I have had my wicked edge now for about three weeks. I have the Pro Pack 2 and also purchased the super fine ceramics and 5/3.5 micron strops. I have sharpened approx. 20-25 knives. These knives have consisted of kitchen knives, no name China made knives, Ontario RAT 1, import and USA Kershaws, import Spydercos, S30V steel Spyderco Paramilitary 2, M390 steel Spyderco Paramilitary 2 (blue Bentobox exclusive), and an ESEE Izula and ESEE 4. I must say all of these knives have came out super sharp! Where I am struggling is the perfect mirror finish. They turn out highly polished and I can reflect phone book text crystal clear in a posed photo. But...they are not perfect! In certain light or direct sun when I change angles of the blade I can see tiny scratches still. I spent well over three hours on the ESEE 4 and although I thinks it could slice an atom there are still tiny scratches! I have lapped my micro fine ceramics, have tried using a bit of soapy water with the fine micro as I saw Clay do, tried alcohol of the strops, tried the scrubbing, circular motion, and bicycle motion down to the lightest pressure and I still can not for the life of me produce a perfect mirrored edge to the naked eye (and my eyes are nearly 45 years old and not so good!). So...is it me? Are you folks able to get a perfect mirror finish with just the micro fine ceramics and stropping down to .5 microns or must I wait for funds to purchase some Choseras?

There's a lot to your question!

So far it sounds like you've gotten over much of the learning curve - now you're falling into the rabbit hole

The first thing is that abrading means scratching for the most part. You will most likely see scratches from one vantage point while another will show that same edge at a bright, spotless mirror. The higher you refine, the more mirror you will see. But there is a caveat - the more you polish, the more you reveal deeper scratches or errant ones from previous grits. This is where being OCD helps a little.

Depth and consistency of scratches plays a huge roll in obtaining this perfection, and everything is dependent on how well you "erase" the coarsest and previous grit scratches. The stock diamonds work very quickly to establish an edge, but the scratches are rather deep. Sharpness aside, the stock ceramics work well, but they need to work extra hard to get the polishing perfection you want to take out the diamond scratches. This is where the Choseras prevail - they scratch uniformly and also polish at the same time. You will see scratches before the 10K, but after the 10K, you will have a scary clean mirror (I told this before, but once when alone in the house finishing with the 10K Choseras, I looked into the reflection on the bevel of the knife to see someone else's eyes looking back at me!! It turned out to be my daughter's barbie doll that was on the other side of the table! Scared the crap out of me! )

After a good progression of Choseras, you can then further polish the mirror on the pasted/sprayed strops.

jendeindustries wrote:


True. If you're really out for a super mirror edge, I recommend the Wicked Edge pastes on leather after the 10K Choseras.

Great to have you back on the forum, Tom, by the way!

jendeindustries wrote:


That is one of the funniest things I've ever heard! Thanks for sharing.

Ken

KenBuzbee wrote:


While inspecting a mirror finish blade with low/medium LED flashlight and a 10x loupe, I blinded myself when the light hit just right and straight back X10 in my eye. I have looked at this light straight in the eye before, but not at 10x. I actually had to stop for about 30 seconds to recover. Either I need the loupe with built in LED or else start wearing sunglasses.

Now this is of a tree about 40 feet away through a window that needs cleaning with a screen on it. It is a bit washed out because I had a lot of light on the blade and it caused almost blled through or over exposure from the adjacent ares to the reflection, I just happened to mis focus enough to get the tree... In person, you could see individual leaves... I was real surprised to get the shot...by accident. Anyway, the edge was/is pretty darn mirror like, after just the 10K Choseras...