want it sharp,need advice

J

Jeff S

Joined
Jul 25, 1999
Messages
66
I'm haveing some problems getting the edge sharp on my asymetrical edge badger attack and the basic 9.When I sharpen it the way i'm supposed to (ceramic rod , pulled away from edge flat side)it leaves a burr on the convex side , how do you remove the burr ?, every time I try it seems to dull.The basic 9 is not real bad but the badger attack is dull, I tried hooking it up to my lansky system and stropped the flat grind and it seemed to help, but I don't really understand what I'm doing wrong, its the burr I think.

need some advice please.
Jeff
 
Jeff..

If you are raising a burr (I tried raising Burr,,but they all escaped):) you are doing Exactly what you are suppose to...

Now that you have the burr you need to get rid of it..You need to strop the blade on a piece of leather,,carboard box or your jeans if you can't find leather..

Load your strop with some rouge and strop that burr right off..

Your poor ole Badger will be hair popping sharp..Stay away from the Lansky...

All you need right now is that ceramic rod..Unless you've really messed up the edge by damage or the Lansky...

Once you get the hang of it,,your all set..Work at it..

ttyle

Eric....
 
Understand your frustration.I myself had the same prob at first w/my basic #5.Something I found out is that the steel is not as hard as you might have been led to believe.I approached it with the mindset of attacking a thick piece of 440 stainless,but its nothing like that.Do not oversharpen,very little effort is required.Also point the edge towards you if the edge is visible then you have rolled it over to far it should not be able to be seen when looking at the knife edge up.Next take your fingernail and rake it down the edge of both sides(spine up edge down)this will tell you as to which side is rolledover.This will tell you everything about the edge,slide fingernail not long ways but push finger away from blade as if whittlin backwards.Say it is rolled over on the right side(the assym side)then strop it away on that side thus removing the roll.Do not put to much of a slant on the sharpening side if you do you run the risk of blunting the edge and ultimately making it thicker.This will take awhile but remember to keep looking at the edge and do the fingernail test.After awhile you will be able to sit in the dark by the campfire and tell if your Busse is sharp or not just by using your Fnail.DO NOT oversharpen cant stress that enuff
 
Eric,

When stroping the burr you strop the same way you use the ceramic rod Right ? do you need a different angle when stroping the convex side ?I used the lansky to straighten out the bevel on the flat grind side, because it looked like I did'nt get the angle right when I was trying it so I straighted it up with the lansky, it really seemed to help, now it 's working pretty good. just not sure I'm removeing the burr correctly.I might also want a sheath made so the badger rides lower, It feels like it could be a rib breaker.Its a older style Busse straight handle with asym edge.

Marsupial,

I wish I knew what you mean by over sharpening it, I do understand everything else you are describing.

Thanks a lot guys
Jeff
 
OR.... you could do what I did with my SH-E!
I just couldn't get the hang of the assym edge, so I took out my Edge Pro, and turned the edge into a 20 degree V grind.
Now, all I need need for a razor sharp edge is a few quick swipes on my Sharpmaker.
Lenny
 
Jeff :

I wish I knew what you mean by over sharpening it
Click to expand...

If you hone the flat side to the extent that you have created a burr then you have oversharpened. Burr formation is to be avoided because it leaves the edge is a weak state and unless it is removed, which is not trivial, the edge will degrade quickly.

When the edge blunts, use a ceramic rod that has been freshly cleaned, and stroke using very light pressure, check the edge every pass and stop when it is sharp. if the rod is dirty, or you press hard, you will just roll the edge over without removing any metal. This just blunts the blade, and even if you align the folded metal the edge will be no sharper.

When using the clean ceramic, if you go to far and use that many passes that a burr has been formed then you need to remove it with an abrasive that is capable of cutting the metal, stropping on plain leather, cardboard etc, will align the burr but you *don't* want this, you need it completely removed. The burr is a very thin, wispy piece of degraded metal. It you leave it on the edge it will fracture and compact during use damaging the edge underneath and thus blunting the blade prematurely.

For high alloy steels the best stropping compound is made from CrO / AO mix. Lee Valley sells this in big green bars. It is both very fine (0.5 micron, 16 000 grit) and aggressive enough to cut the steel. Now since the edge is convex you will want the abrasive on something soft that has a bit of give to match the curvature, leather is good.

The problem with stropping, especially with high alloy steels is that the compound is not quite aggressive enough to cut the burr off right away. It will basically remove some but fold the rest over. Thus you have to keep flipping the blade over and stroking on the other side. The larger the burr you have formed, the longer this takes. You can actually just try stropping with the compound right away first and not use the ceramic rod at all. It is a more aggressive technique.

Note that this technique (stropping) only works for so long on high alloy steels. Eventually you will want to recreate the entire edge fresh as neither the stropping compound nor a fine ceramic rod will aggressively expose fresh carbides. Eventually you will note that the edge loses aggression. To sharpen then just strop using a coarser compound (5-15 micron, SiC), or similar grade sandpaper.

You can also of course freehand the whole thing using flat stones but this takes a much greater skill.

-Cliff
 
Cool Thanks Everyone , I really appreciate it. I'm getting the hang of it now.

Jeff
 
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