Messages

Thank you, everyone for all your advice.  With a better quality of light and magnification, using the trailing edge with a coarser stone setting and focusing on one side of the blade, I can now very much feel the burr!  You advice has made a huge difference and my faith is very much restored in this system.  I still have much to read and learn first hand, but feel that I am much more on track, all thanks to your insights.  Looking forwards to building my knowledge via your reading suggestions and this forum!

Thanks so much for the great advice, guys!  Definitely will try the coarser grind, trailing edge, getting a proper visual scope, and staying on one side for multiple passes - all of which I had not been doing!  These are great insights, can't wait to try them!   

A couple novice questions here, concerning the burr on knives.  I have been using a T-8 for some months now, mostly on kitchen knives.  Sometimes I can get a knife pretty sharp (cuts paper), but other times not so much. I generally shoot for 30 degrees (15 on each side).  Whether I make a single pass per side, or several passes on one side, then several passes on the other, I seem unable to detect the fabled burr.

I run my thumb or finger nail across the edge, anticipating a rough edge/catch, but I just don't feel it.  I went out and bought several magnifying loupes, but honestly don't see anything, either.

Last month, I went to a knife maker who demonstrated sharpening a knife on a type of belt device, and the burr on that knife was obvious. So I must be doing all sorts of things wrong. 

I think I have exhausted every video on Youtube and have poked around this forum as well, so any guidance on any of these questions is really appreciated.

Questions:
[1] Using the knife jig, do you press the blade firmly on the stone, or just lightly rest it against it?
[2] How many passes (back and forth) do you generally make until you feel a burr?
[3] Do you make several passes on one side, then flip the blade, or alternate every pass until a burr forms?
[4] I tend to keep the stone at the higher grit.  Should I be using the coarser grit?
[5] Is there such a thing as a general sense of how many passes (per side) it generally takes to sharpening kitchen knives? Five? Twenty five? I've honestly gone way past that sometimes in my frustration.  Feel like I'm flying blind....

Thanks for any info.