Paper Wheels

[kwakster]

Also an older one: a DPX Hest folder with D2 steel blade from a Dutch forum member.
This one was reprofiled to an ever so slight convex edge of between 25 and 30 degrees inclusive on a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit, then refined on a second Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond paste, and finally i removed the very small burr on the Tormek leather wheel.






Close-up of the 15 micron finish:

[kwakster]

Another earlier one, this time a user Spyderco Military in S90V steel from a Dutch forum member who requested a little more bling.
First i used a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit, followed by a second Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond paste as well as a third Paper Wheel with 6 micron diamond paste, after which the tiny burr was removed on the Tormek leather wheel.
It's not a true mirror edge, as with the magnifying glass in my Victorinox SwissChamp i can still see fine scratching, but with the naked eye it's close.
Sharpness is hairwhittling (both to and from the root) and it can also slice single layer toiletpaper with ease.

[kwakster]

A Strider SMF with S110V blade from a Dutch forum member.
According to my Tormek angle gauge the old edge measured ~ 40 degrees inclusive from the heel to half an inch before the tip where it changed into 45 degrees inclusive.
The owner uses this knife mostly to cut various kinds of green wood & twigs in horticulture, and had already tried his hand at reprofiling the edge himself with a DMT Diafold.
Together we came to the conclusion that the edge could do with a full reprofiling, as well as with a finer edge finish to better suit his specific purposes.
BTW: the owner also contacted Duane Dwyer by mail, among other things to ask him about the hardness of this S110V blade, and according to Duane it measures 61 HRC.

This was the knife before sharpening:








After reprofiling & sharpening.
The new edge angle came out at ~ 32 degrees inclusive along the entire edge, and it can treetop armhair and slice single ply toilet paper.
Probably due to having the flu at the moment my hands didn't do exactly what i wanted them to do, and as a result i didn't manage to get both bevels completely symmetrical.
Grit progression: a Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC for reprofiling,  a second Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound for refining, and a third Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound for removing the tiny burr.

[Rossy66]

Thanks for the reply. The spyderco looks amazing.

[kwakster]

Some time ago i did this rather large Strider fixed blade in S30V steel for a Dutch forum member.
According to my Tormek angle gauge the factory edge measured 50 to 55 degrees inclusive and it wasn't very sharp either.

Grit progression: reprofiled on a standard Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC, refined it a little with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and finally removed the tiny burr with a third Paper Wheel coated with 0,25 micron diamond compound.
The new & slightly convex edge measures around 35/36 degrees inclusive, and can both slice single layer toilet paper and treetop the hairs on the back of my hand.

[kwakster]

A while ago i sharpened this Buck Hartsook in S30V steel for a Dutch forum member:





The edge was done on Paper Wheels with diamond compounds exclusively, and the new & slightly convex edge measures ~30 degrees inclusive.
Remarkably useful little knives with well hardened S30V steel.

[kwakster]

This brand new Endura ZDP-189 sadly had a less than optimal factory edge, and since this beautiful steel deserves better i reprofiled & sharpened it myself.

My guess is that these knives are belt sharpened and then have the burr stropped of on a buffer.
On this knife however it seemed like the buffer ran out of cutting compound (or the sharpener just did a sloppy job), as through my loupe i could see remains of a burr almost along the entire edge. (some of it is partly visible in picture 2)
Due to this the sharpness was of course severely lacking.
I also measured the edge angle to be 35 degrees inclusive, which i think is a bit too large for a folding knife in ZDP-189 steel.

Before sharpening:






First i removed the old apex by cutting a few times straight into a silicon carbide stone, then reprofiled the edge to a slightly convex ~ 25 degrees inclusive angle with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and then removed the tiny burr with a second Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
This leaves the scratch pattern created by the 15 micron diamond particles intact as much as possible, creating an edge that with the naked eye almost looks like a mirror, but which has the bite of a coarser edge.
I call this a "bling & bite" finish, and i have found it to work very well in EDC use on harder high carbide steel types.
It's also quite difficult to show correctly in pictures, as the lens of my cheap camera has a tendency to show more of the scratch pattern than can be seen in reality with the naked eye.

