's edge and it's a mess! Clear visual scratches filled with black stuff from the grind, nowhere CLOSE to a mirror edge. Grind was not even at all, looking at the pictures from that first thread in knifenuts sig. I mean, it's still very sharp, but it's not pretty at all. You can kinda see from this picture:

2011-02-17163440.jpg
 
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Calebklyne said:
$3 cosmetic buffer block it might be kinda gay but it works amazing and it's cheaper than any of my other "better" sharpening systems
Click to expand...

Amazingly enough, this one worked for me! Spent the last hour buffing out the Kershaw RAM, which prior was unable to shave. My arm is now bare. Nice tip! Worked better than the strops I was using before. The Spyderco is going to take some work, and I've been working on a Benchmade Pardue 530SBK for a week now, and it's still the dullest knife I own :(
 
I don't go nuts over the edge. If the knife can slide through paper I'm happy. Use a DMT Diafold with the mag aligner and finish with a Sharpmaker.
 
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