I have done a similar thing as you with some of my knives that I want to have a nice polished edge with some bite. I'll polish them up at a shallower angle then put a micro bevel on the knife with the desired edge I want.
Also I hear a lot of talk about rounding the edge stropping, and I think of rounding the edge as the micro convexing that occurs, and rolling the edge to be the bad one. You definitely don't want to strop and roll the edge. To me I think rounding is ok. Did we all get the two terms mixed up at some point, or is it not good to round the edge now either?

Yeah... defining terms is real important.

Convexing, in my frame of reference is sort of rounding the bevel but keeping the edge of the edge at a very small width (Sharp). Rounding the "edge" would be something entirely different. If the edge of the edge was rounded (meaning semicircular, rather then a very thin line approaching zero thickness) this would certainly not be a good thing in my interpretation, at least. OTH, I have read of those that will not strop because they believe that a stone is the best way to get the sharpest edge of the edge....
(???) I think of rolling the edge as what happens under pressure when the edge loses integrity and bends over on itself. While creating a burr may be similar, it doesn't look or feel the same. Yes rolling the edge is bad, but I usually don't think of that happening while sharpening.

I find that stropping, with the resultant convexing, improves the edge for about anything that I am doing. But that is what I am doing and using my techniques... different for each intended use by the grit I use for the stropping stage. As I mentioned, the next purchase I want to make is of some of the coarser compounds. I really would like to see what the 15 micron CBN on leather does after the 1000 grit plates (7 micron). As is, I am using the 6 micron DMT paste on leather when I want a utility edge that will cut plastic and rope well, and it seems to refine the edge (convexed) but still leave it quite agressive. Interestingly. I have actually increased the angle by a half degree when using the 6 micon paste...

I am hoping that when Clay is back from his other job he will mention what this means to him...
I think that the term, rounding, was applied by somone commenting on ,specifically, one of his migrographs.

AND more importantly what he specifically was trying to do by reducing the angle when he strops.
He does all kinds of different things to see how they work. I don't know if he ever said that he got something that he wanted with the technique. For a long time now, he has been a proponent of stropping and reported some great results from doing it, including on some esoteric knives with specific requirement for the end use.

Interesting thoughts though... and makes for a good discussion !

Somebody said once "words mean things". Which is great as long as everyone agrees on the meanings when having a discussion!

Phil

WayneReimer wrote:



Hey Wayne, I read in a thread on Bladeforums a while back that J. Ankerson and some other guys actually get some of the best cutting performance and edge retention as well by sharpening just like you describe.

Putting that toothy micro-bevel on a polished back bevel was supposedly a very good way to sharpen your edc for maximum performance and retention during both slicing and push cutting.

I think you stumbled on to a good thing.

[
Hey Wayne, I read in a thread on Bladeforums a while back that J. Ankerson and some other guys actually get some of the best cutting performance and edge retention as well by sharpening just like you describe.

Putting that toothy micro-bevel on a polished back bevel was supposedly a very good way to sharpen your edc for maximum performance and retention during both slicing and push cutting.

I think you stumbled on to a good thing.[/quote]

Isn't that interesting! Maybe I did...? I used the knife off and on all day, and I'm very pleased with the way it's performing so far. Things like this are one of the reasons I am really enjoying the WE. It lets you experiment with things a lot more without the time investment that free hand sharpening would demand.

It's also such a noticeable improvement over other "systems" and various sharpening "enhancements". I got this particular knife from another knife lover. He told me he'd sharpened it with a crock stick and was really pleased with the edge it had, and how well it had lasted.

It was sharp when I got it. 15 minutes later, it was SO much sharper, and I hadn't even stropped the blade at that point.

The SJ75 is such a fantastic little EDC knife, I'd really like to find the optimal progression for this edge. It's a small knife that cuts awfully big right out of the bag...being able to really fine tune the edge will really make it a "wicked" little everyday knife

PhilipPasteur wrote:


I'm not sure the results are as dire as you make them sound, Phil. I'm no expert at reading photo micrographs but the edges Clay posted look (to me) to have turned into a micro convex. Seems like they'd still be sharp but putting a bit more metal behind the edge would increase their durability.

Just a thought....

Ken

WayneReimer wrote:


That is an interesting looking knife.

You might want to look at this thread, talks a bit about microbevels... wickededgeusa.com/index.php?option=com_k...d=2271&Itemid=63