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Wow....knife sharpening

disappoint

disappoint

Lifer
I've never seen anyone actually drop a hair on a knife and have it cut.

Actual hair splitting sharpness?

The Wicked Edge sharpening system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23dau4JyGIU

Too expensive though. I think waterstones in the 1000-2000 grit and 6000-8000 grit followed by leather strop would be much cheaper.

I like how he puts a mirror shiny edge on that knife though.
 
you probably learn to be real careful around the edge very quickly with that thing


jesus that's at least $275?

i'll stick to my cheap diamond sharpener and steel
 
lxskllr said:
Too sharp. Sharpening to that extreme makes the blade dull faster.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that, but you are right that by just cutting that paper at the end of the video he probably took the sharpness level back 5 steps.

10,000 grit and then on to strops?
 
Squisher said:
I don't know about that, but you are right that by just cutting that paper at the end of the video he probably took the sharpness level back 5 steps.

10,000 grit and then on to strops?
Click to expand...

What kitchen duty requires that kind of edge? If sharpest always == best, then axes would get an edge like that. He probably had that edge sharper than I put on my straight razor.
 
disappoint said:
I've never seen anyone actually drop a hair on a knife and have it cut.

Actual hair splitting sharpness?

The Wicked Edge sharpening system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23dau4JyGIU

Too expensive though. I think waterstones in the 1000-2000 grit and 6000-8000 grit followed by leather strop would be much cheaper.

I like how he puts a mirror shiny edge on that knife though.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, what he was doing w/ that hair wasn't considered "hair splitting". Hair splitting would be if he took that hair and held it vertically and lowered it along the blade which in turn cut the hair in half. That's far more difficult than holding it horizontally and just cutting it in half.

That thing was still super sharp though.
 
lxskllr said:
What kitchen duty requires that kind of edge? If sharpest always == best, then axes would get an edge like that. He probably had that edge sharper than I put on my straight razor.
Click to expand...

Axes chop wood. Kitchen knives like that cut tomatoes, onions, carrots, slice meat, etc. Big difference in hardness and type of cut.
 
slag said:
Axes chop wood. Kitchen knives like that cut tomatoes, onions, carrots, slice meat, etc. Big difference in hardness and type of cut.
Click to expand...

Still too sharp. The edge will fold almost immediately, and nullify 3/4 of the work put into it. That's nothing but a visual gag, and a shill for a sharpening system almost no one needs.
 
lxskllr said:
What kitchen duty requires that kind of edge? If sharpest always == best, then axes would get an edge like that. He probably had that edge sharper than I put on my straight razor.
Click to expand...

Absolutely nothing. Nothing I can think of off hand. Maybe if you're slicing open individual cells under a microscope you might need something like that. But, we're talking about 61 Rockwell steel here. It is never going to maintain that edge for very long at all, single cells, single use.
 
Squisher said:
I don't know about that, but you are right that by just cutting that paper at the end of the video he probably took the sharpness level back 5 steps.
Click to expand...

If you examine the blade under a microscope, a sharpness level like that will be evidenced by the knife coming to an extremely fine point. The steel comes to such a fine point that that the apex of the blade is weak and unsupported by the rest of the blade. Realistically most knives(especially cheap knives) cannot hold such a fine point forever and are prone to breakage. Knives made out of exceptionally durable and quality steel may be an exception.

When a blade sharpened to such a degree breaks, it becomes jagged and can be seen at magnification. You can even feel it by dragging a blade over a fingernail and feeling the roughness.

Better to sharpen a knife to a more reasonable degree which doesn't weaken the blade so much.

lxskllr said:
Still too sharp. The edge will fold almost immediately, and nullify 3/4 of the work put into it. That's nothing but a visual gag, and a shill for a sharpening system almost no one needs.
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
That's pretty cool. As others said, it's impractical for any kind of use I can think of though. I use knives every day to cut leather for repairing shoes and boots and I don't even use the smooth side of the whetstone to sharpen them. It's better if they're "rough sharp" if you want to hold an edge for more than a couple of cuts.
 
