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Sharpening– re-post to new blog

From a forum discussion;
[QUOTE=EdO]that I don't even know how to write a post about it. Sharpening .... Good grief, it ain't a dogone science. Just grab a stone or two and give it a go. A little practice and you'll have it. Don't worry about jigs and angles and all that nonsense. Just makes things harder than they need to be. If it cuts whatever your wanting to cut in a satisfactory manner, it's good. .[/QUOTE]

Damned right! edge bevels don't need to be even or any where near the same angle from side to side, or meet in the middle of the blade.... they just have to meet... That bloody simple. Hell, I convexed a lot of my main grinds down to an edge, generally you don't even need "bevels" with angles and such at all.

From ground to before heat treat "~1/2 dime thickness"; All my edges are run down on the sander to an edge, with little bevels that look good from side to side... for looks sake only. then stoned till(maybe 2min..) it glides through printer paper edgewise. A light buff on the buffer to remover wire bur, and makes a smooth shiny edge(mainly looks again). All of maybe 5min... no jig, no fuss...

There is a whole sub forum devoted to this over at KF... Fun to sit and read them debate on whether a 4000 grit water stone in this contraption applies a better edge that a 5000 grit oil stone in this other contraption. **shrug** **lol**

Oil stones, water stones, natural or AO, ceramic... **roll eyes** For heavens sake, grab an abrasive of some sort and rub it on the blade, so as to thin the side of the blade...when its thin enough, it will be sharp.

The only difference I see in different steels as far as sharp goes, is that some take a little more work to get to (and this is a personally subjective measure) "sharp". And some dull off a little faster, but this is a coin toss as to whether its the steel, or the proper handling of its H.treatment. **shrug** You can put a wicked edge on brass... but it won't be there long.

Here's one for you; I hear all kinds of stuff about D2 being a bitch to sharpen to a "razor" edge, and looses it fast, but holds an good edge "forever".

I received a knife in a trade recently(thanks Halfserrated!) that is D2... 5 min with a ceramic rod and my viking stone(mostly the viking stone) and it is just as scary sharp as anything else I own, ans shows no sign of dulling(been fixing all meals with it for a week; beef and grisle, sausage, and veggies). Can't tell it from any other steel I own.

G.
(boy, sometimes I really get goin' don't I? **shocked**)