Making sharpening progress...

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rdor

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I thought this might encourage the newer, more inexperienced sharpeners. I've been sharpening for about 2 years. I only had 1 knife up until fairly recently, so I haven't practiced a lot. I've been able to make the edge on my Miyabi Kaizen sharper than when I began each session--up until recently. My edges were not so good after a few sessions over the winter. I kept reading the forum and kept working at it until my edges were at least usable.

Today however, I touched up my new Gesshin Uraku 240 for the first time. I was a bit nervous because I wanted the edge that Jon put on to last as long as possible and considering my less than stellar results from previous sessions, I was a bit apprehensive. I went for it. I used the sharpie trick and proceeded SLOWLY. I used my Rika 5000 and to my delight, I could actually feel the bevel on the stones for the first time. When I checked my work, sure enough--I was hitting the bevels that Jon had set. This was very encouraging and I finished my short session and my edge was very good--probably my best to date! I went ahead and touched up the Miyabi as well and had equal results.

Lessons learned: Don't panic. Take your time. Allow yourself to learn--mistakes are no problem with the right attitude. Walk away when frustrated and come back later. Keep learning and be confident that you'll improve over time. Anyway, I hope this helps some of you. Thanks to everyone on this forum.
 
The sharpie trick is a great way to learn to hold the knife at the correct angle all the time. Works pretty good for fixing a drill press taper too, by the way, as I found out last week.

The only way to learn to sharpen is to keep trying and pay attention while using whatever "trick" you need to learn the muscle memory required to hold a constant angle. Once you can do that, you will find the correct angle and motions to get a super sharp edge. As in nearly everything else, practice, practice, practice....

It's a great feeling to get a good edge.

Peter
 
Yes. It feels great. Lack of practice has been my biggest problem. I only have 2 decent knives in circulation so preserving a "good enough" edge has been my highest priority. With my recent success however, I think I'll be touching up both knives on a more regular basis. This way, I'll be able to develop more muscle memory using stropping strokes on my Rika 5000. I was encouraged enough to attempt some older, cheaper knives and I was finally able to put decent edges on them(Hoffritz--10" and small petty)--I tried before but got frustrated with my lack of progress. :doublethumbsup:
 
I've made so many mistakes and I still am. Trying to re edge on a 4k grit was my most recent quickly aquired a 250/1k that did the trick.
I recently realised why I was leave massive scratches on my once nice 33layer petty among others so now I sand the edges of my stones (thank you CKTG vids) I have recently started looking into the need for 'thinning' this has blown my mind.

I've also started to notice a micro bevel (can been seen when held to the light ) on my Global it's not intended and I think I've done this by poor use of the steel or poor sharpening (which I do once a fortnight .
We just need to keep learning and watching videos from plp who will have made the same mistakes
 
Just spent 45 minutes sharpening my beautiful petty and it will only just cut paper dumbfounded on what I did wrong... nice shinny consistent edge, good angle, deburred ... back to the drawing board more YouTube maybe 4k isn't enough hmmm
 
45 min? Oh my. Some advise. Build a burr with you mod grit stone 1K. Then only a few strokes from your higher grit. No burr and very very light pressure.
 
Attempting to grind a bevel with a high grit stone is almost always going to give you a rounded edge, it's not really humanly possible to polish away with a 4000 grit stone for 45 min without changing the angle too much. As Mucho says, you establish the bevel with the 1k stone, then polish the edge with higher grits. I do not attempt to produce a burr on anything finer than 1200 grit -- I don't want to remove enough metal for one to form, I just want to polish out the scratches.

I wouldn't make more than six or seven passes on the 4k stone on each side, less if you want some "tooth" to the edge. No significant pressure, all you want to do is shine up the edge and de-burr it. All the metal removal is done with the 1k stone.

Also make sure you are not rotating the knife as you move down the stone, you really must hold the angle constant in both directions. Took me a while to get it right, but when you do you will suddenly notice that you can feel when the bevel is flat on the stone and when you are rocking it.

Peter
 
I never timed but felt like 45min (just remembered I dud fo 10 mins work on my "project knive") it was pretty dull so I started with 250 got burr.. deburred the 1k got fine burr the did a bit on my 4k. I don't have a strop or ceramic rod to finish with.
I'm getting good results normallying but maybe I was tired from work etc
 
Been there, done that.