If I remember correctly then the story goes that when a viking would test his sword he put his blade in a stream and let a strand of hair flow down. If the hair was cut it was a good blade.

it's probably just a story, but the ulfberht swords made in Scandinavia (most likely) were completely unmatched in the quality of the steel for many centuries. (the technology that was needed to forge the steel shouldn't have been around back then).
 
I will say that the wicked edge knife sharpener looks to be a really great setup, by keeping the stones working the edge at the perfect angle every time. There are others out there that do the same and a lot cheaper, but if I were to try to build my own system I probably would copy the wicked edge setup.
 
NetWareHead said:
If you examine the blade under a microscope, a sharpness level like that will be evidenced by the knife coming to an extremely fine point. The steel comes to such a fine point that that the apex of the blade is weak and unsupported by the rest of the blade. Realistically most knives(especially cheap knives) cannot hold such a fine point forever and are prone to breakage. Knives made out of exceptionally durable and quality steel may be an exception.

When a blade sharpened to such a degree breaks, it becomes jagged and can be seen at magnification. You can even feel it by dragging a blade over a fingernail and feeling the roughness.

Better to sharpen a knife to a more reasonable degree which doesn't weaken the blade so much.



Yep.
Click to expand...

You are confusing two different situations. If you sharpen a blade to a finer angle you will weaken it, but by just going to finer grits will not make it weaker.

If you look at blade under a microscope even a well sharpened blade will look like the ridge of a mountain. The reason a poorly sharpened blade dulls faster is because steel at the leading edge isn't supported by steel immediately surrounding it. By doing this super sharpening you smooth out this mountain ridge so that the leading edge is as smooth as it can be and thus steel crystals at the leading edge are supported by their neighbors.

Yes, this super sharpening will make a blade last longer, but the return on investment is probably a negative situation where you spent an hour longer going through all these steps to make a blade last 5 minutes longer in average use.
 
Squisher said:
You are confusing two different situations. If you sharpen a blade to a finer angle you will weaken it, but by just going to finer grits will not make it weaker.

If you look at blade under a microscope even a well sharpened blade will look like the ridge of a mountain. The reason a poorly sharpened blade dulls faster is because steel at the leading edge isn't supported by steel immediately surrounding it. By doing this super sharpening you smooth out this mountain ridge so that the leading edge is as smooth as it can be and thus steel crystals at the leading edge are supported by their neighbors.

Yes, this super sharpening will make a blade last longer, but the return on investment is probably a negative situation where you spent an hour longer going through all these steps to make a blade last 5 minutes longer in average use.
Click to expand...

I agree with what you are saying regarding the sharpness angle. The sharper the angle, the weaker the blade will be at the apex and that was where I was going.

Even if you sharpen the blade with finer grits, you are still removing metal from the blade, just at a slower rate than the coarser more aggressive grit. The sharpening angle still applies, no matter what the grit level.

You may be able to get a super sharp blade but at a less acute angle (in straight razor terminology: more towards a wedge shape instead of a hollow ground) and theoretically that should last longer. Regardless, all knife edges come to an apex regardless of sharpening angle. The ability to retain a sharp edge is determined by the metallurgical quality of the steel's ability to support such a small apex. Better steels can be sharpened "thinner" to reach amazing sharpness levels and retain enough strength to still support the edge. Cheaper steel won't stay at this sharpness level for long.
 
I just use a steel to put an edge on my kitchen knives before I use them. I can slice through a soft tomato easily. Sharp enough is good enough for me.

I was chopping green onion last night with my 9" chef's knife. Nice and thin, clean cuts, no smashing, no bits that weren't cut all the way through. That's all you really want or need out of a kitchen knife.
 
If you want to read about sharp then go get "reaper man" by Terry Pratchett and find the bit where Death is sharpening his scythe.
 
lxskllr said:
Too sharp. Sharpening to that extreme makes the blade dull faster.
Click to expand...
I didn't watch the video (at work) but sharpness is not necessarily proportional to bevel angle. A narrower bevel in theory is sharper than a wider bevel, but not if it is sloppily-sharpened.

I assume your comment was made because the bevel was very acute?
 
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