Refining Free Hand Sharpening Technique

[Bigfattyt]

You should be able to get hair whittling sharp with your current set up. I do, with a $15 Smith diamond and ceramic stick combo. My strop is home made, with harbor freight $3 stick of aluminum oxide (if memory serves correct, that has lasted me 12 years or so.

What steel, and what hardness are your knives?

With my more robust edge angles on my 1095 pocket knives, I can still get hair whittling.

It is true, that nifty trick does not last long, but i like to keep them there....

Here is my ghetto strop. Made from a broken belt, so not fancy. If you look closely, you can see a dark hair from my wife's head between the knives (lying over the top of the lower knife handle)

A little closer up, you can see about 7 curls shaved.

The strop is not bare, it has cheap aluminum oxide.


Also, the hair whittling was free hanging hair. Unsupported.

 

[Craig James]

Thanks, these are these knives:

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/tsuki-series-7-three-piece-gift-set/cr403

Supposedly up to 60 Rockwell. Not even close to that in my estimation. They’re VG-10.

I’ve been able to whittle hair since my original post but I need to use force to get the blade started into the hair, no chance of me doing it free hanging yet.

Still will keep practising. As many posters have stated no particular need for this type of edge for cooking; however I see it more of a test of my sharpening technique before I invest in some quality knives

 

[Wowbagger]

Get the knives you like the sharpening will come (be possible with better blades).
A hair whittling edge is not the pinicle of sharpening it is pretty easy to get a foily bur that whittles hair but then colapses under more vigorous use. If you are getting an edge that whittles with some forced manipulation getting the better treated blades just might be all you need.

Enabling ?
Nah . . . not me .

 

[Wowbagger]

Thanks, these are these knives:

Gee they don't look bad.
Haha they say the cladding keeps the VG-10 from rusting.
Oh well can't have perfectly accurate descriptions all the time.
I like the layered cladding just to look at. Desirable in my view.

 

[Craig James]

Damascus eat your heart out. You ain’t got nothing on these bad boys!

 

[bucketstove]

Thanks, these are these knives:

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/tsuki-series-7-three-piece-gift-set/cr403

Supposedly up to 60 Rockwell. Not even close to that in my estimation. They’re VG-10.

I’ve been able to whittle hair since my original post but I need to use force to get the blade started into the hair, no chance of me doing it free hanging yet.

Still will keep practising. As many posters have stated no particular need for this type of edge for cooking; however I see it more of a test of my sharpening technique before I invest in some quality knives

Hi,
congratulations
which approach did you use?
double angle deburring or increased angle microbevel?
stropping on stone then plain paper/leather?
stropping on mud coated paper/leather?
Something else?

now Try this,
go into kitchen and find
a ceramic bowl or coffee cup,
something with unglazed ceramic on bottom,
and give it two times one pass per side at your final sharpening angle (or +5 degrees)
and then try whittling hair.

Why the bottom of a coffee cup ?
Its free and available now, hard and not muddy, and finer grit than DMT coarse


If your waterstones are easily gouged soft muddy stones ,
it can be tricky to set the final sharpness
with the last 2-20 edge leading alternating passes,
even after washing off all the mud
To overcome soft muddy people
Strop on stone (edge trailing passes) then on plain paper..
Strop on paper loaded with mud or other compound..

Or finish with sharpening rods/triangles / Hard stones (under $5)

 

[Wowbagger]

a ceramic bowl or coffee cup,

I hear stuff like that and just go : ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? !
I mean . . . I mean . . . isn't the grit size just all over the spectrum ? Why do that ?
The same thing (meaning much better results) can be achieved on a ceramic stone that has super fine reliably formed surface preparation.

Soft Japanese stones are just the thing for deburing that softer stainless steel.
I'm a bit unorthodox and hold the stone in my hand while wearing a jeweler's visor so both of my hands are free and then I watch the gap between the edge and the stone and go edge leading while just barely touching down on the edge.
Only one or two passes per side then shorter and shorter passes until I am only going a couple of inches each side. That tends to debur the almost imperceptible bur and put on the edge Craig is after. A little edge trailing thrown in for good measure.

(or just freekin' use good steel on the Edge Pro)