So I've been reading numerous posts with pictures, and especially Clay redoing the edge time after time on the same knife. I want to see pictures of knives all worn down to toothpicks.
You know you're doing it.....
Please share!

FredHermann wrote:


Amazingly, I have yet to wear down a knife really far. Probably the most worn are my pair of Benchmade Mini-Stryker 9500s - After numerous re-profiles, I think I've probably changed the shape of the blades a fair amount, but I worked on those very early on when I was just creating the system and seeing what it could do. Still, it's a great question. It would be easy enough for me to measure the width of the blade before and after sharpening and see what kind of metal loss I get. I'll try to remember to do that!

Thanks Clay!
I can't imagine there is much wear once you set the profile. I'm just curious because we all beat up a couple knives breaking it in, and watching you do your edge polishing repeatedly on the same knife made me wonder.

The little study I did today was pretty informative about steel removal - I was very pleased to see that hardly any metal came off when sharpening the new Shun for the first time. I wasn't changing the bevel and I started with the 600# stones, so more would likely come off if were changing the angle and starting the coarse stones. I'll try to get in the habit of keeping blade width records.

If you want to experience real metal removal, bring your knife to the "professional" knife sharpener I once picked.

This was the result:



The top knife still has the factory edge. The bottom knife was sharpened by this professional who shall remains nameless.

If you look at it more closely, it's even worse:



The black color of the edge also shows the knife has been too hot and that the heat treat has probably been completely destroyed.

The good news is that this result got me into sharpening my own knives and, ultimately, sharpening with a WEPS .

wow.. not very pretty, and worse on a nice knife.

At least, was it sharp?

Phil

Wow, hard lesson learned!

LMAO on the followup question though.

PhilipPasteur wrote:

The scratches from the belt are well visible... I guess it's a 200 grit edge or so . The best thing I can say about it is that it's convex...

DAUG wrote:

Well, it cost me a knife, but it earned me a hobby.

Knife sharpening using a WEPS for me is science (at least trying out new things and learning) and meditation in one. It's great!