Not quite, i can shave hairs with my knives when they come straight off the grinding belt. Polishing the edge may make it smoother, but not necessarily sharper. Nor does it mean it will cut better
EDIT. what Duncan said.
Another sharpening question...
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Not quite, i can shave hairs with my knives when they come straight off the grinding belt. Polishing the edge may make it smoother, but not necessarily sharper. Nor does it mean it will cut better
EDIT. what Duncan said.
Personally I just use my Japanese water stones 800, 1200 and 6000 (normally just the 1200 & 6000) and a strop on my scandi grinds as they get them razor sharp, perfect for wood working.
A tip I found out about a year ago that I found works is once you have used the nagura stone to make a paste on the 6000 and sharpened with it, clean off the 6000, then use the 6000 again without the use of the nagura stone. It not only helps with the polish of the blade (which is really all the 6000 is doing anyway), but I've found it gets it a little sharper too whuch is always nice.
I dont do the 'Ray Mears window bit' or as you should properly do it lightly over a ceramic rod to get it to have a more toothly edge or more grabby edge as I find just stropping is more then enough for my carving needs.
I do use a ceramic rod on my flat grind knifes though. Like my Enzo Trapper D2 flat grind. I don't bother putting to my water stones, all I use is a DC4 to sharpen it, then my good old strop, then about 10 light strops on my ceramic rod putting no pressure on it, barely even the weight of the blade. This gives it a great edge for working with. I mainly use that knife for food prep, infact its more of a kitchen knife for me more than anything. Using this technique it's plenty sharp enough to glide through anything from an oinion to a nice bit of beef, infact the first time I used it on a bit of beef really made me keep my finger out the way of its edge as it'd cut to the bone before I'd even knew it'd cut me.
Also I'd use a propper compound on your strop and you need to be carful about your edge angle when stropping as you can roll the edge taking it from sharp to blunt, not sharp to razor sharp.
Oh, one more thing which is probably the main thing practice, practice and more practice. Finding the sharpening technique that works for you comes with time. Personally I've been sharpening for about 22 years now and I'm still picking up tips here and there.
A tip I found out about a year ago that I found works is once you have used the nagura stone to make a paste on the 6000 and sharpened with it, clean off the 6000, then use the 6000 again without the use of the nagura stone. It not only helps with the polish of the blade (which is really all the 6000 is doing anyway), but I've found it gets it a little sharper too whuch is always nice.
I dont do the 'Ray Mears window bit' or as you should properly do it lightly over a ceramic rod to get it to have a more toothly edge or more grabby edge as I find just stropping is more then enough for my carving needs.
I do use a ceramic rod on my flat grind knifes though. Like my Enzo Trapper D2 flat grind. I don't bother putting to my water stones, all I use is a DC4 to sharpen it, then my good old strop, then about 10 light strops on my ceramic rod putting no pressure on it, barely even the weight of the blade. This gives it a great edge for working with. I mainly use that knife for food prep, infact its more of a kitchen knife for me more than anything. Using this technique it's plenty sharp enough to glide through anything from an oinion to a nice bit of beef, infact the first time I used it on a bit of beef really made me keep my finger out the way of its edge as it'd cut to the bone before I'd even knew it'd cut me.
Also I'd use a propper compound on your strop and you need to be carful about your edge angle when stropping as you can roll the edge taking it from sharp to blunt, not sharp to razor sharp.
Oh, one more thing which is probably the main thing practice, practice and more practice. Finding the sharpening technique that works for you comes with time. Personally I've been sharpening for about 22 years now and I'm still picking up tips here and there.