Sadly it only takes one "oops" on a finer stone to undo a lot of work.

My problem starting out was learning to hold a proper angle as I sharpened, especially when I changed stones. Once I got that under control, I do a decent job. Not wonderful, but all my knives are much, much sharper than before.

Black print newspaper works pretty well for a strop -- the ink is usually carbon black with a particle size around 1 micron, so a piece of it on something flat will do nicely for a finishing strop. Brown paper or cardboard is abrasive enough to de-burr on as well. I use green chromium oxide paste on wood -- you can get some at any hardware store, it's the #6 polishing compound for buffing wheels. Cheap enough, and the stick they sell you will last forever. I use it on a piece of 2x4 -- some day I will plane some really flat, currently it's just rubbed onto the raw wood and works fine.

Peter
 
.

Black print newspaper works pretty well for a strop -- the ink is usually carbon black with a particle size around 1 micron, so a piece of it on something flat will do nicely for a finishing strop.
I was told this when I purchased my knife at the wonderful shop japanese knife shop in Kensington ld uk (best shop ever I wanted £100 petty she was letting me play with £1000 knives ooooo pretty).
But she said on works on layered knives due to the molecular structure.

I do find this knive harder to get my edge right its not the 1st time I've had poor results with it (I have been ablessed get the edge back).
Its Possibly because it's the knive I need to sharpen least there for less practiced.
 
Carbon black won't abrade any of the carbides in carbon steel (or stainless, for that matter), but it will clean up the apex and smooth exposed steel. The only part of the knife that you are working the edge on is whatever bit of steel makes up the cutting edge, all those other layers, if present, are just there to support the edge. Some knives have cladding or one or more layers on top of the core steel, others do not.

Some steels sharpen more easily than others, usually a function of the size and distribution of the various carbides. Softer stainless is particularly abrasion resistant due to the fairly large carbide particles as they are harder than the base steel and are firmly held. Iron carbides in carbon steel knives are much smaller and dislodge from the iron matrix more easily, hence the knife sharpens more easily and will take a finer (read sharper) edge. Won't last as long, though, as those large carbides in soft stainless also resist wear in use.

Every knife is different, you'll learn what you need to do for each one with some practice.

Peter
 
Little update, my petty is back in business cutting magazine rolled over... not quite shaving or toilet paper but it's enough for me and my 4k.
Just needed a little angle readjustment a few strokes moving up the grit 250,1,2,4k (not a single newspaper in the house to give it a go)
If at 1st you don't succeed.... check your angle!
 
Chunky have fun with it and ask others if you can sharpen their knives too. You're still working it too much though. Try raise burr with 1K. Small but even. Then deburr and try to get the edge as clean as possible without over working it. Then just a couple of light light passes on the 4K. You're not looking to build a burr, your just trying to put little teeth on the big teeth. If you know what I mean. Each steel will tell you how much it needs. Then for future touchups just Strop on your high grit stone.
 
+1
Chunky have fun with it and ask others if you can sharpen their knives too. You're still working it too much though. Try raise burr with 1K. Small but even. Then deburr and try to get the edge as clean as possible without over working it. Then just a couple of light light passes on the 4K. You're not looking to build a burr, your just trying to put little teeth on the big teeth. If you know what I mean. Each steel will tell you how much it needs. Then for future touchups just Strop on your high grit stone.

Also just when you start to believe you know what you are doing ... send the same knife to Jon Broida (JKI) to sharpen and you can will then be appropriately humbled by knowing what you are really trying to achieve (which should happen BTW) ... seriously getting re-calibrated sometimes (IMO) is worth every penny ...

To Mucho's comment earlier though sharpen friends/family knives ... unless you are a pro you just can't get enough ...

FWIW - Great series of posts and updates ...
 
Great advice guys. Jki is a bit far from UK but I get the idea. I have done a few re tips reshapes of battered knifes for a few plp and and sharpened so other chefs knife to a edge that's please them (last one was a surated pastry knife and changed it to a 90/10 bevel slicing mostly as a experiment but the chef was pleased ) this one knife the one I care for the most and most nervous about ruining. But I'm glad Ive brought it back.
 
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