Mirror polish vs toothy edge?

A somewhat toothy edge is the way to go for me, for sure.
But im a hunter and outdoors man. If i was into something else it might be different.

Also, i dont have the time to maintain a mirror edge as of now.
 
Finely polished edge, no question. It may get "toothy" to the customers's liking over time. Great ! But no knife leaves my bench without a razor polish finish. Even if it's just my pleasure...
 
olivier coen said:
For K390 i don't, it's been tempered at 550c 1022 f and I slow my belt down significantly. occasional dips in water and light passes should do the rest.
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I heard some say that a faster belt is actually better. I have a WSKOBGA that I sharpen some knives on but I use my
WE-130 for all reprofiling and most sharpening.
 
I liked either way, if i want it to look good, i add a mirror polished edge just for fun and giggles. But for my every day uses, both are adequate. Although, it much more painful to repair a dinged polished edge... you know redo the stones succession and lapping all over again
 
I notice that a mirror polished edge has trouble starting to slice a tomato. Toothy is best for tomatoes. Also cutting rope is less easy with a mirror edge. I'm of the opinion that toothy is best for slice-cutting and mirror for push-cutting. So maybe different edge finishing for different blades in the same knife. A great reason for a multi-blade pocket knife!
 
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000Robert said:
I heard some say that a faster belt is actually better. I have a WSKOBGA that I sharpen some knives on but I use my
WE-130 for all reprofiling and most sharpening.
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I never worked with either of the sharpening systems. I mostly try to put on convex edges.
 
afishhunter said:
Depends on the blade steel.
I read in one of @Larrin 's articles that some steels, such as S30V, perform better, and hold an edge longer with a "toothy" edge, than a highly polished one. Other steels (I think he said D2 is one) do better with a highly polished edge.

My "finest" stone/hone/plate is a "600 grit" diamond plate. To date, I haven't "needed" anything finer.

Disclosure: I have no idea what "grit" my old "Soft", "Medium", and "Hard" Arkansas stones I had between circa 1961 and 2015 were. The "Medium" and "Hard" might have been finer than "600 grit", but I don't know if they were.
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Arkansas stones cannot be measured, and should only be loosely compared, to grit ratings. "Hard" is roughly about 900-1200. Medium about 600-800. The reason for the ranges is that they both cut and polish at the same time, plus they vary a little from stone to stone, plus you can lap them to specific points in the range. So it's hard to compare.
 
000Robert said:
I only put convex edges on kitchen knives. I like my main knives flat ground in case I'm somewhere and all I have is a freehand stone.
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Ah, one of my reasons for convex is that I naturally put them on with freehand stones. operators bias I suppose...
That being said, the jury is still out on the knives that I make. Most of the people who got a knife from me aren't expert knife people so I make and design them on theoretical principles and my own experience so far.
 
One way I sharpen my knives is by hand to a 15° per side primary edge on diamond plates, usually 320 grit, followed by 600, and once it is apexed, I do a few light passes on the gray colored Spyderco "brown" rods for the SharpMaker at 20° per side for some toothy microbevel action. The other way is I eyeball approximately 15° per side on the grinder using 120 grit ceramic belts, followed by 240 grit, then refined on the fine scotchbrite belt. I do this on either the platen or the slack portion of the belt, depending on the knife. After that I still microbevel to 20° as aforementioned. I usually strop also on a leather hanging strop. These edges are toothy, but smooth and quite sharp. They get the job done.
 
MtnHawk1 said:
Doesn't the stropping remove or diminish the toothyness?

As Rhinoknives1 said, Stay Safe!
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My Pal “Horsewright” added what I didn’t put in my post to the OP, besides removing the burr, polishing/Stropping with Green Chrome Compound , it polishes the apex of the edge so you has an area to start your initial cut with the teeth at the heel of the edge to follow on a draw cut!
 
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Horsewright said:
Big advocate of a toothy edge. Every knife I ship has one. Just cuts real life stuff in the ranching world better. Try cutting a calf with a polished edge. Slides all over the place without cutting. Ask me how I know.
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This!!

When cutting calves, my edges touched up on a diamond stone cut much better than ones I hage taken up through the medium and fine ceramic sticks and stopped.

Also, tomatoes and other foods cut better with a toothy edge. Bread too.
 
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