Deburring issue

Hi everyone, I am another new guy with a question about a Watanabe 150mm petty I've had for a couple months.
I cannot get this thing to hold an edge to save my life. I took a picture with lots of glare to try to show what's happening, but I can't figure out how to include it here. Maybe my "posting images" skills are related to my deburring skills :biggrin: I can get the knife pretty sharp, but the edge just buckles even after one light use

About me and my skills: I am a professional carpenter/woodworker with lots of experience sharpening blue/white steel Jp tools. I have a pretty decent selection of stones and feel like I know them pretty well. Knives aren't totally new to me, but I've probably only been sharpening for 2-3 years. I get good results that last on my other knives (a Yoshikane 180 Gyuto and two kind of generic wa-handled knives from Japan Woodworker http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product/ ... agata.aspx) so I'm a little curious about the fact that I'm having such issues with just this one. It seriously looks like I've used it to chop sand on a granite counter, which I have not.

Also... although I'm pretty sure this is a burr/wire edge issue, I also can't say I've been totally impressed by this knife overall. The fit and finish was kind of rough, the grind was pretty bad (see pic--it took me like 2 hours to flatten out the high/low spots enough to sharpen) and I had to pay extra to upgrade from a plastic ferrule, which brought the price up to around $200. I feel like maybe I could have done better.

OK, I'll try to wrap it up. I have tried EVERYTHING to deburr this blade after sharpening: edge trailing strokes on each stone, stropping, gentle slicing through cork, soft wood, felt block, you name it. Any suggestions?

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for a nice laser-ish petty, I'm looking. I keep looking at the Kamo R2 http://www.**************.com/kar2pe15.html. It just looks bad. But I'd love to hear from someone who's actually used one and has some feedback.

Any help you guys can offer is greatly appreciated.

Patrick

watanabe's blue steel lasts what seems like an eternity. see if somebody else locally can try sharpening it.
but it sounds like you already decided you want a thin petty instead of a robust one so it's really a moot point. sell/trade it and move on.

It seems like you have a good idea about what you're doing.

The most helpful thing for tenacious burrs that I've found is doing "horizontal" strokes on my final stone. I'll flip the burr a few times (stropping) in an attempt to weaken it and then pull the knife, burr side down, across the middle of the stone at the same angle I strop at. Usually I'll do this two or three times, just stropping once per side a few times before deburring, and then pull through cork. I find it helps a lot and is more aggressive in burr reduction then just felt or cork.

You might also consider sharpening at a higher angle and doing a microbevel to help deburr and give your edge more stability. Jon's video on this is helpful if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnFrjiAA_8

JDA_NC said:

It seems like you have a good idea about what you're doing.

The most helpful thing for tenacious burrs that I've found is doing "horizontal" strokes on my final stone. I'll flip the burr a few times (stropping) in an attempt to weaken it and then pull the knife, burr side down, across the middle of the stone at the same angle I strop at. Usually I'll do this two or three times, just stropping once per side a few times before deburring, and then pull through cork. I find it helps a lot and is more aggressive in burr reduction then just felt or cork.

You might also consider sharpening at a higher angle and doing a microbevel to help deburr and give your edge more stability. Jon's video on this is helpful if you haven't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnFrjiAA_8

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Nice. I tried your method and got dialed in with the magnifier a bit more, and I'm definitely seeing improvement. I just chopped a bunch of onions and carrots, and made sure to get some good, audible board contact (which I never do) just to make sure. So far so good.
Also, I checked out Jon's video... definitely educational. I think I'll take a look at some of his others.
Thanks for your help.

Lots of stropping on leather with a fine buffing compound has sorted out every form of burr I've ever encountered. I usually make some light strokes on my finishing stone and then strop on plain leather afterward, to avoid a slippery edge from the compound.

Yes that has been working for me as well. I have made 5 different strops with different compounds. My finest grit stone is a 6000 king.

Squilliam said:

Lots of stropping on leather with a fine buffing compound has sorted out every form of burr I've ever encountered. I usually make some light strokes on my finishing stone and then strop on plain leather afterward, to avoid a slippery edge from the compound.

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loves2cook said:

Yes that has been working for me as well. I have made 5 different strops with different compounds. My finest grit stone is a 6000 king.

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Nice, that's one thing I really haven't tried. I've used Green Rouge on wood, but not leather. Any specific kind of strop or compound that's working best? I've seen bovine, kangaroo... horse butt... And I think I've read some stuff here about Ken's CBN spray?

I just bought some scrap pieces of leather and I've used metal polish, green and white buffing compound and next I'm going to get some jewelers polish/compound and give it a try. I also picked up a leather strop made from horse which is suppose to be better quality. I have yet to try the sprays. So far I'm very happy with the results as I've practiced allot on my old knives. When my Tojiro Shirogami Nakiri 165mm White #2 arrives I'm going to put my newly learned skills to the test.