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Post by Lord Cobol on Jun 25, 2013 20:16:44 GMT
Lots of people seem to like to sharpen using sandpaper backed by either mousepad or thumb. Others say that is bad because the paper will wrap around the edge and dull it.
Is there any consensus? Or course not, but I'd like to hear more opinions.
I started with the mouse-pad routine and got so-so results. Same blades seem to cut a bit better if I re-touch them with the fine side of a cheap hardware store stone, so I'm tentatively on the no-pad side.
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Some people say that you should not use compound to strop an edge that might later be attacked with a stone, because wax from the stropping compound can clog the stone.
True? If so, does it depend on which kind of stone? Can you avoid the problem by trying to remove wax after the stropping session? Perhaps with acetone?
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Post by willhart on Jun 25, 2013 22:18:02 GMT
FYI...These are just my opinions, and I don't have a ton of experience as other people in this, but this is my answer.
There is no consensus on this. I can roll over the edge and dull it with sandpaper backed with a hard block. Having a softer surface that backs the sandpaper probably makes it easier to roll over the edge though. It's all about technique and consistancy/practice.
The whole point of using a softer back is it gives it a larger natural convex edge. Unless you're trying to reprofile the blade, I would suggest following the original grind.
Also I've tried to use Arkansas Stone and I have heard about clogging that type of stone because of how hard it is. Arkansas type stones are the cheap tri stone type things you see at Home Depot or Lowes. I've tried Arkansas type stone vs Japanses Water Stones, and in terms of time, the Japanese water stones wins hands down in terms of feel and how fast they take metal off. The only problem is they also wear down faster. Since they wear down faster, clogging them up won't be a problem.
The waterstones are more expensive, normally around $30 per stone, but you can buy 2 sided water stones 220grit/1000 grit or 1000/4000. But the 220 grit is only for changing the shape of the blade or taking off lots of metal fast.
If I only had one thing to sharpen with, I would go with a belt sander. It saves you a ton of time.
Unless you have someone there teaching you and watching what you're doing, you're not going to perfect any method first try so I would suggest trying it out on a machette or something cheap first.
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Post by Ulrich on Jun 25, 2013 22:39:52 GMT
Only for cheap garden tools I'd go for sandpaper or a belt grinder for sharpening. In fact I don't do so, cause there are stones for everything and I like to work with them. For an already sharp blade (sharpened with 1-2k grain stones) I use high grained stones (up to 10k grain, but normally 5k is enough) for stropping and a waxed leather belt for the last strop. For sharpening I'd only use sandpaper in a survival situation or on a medieval battlefield that shows up so very rarly these days
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Post by Lord Cobol on Jun 25, 2013 22:58:31 GMT
Yep, I've been practicing on machetes. Garden supply store near me has bunches starting at $7.29 All my practice has been either doing a convex edge on unsharpened machetes or touching-up factory rough-sharp edges to make them kinda / sorta convex. Started last summer, using mousepad + many grits of sandpaper. After I retouched 2 former-mousepad machetes I bought another dull one and convexed it with just the coarse-fine $6 Home Depot stone. I was spending more than $6 on sandpaper per machete, so looks like a stone could be a money-saver. And speaking of saving time, it was a *lot* faster than what I did months ago with sandpaper. My stone-convexing starts with laying the blade on the stone, blade facing me, with the back just slightly above the stone, then raising the back slightly as I move the blade away from me. This seems just as easy as the mouse pad routine, and probably easier than trying to keep an even angle the way the knife forums say. Then I ordered a Spyderco fine benchstone, but true to some of the less favorable reviews, it isn't quite flat and needs to be lapped. Plan to lap it with a set of DMT diamond stones that I will pick up in about an hour. Depending on how that goes, I may order a Spyderco ultra-fine and/or a strop and green compound soon... ... which leads to my next question / suggestions: Supposedly you can stop with cardboard instead of leather. Ok to use compound. The back of a notepad reportedly works better than corrugated cardboard from a box. Anybody tried this?
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Post by Ulrich on Jun 25, 2013 23:19:57 GMT
Never heard of cardboard use, but I've heard that some people just use the jeans they are wearing for the last strop (in case of knives). Havn't tried it, but can imagine that it could work.
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Post by L Driggers (fallen) on Jun 26, 2013 3:19:44 GMT
cardboard works great, I have cardboard wheels get up on a cheap bench grinder. Using green or white compound they will put on a very sharp buffed edge. Also use flat pieces to hand strop the edge with out any compound. Just make sure you get heavy duty pieces, and not the cheap chinese cardboard
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Post by anonymouse on Jun 26, 2013 4:26:01 GMT
The key is controlling the pressure applied. Too much and sandpaper does, indeed, 'roll' over an edge. A perfected technique gets results no less sharp than possible with stones (of equal or equivalent grit).
Weird.
3M wet-dry is generally $3 per pack of five sheets. If I'm only sharpening, not polishing, I get at least a couple dozen good usages from a sheet.
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