With the reduced edge angle & the much finer edge finish the knife will not only cut in a completely different league, it can now also be kept sharp on the 30 degrees slots of a Spyderco Sharpmaker or Lansky Turnbox.

After sharpening:

[kwakster]

A few weeks ago a knife collector asked me if i could sharpen the false edge on a Gerber Applegate Fairbairn folder.
On this knife the blade is completely shrouded by the handle when closed, so there is no risk of injury while carrying it.
The owner also wanted the new bevels to be a bit shiny.

This older YouTube clip by Nutnfancy showcases this mod:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR984DMcQ1o

This was the knife before sharpening:










And the result.
Ground the new bevels with a Rubber Wheel coated with 230 grit diamond powder, then refined all bevels with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and  finally removed the tiny burr remnants with the Tormek leather wheel & some 1 micron diamond compound.
The edges measure 35 degrees inclusive and are treetopping sharp.

[kwakster]

The factory edge of this Spyderco PM2 in S110V steel was barely shaving armhair on skinlevel, and according to my Tormek WM200 the edge angle was near 35 degrees inclusive.
The old apex was removed by cutting several times straight into a silicon carbide stone, and then i used 4 different Paper Wheels coated with diamond compounds (15, 6, 3, and 1 micron) to create & refine the new edge.
Normally i don't take high carbide steel types this far, but in this case i wanted to see how the S110V steel would do.

The new & ever so slightly convex edge measures a hair below 30 degrees inclusive, and can easily whittle a normal chest hair towards the point along the entire edge.
Thinner ones will sever immediately upon touching.
My cheap camera is not really able to show full details, but at least it gives some impression.










A Belgian member of the Dutch forum who's also into sharpening sent me a USB-camera as a gift, and although i still have lots to learn about what it can do i managed to take a couple of pics of the current edge on the PM2 in S110V steel:

[kwakster]

Here's one i did a few days ago, a Spyderco Paramilitary 2 in Elmax steel.
The factory edge had some light brown discoloration near the tip on one side, traces of some unknown black stuff that couldn't even be removed with acetone (visible in pic 1 & 3), and it could also barely cut copypaper.

This is how it looked before sharpening:





First i removed the apex of the old edge by cutting a few times in a silicon carbide stone, then resharpened it with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, followed by removing the tiny burr with a second Paper Wheel coated with 1 micron diamond compound.
This time i also polished the bevels a bit more with the same Wheel, just to see how the Elmax would do.
According to my Tormek angle gauge the new edge measures 30 degrees inclusive, can slice single ply toilet paper and easily whittle the hairs on the back of my hand from heel to tip.

[kwakster]

Did these chisel ground edges a a few years ago with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and then stropped the burr on the other side off on hard leather with some 1 micron diamond compound.
Both knives were quite blunt, one even more than the other.
The knives are owned by two Dutch Special Forces guys who used & sharpened them while on tour in Afghanistan, and they wanted the new edges to have a little bling.

[kwakster]

Below you see 3 different viewing angles of the edge i recently put on a brand new Sebenza 25 (which had a subpar factory edge)
The owner of the knife took the pictures with a very expensive Leica camera to capture the different looks this edge type can have when seen from different angles.
For obvious reasons i named this a bling & bite finish, and it performs very well on especially high (vanadium) carbide steels.

I first reprofiled the factory edge from 35 degrees inclusive to 30 degrees inclusive with a Rubber Wheel coated with 230 grit diamond powder, then refined it with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and lastly removed the tiny burr with a second Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
The new and ever so slightly convex edge could treetop the hair on the back of my hand (even whittle it a bit) and easily slice single ply toilet paper.
And this was after i tested the edge with a few firm cuts into the edge of a piece of laminated desktop.

