What stones needed to get really razor sharp knives

I

Iver Erling Arva

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Mar 26, 2019
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I have a Kasumi 220/1000 grid and a Naniwa 2000/3000 grid stone, and when I sharpen my knives I get them to be around 250-300 BESS. This is in the New high quality cutlery range, but a razor blade is more like ~50-100. Will getting a 5000/10000 grid stone help me get even sharper blades, or will this just get me a shiny blade edge?

Thanks!

Brgds Iver in Oslo, Norway
 
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Reprofiling an edge can increase it's ability to cut. Lower angles cut better but may be unsuitable for very tough tasks.
 
I should probably get one of those shapening guides to ensure a consistent grinding angle. But are you saying that I should be able to get close to BESS 50 with the stones I have?
IVer
 
I'm not sure it's about the stones as much as it is about your technique with Apex formation and Bur removal. Refinement can definitely help too. Check out science of sharp blog for the close up sem images of edges.

The stones can matter depending on the steel choice. Ie going sub 3 micron on carbide rich steel high in Vanadium is going to net you better results on diamonds.

I don't have a bess because they are very flawed testers, so I am assuming.
 
Practice is the key,just lower the angle of grind and give it nice inclusive invisible secondary edge,will whittle hair and still be strong enough.
 
Iver Erling Arva said:
I have a Kasumi 220/1000 grid and a Naniwa 2000/3000 grid stone, and when I sharpen my knives I get them to be around 250-300 BESS. This is in the New high quality cutlery range, but a razor blade is more like ~50-100. Will getting a 5000/10000 grid stone help me get even sharper blades, or will this just get me a shiny blade edge?
Thanks!
Brgds Iver in Oslo, Norway
Click to expand...

Before I researched the burr formation, we thought exactly like you, that coarser grits give a thicker edge, and the purpose of working the edge through progressively finer grits is to thin the edge to make it sharper. That turned out to be an errancy.
You often get a razor sharp apex right behind the burr even off the #200-300, and for sure after your Naniwa 2000/3000. We only have to deburr cleanly without rounding the very apex, and expose that 0.1 micron razor edge that is there already.

Knife sharpening is all about deburring.
Newbie sharpeners often consider deburring as an unimportant non-value-adding operation. In reality, edge sharpness and longevity depend on proper deburring, and compared to bevelling and edge-setting (apexing), the deburring is more challenging because the edge is worked in the area only a few microns in height and submicron in thickness.

Our deburring methods are detailed in the Knife Deburring book - the shortened version is available for free on our website http://knifegrinders.com.au/Manuals/Knife_Deburring_book.pdf

We deburr using powered equipment on felt and paper wheels.
But if you deburr manually, I honestly recommend you to obtain the "Washboard Sharpening System" from HeavyHanded on this forum - we improved sharpness after we applied his "washboard" principle to our wheels -
http://www.washboardsharpening.com/store/p2/Washboard_Sharpening_System.html
 
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Thank you very much for that! Very helpful, indeed!

All the best from IVer in Oslo , who is going to take a serious look at his grinding technique.
 
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