I'm a sharpening Kung Fu Master!

thombrogan said:
You've gotten me beat! That's awesome!
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Thanks Thom.

Well, to be fair, it is beard hair, and its not the whole edge. There is still some light glinting in some spots if I use a strong enough light. I could have sworn you mentioned that you could get shaving edges w/ your 800 grit stone. I've been on a sharpening quest for coarse edges for a while, and this is the first big success. The edge was sharpened at 12 degrees on the 800, and then deburred and sharpened at 17 on the 800 stone. I remember reading in Verhoevens sharpening paper that an increase of 5-6 degrees produced a sharper edge than 2-3 degrees. It took sharpening and deburring 2 or 3 times. The same edge on the Norton Fine India took 2 deburrings, and I was using a 120x belt on an HF sander to do it. These were really abused knives, edge wise. They came from my mom's kitchen, and havent been sharpened since they were purchased. Some had bends and twists in the blades, but it appears there was quite a bit of fatigued/damaged metal at the edges. I probably took 3/64 off the width, maybe more. Now I need to find an efficient way to do it, since it took quite a while, considering 420 stainless at ~53 HRC on a 1/32" thick blade, with a half height hollow grind.
 
Shaving, yes. I can get shaving edges with a 50 grit belt.* Hair-whittling requires my finest abrasives, patience, and luck (or the EdgePro I loaned out to Ken S.). That you can whittle beard hair with that type of kitchen knife is quite a feat. Way to go! Soon you'll be whittling thin hairs plucked from a hairbrush and complaining your knives are dead dull when they merely cut without effort.

Come to think of it, I don't check until I reach my finest abrasives. I just keep on plugging.

*= Arm hair only and not tree-topping by any means.
 
well, it may be technically cheating :).....but I followed Jerry Hossom's step-by-step (posted on a different forum) and bought a 1x 32 harbor freight grinder (29.99), 4 abrasive belts and one leather stropping belt from Lee Valley (~ 30.00), and a block of white abrasive compound (8.00). In one afternoon I sharpened every knife I own...everything from FrostCutlery POS to my Sebenzas. Every one of them will cut free hanging hair.

With this method it takes a whopping 5 minutes per knife to go from dull to crazy sharp. I will never use my Sharpmaker again. Period.
 
jokrswylde said:
With this method it takes a whopping 5 minutes per knife to go from dull to crazy sharp. I will never use my Sharpmaker again. Period.
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Lets not get hasty. I still use my Sharpmaker to sharpen between the sander/leather treatment. I can get my whole knife block to razor sharp in about an hour. However, if I did it every time they need sharpening, I'd have had to replace the whole knife block after the first 2 years. You can also use the leather w/ compound belt on the sander after sharpening w/ a coarse to medium stone, thus adding some life to the knives.

Thom, thats what I'm after, w/r to the 50 grit shaving. What is your procedure?
 
jokrswylde,

It's only cheating if your other knives don't know and approve.

me2,

The shaving edge from a 50 grit belt is typically, a large and fuzzy burr (if the burr isn't fuzzy, the edge is too thick). Not so recommended, but it works.
 
fulloflead said:
I wish I could afford a nice 12" or so waterstone.
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Why is that, Fulloflead Sifu? Are not the 7" - 8.5" stones enough? Does not the 800 grit King brick of joy quickly bring bevels to your knives? Does not the Aoto Blue remove the King's scratches with its muddy goodness? Does not the edge of the Naniwa Ebi white brick of joy add a mirrored glimmer to those edges?
 
thombrogan said:
Why is that, Fulloflead Sifu? Are not the 7" - 8.5" stones enough? Does not the 800 grit King brick of joy quickly bring bevels to your knives? Does not the Aoto Blue remove the King's scratches with its muddy goodness? Does not the edge of the Naniwa Ebi white brick of joy add a mirrored glimmer to those edges?
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I don't know half of what you're talking about. It's been a while since I window shopped for waterstones, but I remember they were expensive. I just like a larger stone.

.
 
:confused: Sifu is a Chinese term for a master or teacher. It is most commonly used in martial arts schools. ...
 
You are very correct, young hairchopper. The title of fulloflead's thread is "I'm a sharpening Kung Fu Master!" and it is this student's decision to refer to our master as sifu. Sifu uses stropping compounds white like tartar sauce and tartar sauce goes good with sifu, er, seafood.
 
bump


So does it count if you have to take a few swipes, and you are kinda chopping at the hair with a light to moderate downward swing?

If so then..."aaahhhhhhuuummmmmmm...aaaahhhhhhuuuummmmmm."



I think I'll try stropping tomorrow, if I can find a suitable piece of leather.
 
Hmmm, maybe we can get a ruling on that from the judges.;)

The HHT works for me by gently running the edge along the hair's length until it snags and either pops the hair in two or splits it . Also, sometimes it won't work for me, but if I switch the direction of the stroke (by switching the grip to the opposite end of the hair) it works. Sometimes it takes several trys on different hairs, but some edges will do it repeatedly on almost every try.

I'm not sure if I've ever passed the HHT off the stones. I don't normally try the test until I've stropped on CrO-loaded paper over glass.
 
Well it's back to the rice paper for me. It's a clean cut through the hair, but I have to chop a little. I'm a little confused now on what my goal is now. I thought I wanted a clean cut which is what I get, but now I'm thinking I'm supposed to somehow slice length ways a bit. I remember a post referring to a curly cue at the end of the hair, but I don't remember what it said and I don't want to reread the whole thread.

As to the stropping, I'm a little leary as I figure something that effective at making a keen edge can also be that effective at dulling an edge. I haven't had an edge this keen before and I got it by strictly using my Aligner. I guess I can use my guide with the stropp, but I'm holding out for some ceramic rods that I can use before I move to that step.
 
stropping to me is the only way to bring out the true sharpness of a blade. I learned of stropping a few years ago and never regreted it, it takes a little pratice but well worth the effort. I also find that a high polished edge last's longer than a ruff one.
 
Well I tried it with my old one inch wide unloaded belt. It had a nappy side, but evidently some parts of my knife got a little more attention than others, or I wasn't holding my knife level and I hit the edge of the belt with a few strokes in one spot. I have a micro concave that my ex fine stone won't correct. I think I need to fix it with my fine or perhaps coarse although it isn't really bad enough to need my coarse. I geuss I need to find a real strop and do this right.
 
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