Yes it is all about understnding the system. You need to know the qualities of the steel that you are using, the blade geometry, how you use the knife (some folks just don't know the best mechanics of cutting) and the material that you will cut. I think there is no one pat answer to your question.

Your real mistake is not using thst pretty knife. You put the edge on it, you can do it again. Just use it and see how it does with the different tasks you need to do. You can refine it from there. But it takes some time and effort for you to tune it. If you don't use it, you will never know.

I have a few knives in S30 that I have sharpened at 16 degrees per side and taken to the 0.025 on nanocloth strops. I find that they cut very well for the most part. The sure will open boxes (cut tape or cardboard) easily and for a long time. They don't do all that well with harder materials like tie wraps... or anything that needs more of a saw (rope, tie wraps) than a razor.

Yes they get scratched quickly, and get tape residue all over them... and it hurts my feelings.. believe me!


I clean them with lighter fluid (naptha) and hit them a few strokes on a hand strop with 1 micron diamonds... The stay pretty sharp. When the scratches get bad enough, it is back to the WEPS for some water stone action.

AUS8A, well I still polish them at about 22 degrees per side, then add a couple of degrees and hit them with the 1000 grit choseras. These are typically more my utility knives. They will cut tie wraps just fine.. and saheve arm hair... and keep an edge well. Notas good as others for whipping up a salad for lunch though.

Everybody will have different advice on this... that is why the "can of worms" terminology. We can give you saome ideas, but you need to do the work to find out what works the best for your knives and what you do with them.

BUT, please, use your knife... you can't get there if you don't try to cut things...

Phil

PhilipPasteur wrote:


Phil,

I know, I know... It's like driving a new car home from the dealer. Maybe you know what I mean, you park at the far end of the grocery store so no one scratches it with their carts, or you park it in the garage instead of leaving it out. I love the look of the knife. It has a stone wash blade and it is contrasted by a beautiful mirror finished bevel, the best I have been able to achieve. But now, it is time to start driving it in the rain (so to speak) and I need to get a few scratches on it. Because that is why I paid the big bucks for it and decided to carry it to begin with. I have just been having so much fun achieving the best edge and bevel I have ever been able to create.

So now, on to getting some of the use out of it that I wanted to. It's interesting because Grayman who makes it is a military guy and makes his knives to be used under harsh, actually in theater war situations. He sends them out with a very very toothy edge which I polished and sharpened out.

So, consider me properly schooled. Not to sound like a cry baby, but I have been enjoying the sharpening for the sake of perfection on a certain level and now I need to bring some of the skill I have developed into creating a great all round use knife and maybe have it look a bit better than it did at conception.

Thanks for the bucket of cold water, I needed that.

Hey most of us did the same, it's important to stretch your legs (or arms, as the case may be) by seeing how far you can take that polish. You develop the skills you need to further experiment later, and sometimes make mistakes that thankfully the WEPS enables you to fix pretty easily! By exploring the spectrum of finishes you learn a little at a time which handles each job the best.

I was a bit vain over that Hogue, given it's still to date the most expensive knife I've purchased. After a week or so of oogling that nice mirror finish I went right back to experimenting, then to chopping saplings and using the heck out of it! The next one I get will see plenty of use too

Keep at it!

Hey Scott...

Yea, I understood the % sign... just not sure why you think that 16 deg. is a waste, or that you now need to go thicker. (I still haven't figured out exactly where the thread turned from "what grit level" to "16 deg is to shallow").

I don't think you now need to "re-profile to a thicker bevel", at least not without using the knife. The only reason I'd consider a reprofile is if the blade failed on what you're using it for, and a microbevel wouldn't correct it. If you've used the knife at all, you should see a huge positive difference between 30-35 down to 16 deg., and from your original post, what you want to cut, carrying this as an EDC, it should hold up fine.

You've already gotten a lot of good examples of finish levels to try, so no need to really add to it there. The beauty of sharpening yourself, is you can try several and find what works for you. Go as fine as you can/want to, and if it doesn't work for you, step down a level until you find one that does. If you like a polished bevel but some tooth, add a microbevel with a coarse stone, and you'll have the best of both worlds. etc. etc.

Hope this makes sense... or maybe I've lost the train of thought here.