[kwakster]

I own several vintage Gerbers in M2 steel, both outdoor & kitchen models, and this Durendal slicer model from the '60's does duty in our kitchen.
Opening all kinds of paper & plastic food packages, slicing bags with espresso beans, cutting up larger fruits like melons & pineapples, slicing bread loafs and hamburger buns without crumbling, cutting sausages, etc.
Not every day, but at least several times a week.

I bought this Gerber about 2 years ago on E-Bay completely blunt, so i reprofiled & sharpened it with a SiC grit Paper Wheel, then refined the edge with 15 micron diamond compound on a second Paper Wheel, and then again with 6 micron diamond compound on a third Paper Wheel.
The tiny burr was removed with a fourth Paper Wheel coated with 0,25 micron diamond compound.
The idea was to get something of a semi-polish that would protect the exposed M2 edge better against corrosion issues during kitchen use, while still having some degree of bite.

The knife was then used for about 2 years in our kitchen, and when not in use stored on a magnet strip on our kitchen wall.
After those 2 years the edge only had a few very minor dings/flat spots in it (in the tiny belly area), but it could still shave the hair on the back of my hand on skin level quite well with about 90-95 % of the edge.
When cutting tomatoes however the edge tended to slide a bit over the skin before it started to cut.
The main reason for this kind of edgeholding is of course the fact that most of the edge on a slicer like this never touches a cutting board, only the belly area does, but the M2 steel performed quite admirably in my book.

A few weeks ago i resharpened the edge, this time only with 15 micron diamond compound, then deburred with 0,25 micron diamond compound, as i want to try the knife with some more bite.
Will have to find out if there will be corrosion issues or not.
So far i've only used it on food packaging (both paper & plastic, no fruit or other things yet), but here are a few pics how the knife & edge look now.
The edge feels sticky and is still treetopping sharp.














Specs:

Blade steel: hard chromed M2 steel
Hardness: 60-62 HRC
Handle material: cast on aluminum, chromed.
Overall length: 11.61 inch (29,5 cm)
Blade length: 6.5 inch (16,5 cm)
Blade thickness: 1,36 mm in front of the handle tapering to 0,84 mm close to the point
Thickness behind the edge: 0,5 mm
Edge angle: +/- 30 degrees inclusive, slightly convex

[kwakster]

Did this user Spyderco PM2 in S30V steel for a customer who had seen pictures online of another PM2 in S110V steel i did earlier, and which are also somewhere in this thread.
The man wanted the exact same full mirror edge he had seen on the other knife, it had to be 30 degrees inclusive, and it also had to have a guaranteed hair whittling sharpness.
Of course i told him that this S30V is not the best steel for a full mirror edge, but it was what he wanted,

The old edge had a few flat spots and a bit of a rounded point from use, but nothing serious.
Total time i spent on this knife was one hour, in a succession of Paper Wheels with 15, 6, 3, and 1 micron diamond compound.
As a comparison: the same full mirror edge on that PM2 in S110V steel the man saw online took me two hours.
Most of this time is going into the many visual checks i do in between with my Victorinox loupe under bright light, not into the actual sharpening.

These are the quick pics i also sent to the customer, and they can be clicked twice for a bit more detail.
The owner was satisfied btw.

[kwakster]

Hinderer XM-18 Slicer grind in S35VN steel.
According to my Tormek angle gauge the factory edge angle measured between 45 and 50 degrees inclusive, while the thickness of the steel just behind that edge went from 0.7 mm at the heel to 0.6 mm at the tip.
The knife is going to be used as a hunting folder, and the owner had 2 wishes: if possible no visually wide bevels, plus he wanted to be able to maintain the new edge on a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

Before sharpening:








Edge reprofiled to an almost exact 35 degrees inclusive with a Paper Wheel coated with 220 grit SiC, after which the burr was removed with a second Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
The new edge is what i would call sticky sharp.

After sharpening: