Knife sharpening question

[NikolaTesla]

I've been sharpening for a while now but with the stones I have I can never get my edge, really sharp.

I use 400 then 800 and a strop. This can shave the hairs on my leg which have already been cut with the knife.

Anyway I've used a window to sharpen my knife, and it gets it very bitey sharp, shaves with very little ease. But it seems to me that it can't carve and cut wood as well as a knife that I've sharpened and not been on the window to hone it, is there any reason for this.

Sharpened a normal knife, with a stone, sharp.

Sharpened a knife with a window, very very sharp, but not as sharp for wood.

Are these micro serrations (looks like a wire edge), it can't make a good featherstick.

Thanks.

 

[Adze]

What's the knife? You'll find a hollow ground knife isn't as nice to carve wood with as a scandi whereas full flat knives like an opinel tend to make better razors.

 

[Longstrider]

It sounds to me like you might be leaving a 'wire edge' or burr on the knife when you use the edge of the glass to finish it. This burr will be very sharp, but also extremely thin and weak. It would be able to shave hair easily, but the first time it touched something as hard as wood it would fold over and/or snap off, leaving you with a not so sharp edge on the blade.
IMO you can't get a better way to finish an edge than by stropping, but only do this once the honing process has left you with a burr-free edge. For the best results, the strop should be used to simply polish an already well finished edge.

 

[spandit]

I wonder whether you got it so sharp that cutting through soft stuff like hair was easy but as soon as you started cutting wood, it dulled the edge as it was so fragile

Edit: started typing this before the post above but looks like we both concur

 

[NikolaTesla]

After even chopping and carving, it's still sharp but I can see the wire edge on the knife. I passed it 10 times alternating and then it picks up the wire edge, some people try to snap this off? to make it sharp and last longer.