Higher grits make sharper knives, right? Wrong!
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:48 amSo I stated in another thread that I own a Smith's Tri-Hone sharpener, which is 3 stones--coarse, medium and fine. So I was able to sharpen a dull knife with the tri-hone and I figured a higher grit and a strop would make my knife even sharper. I was wrong, and now I'm in the process of trying to figure out what it is that I'm doing wrong. Suffice to say I'm very discouraged at this point and am considering something like a Lansky system or similar but I want to get this right.
When I use the new stones, the 1000, then the 6000, the edge of the knife seems extremely smooth but it barely cuts paper. I used a homemade strop loaded with green compound and the edge is nice and shiny but I'm missing something somewhere. The edge almost feels rounded. Is that what is called a "layover?"
I'm doing one (or a combo) of the following wrong:
1--too much pressure
2--angle not steady enough
3--knife edge terrible to begin with
4--strop is rounding off the edge
Has anyone been where I'm at and have found a solution? I'm very interested if anyone would like to share their sharpening journey. Thanks!
When I use the new stones, the 1000, then the 6000, the edge of the knife seems extremely smooth but it barely cuts paper. I used a homemade strop loaded with green compound and the edge is nice and shiny but I'm missing something somewhere. The edge almost feels rounded. Is that what is called a "layover?"
I'm doing one (or a combo) of the following wrong:
1--too much pressure
2--angle not steady enough
3--knife edge terrible to begin with
4--strop is rounding off the edge
Has anyone been where I'm at and have found a solution? I'm very interested if anyone would like to share their sharpening journey. Thanks!