KME questions

[Vikesfan]

Thanks for this lucasw45. I got the kme kit for Christmas but have been very disappointed in my results so far. This gives me a new things to try.

Ray

 

[Vinifera]

Take your time and practice on some beaters. Once you get the hang of it the KME will produce some great edges.

 

[highestpoint]

You're best bet is going to be going back to down in grit and reset your main bevel completely. Which yes is going to be a pain. This time make sure that it is easily slicing paper and the hairs are popping off your arm before you move up from the 300 grit.

This reminds me. Are you finishing each stone with a stroke pattern on 6,5,4,3,2,1 per side using only upward passes?

The fine Arkansas should also refine your edge further. Is it a black or translucent? You have to be careful when transitioning between the diamonds and the Arkansas because they are a different thickness and this will change the angle.

As for microbevels if you ask 10 people you'll get 15 different answers haha many only use 2 or 3 strokes per side on the highest grit they have. With all techniques I think the key is light pressure and upward strokes only. For me I do it one of 2 ways.

Most knives I use only the 600 grit hone and do 5,4,3,2,1 up strokes per side. Gives a slightly toothy edge that will cut anything you'll ever need it to for a long time. And don't get me wrong it's still plenty sharp. It will easily slice phone book paper.

The second way I do it I set it up the the same way and use the same pattern as the first one except this time I start with the 1500 grit diamond then move to the black fine Arkansas and lastly I'll take it off the clamp and finish with a few passes on a stropman strop loaded with his green compound

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Yeah it will be a little bit of a pain but wouldn't be too terrible since it's already set. What grit would you think about going back to? Maybe the 140 XC?

I am finishing them in a side to side process. I'm used to it from freehand and stropping. Going from one side to the other once I get to the final grit and then on the strop also.

I believe the Arkansas stone is the black. It just came in the deluxe kit and when I use the honing oil it gets really black from its greyish dry color.

After the original knife I did the first micro bevel on I had decent results but I'll try what you mentioned.

So I'm kind of conflicted because I just sharpened my sebenza 25 and noticed that the 300 had a decent mirror finish. Figured it would just get better but no. I took it to 600 and then the 1500 and then the 4 micron strop and left the other side finished at the 300 grit then the 4 micron stropped. The 300 stropped shines a lot better then the 1500 and it is extremely surprising.

I don't have the best pictures but in these if you can tell the ones with the tip to the left is the 300 and tip to the right is the 1500.

So the scratch pattern on the 1500 is a lot more defined than the 300.

So all in all this is both sides on the 300 coarse diamond and then stropped on the 4 micron

Barely any scratches but still noticeable

So with that being said here is my xm-18 on the 1500 stone

I know the pictures aren't the beat of quality but the 1500 definitely has more scratches. Does this mean it's not worn in yet? Or could there have been a mistake when adding the grit stickers to the stones? I highly doubt it because the 300 still feels to the finger more gritty than the 600 and and 1500.

Anybody else have this issue?

 

[highestpoint]

So with the 300 polishing more should that be the stone I should stop with or go on up to the 1500 then the black or strop?

 

[lucasw45]

This just means your stones aren't fully broken in yet. I had the exact same problem at first going from the 600 to the 1500 and it took the 1500 a very very long time to break in compared to the others. I actually took an old piece of steel and rounded off an edge with a grinder and then while I was watching TV or something I'd use the 1500 grit on it and eventually it broke in. I was the same way though. I actually contacted Ron over at kme I was so convinced the grits were wrong haha but here's one of my first knives after breaking the stones in. It's only gotten better

Also I know they're not my knives but I'd highly recommend finding some old kitchen knives or cheap Walmart knives to practice on before starting on anything worth any money

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[highestpoint]

You do want a burr on the "base layer"... but you don't want to do it with the 50g stone, because it's so aggressive it will leave large chips in the edge that you'll have to grind out with the finer stones. Save the 50g stone for larger work (lowering the angle or grinding in a new bevel for example). When you see the scratches of that stone just starting to reach the edge, switch to the next higher stone.

If you''re having trouble telling whether or not you have a burr... try marking the edge with a Sharpie and check and see if you're reaching the edge. Not sure what you mean by "rolling the tip"... are you grinding the point off? If so, just never let the stone go more than half its width across the tip... that should keep it from rotating around and grinding it off.

The bevel toward the tip may be a little wider, since on most knives as the edge curves toward the tip it also goes into thicker metal. Many manufacturers compensate for this by raising the angle as they approach the tip... so when you put it on a guided system, you'll notice the difference. However, you don't set the blade so that the heel and the tip are the "same distance". In most cases, you'll want the tip closer because the angle doesn't change on the straight part, it changes on the curve of the belly toward the tip... so you set the knife based on the belly/tip area. See this LINK for more info.

This just means your stones aren't fully broken in yet. I had the exact same problem at first going from the 600 to the 1500 and it took the 1500 a very very long time to break in compared to the others. I actually took an old piece of steel and rounded off an edge with a grinder and then while I was watching TV or something I'd use the 1500 grit on it and eventually it broke in. I was the same way though. I actually contacted Ron over at kme I was so convinced the grits were wrong haha but here's one of my first knives after breaking the stones in. It's only gotten better

Also I know they're not my knives but I'd highly recommend finding some old kitchen knives or cheap Walmart knives to practice on before starting on anything worth any money

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Yeah I gotcha. I have been debating this all day lol. I was swearing to my wife that if she could tell the difference between the 300 and the 1500 then the stones must be switched. I was thinking about calling him and asking Ron and asking if there was anyway they could possibly be switched in the process.

It makes sense though because as we're taught to use the KME they say to use less pressure and less strokes on the higher grit stones so it makes sense they'll take longer to wear in.

And to admit as a rookie mistake I thought the stones would only take a couple knives to wear in because with my DMT dia-sharp flat coarse stone it didn't seem to need to wear in or anything but at the same time I was also excited to get my better knives sharp. That along with my collection per se has gotten a lot smaller as I've only started to keep my better quality knives lol. I really don't want to take my sebenza out of the clamps because lord knows how long it'll take to find the same position and angle..

So off to the kitchen to get some of the wifes kitchen knives to sharpen. Wish me luck & again I really appreciate all the knowledge you've shared.

 

[fvdk]

I don't have the best pictures but in these if you can tell the ones with the tip to the left is the 300 and tip to the right is the 1500.

Just looking at these two pictures, it looks like the knife is clamped in a different position so that would be a cause for inconsistent results.

Frans