Sharpening 52100 steel? How to get it super sharp?

[mattrud]

Very interesting stuff. I sharpened both Knives that marko sent me before using them so it was an "edge" I was familiar with. But I did not sharpen them before sending them back, they were still in quite good shape after all the abuse. They were the only 52100 knives I have sharpened. I experienced no issues with sharpening them but would like to try more steel, I always need more steel.....

 

[Marko Tsourkan]

Point taken, Matt -

So, JC was over yesterday, and we sharpened a few knives in 52100 and AEB-L. We used JNS1K/Geshin 5K, and Bester 1200/Rika 5K. We compared sharpness to a knife Rick sent back with a razor sharp edge.

As suspected, loaded strops have pushed the 5K edge way past sharpness that I wasn't able to achieve on stones I have on hand, including J-nats. We didn't do as thorough a job Rick did (stropping on a loaded strop between stones), but the achieved sharpness was almost comparable.

It seems to me that stopping at 1K stone followed by stropping on a diamond loaded strop would produce an edge comparable to some sharpest OOB edges on Japanese knives.

Learned something new yesterday. Thanks JC for coming over and enlightening me about strops.

M

 

[ThEoRy]

I'd just like to say that I reaaalllly enjoyed sharpening your blade Marko. The steel moved effortlessly and the burr was always raised evenly along the length and as small as possible. With your blade it just felt like I was able to tune in to it's needs rather easily.

Something to be said for that. Whatever you've done with that steel, you're definitely on to something. It was a real joy to sharpen for sure. I look forward to more of your craftsmanship in the future.

 

[jgraeff]

Glad to know its most likely my sharpening skills

I will try it again tomorrow after another long shift still amazed by the edge retention I've been getting. The hardness I this steel is great!

I don't have any stropping compounds. But I do strop on each individual stone as well as using cork to help remove burr. If anyone has anymore suggestions on how to improve this please let me know. I am confident it's not the knife or steel but rather my skill level. I knew this from the start

 

[jgraeff]

Will try to upload a video of my sharpening so I can get some feedback from some of you guys out there.

Also is a stone worthless if it only produces swarf and water instead of mud?

 

[ThEoRy]

I don't think so. From what I've seen, the JNS 1000 preforms like this. Maybe someone who has used it can comment further.

 

[JBroida]

Will try to upload a video of my sharpening so I can get some feedback from some of you guys out there.

Also is a stone worthless if it only produces swarf and water instead of mud?

not at all... that generally means its a harder stone, but thats not a bad thing

 

[bieniek]

Depends to me if you talk sharpening or honing.

For sharpening when you only work on bringing two bevels to that "infinity" point of contact, you shouldnt have any mud, and thats the reason I love JNS 1k over King 1K. Its just so much better, even lightly soaked. I just cannot get it clogged up! I used range of steels already and it just keeps on cutting at steady speed.

For honing when you want to remove loosely hanging metal and polish the edge i always use mud, cause when particles break down you end up with grit range, not a single number. Result of that is tooth of different size, which results in longer sharpness retention.

I sold all my honing synthetic stones so I dont really care can you break down synthetic particles. But I produced tons of mud for working on Naniwa SS stones and the edges I got were pretty good. Not as good as natural, but pretty close, just different

 

[SpikeC]

"Also is a stone worthless if it only produces swarf and water instead of mud?"
Take a look at MC sharpening on a concrete block!

 

[bieniek]

Do you really believe he got razor edge out of it?

Cause he does

 

[stevenStefano]

I think for a 1k-ish stone it being hard can be pretty good because it is doing a lot of work so you don't want it to dish so much and you'll be going onto a softer stone anyway. I am far from an expert though

 

[jgraeff]

It is my 6k stone i am referring to. If i soak it for a short time it will produce a slurry of swarf and water on top but will not produce any mud.

If i don't soak it very long i can get it to turn completely grayish along the whole stone and it seems to build up more mud like liquid as long as i slowly add water. Im not sure if its loading up or if thats how i should use it?

Or should i use it with the swarf? I find that with the swarf it tends to polish more and be more toothy, if i use i the other way it is duller looking and much finer edge.

 

[Cipcich]

I'm not going to change the bevels on this particular knife.[/QUOTE]
I'd just like to ask if anyone else sees a possible correlation between the width of the bevel in question and the achievable sharpness.
There are a lot of reasons (edge retention, curviness(?) . .) to prefer one kind of bevel over another, but, just working on the back of an envelope here, it seems a wider bevel will yield a sharper edge, all other things (like sharpening skills, stones, strops, etc.) being equal. It may fold up under duress, but it should be keener. No? :cool2: