Things are getting a little slow around my neck of the woods so I thought I would have some brain teaser fun with all you experts out there.

Who can figure out this blade? What is it? How many bevels does it have, and how was the edge finished on each of those bevels? Let's ask this another way: If you were to set this progression up to duplicate this on your WEPs what would the specs be for it, i.e angles /grits /stones/ laps / etc... ???

I'll give it a go.

The magnification is 200x
2 bevels with coarse diamond stones.
What, at first, looks like a third micro bevel is actually black magic marker that was added after sharpening.

Primary bevel at 20 degrees with 100 diamond
Secondary bevel at 25 degrees with 400 diamond
No stropping
Knife is a Walmart kitchen knife.

I agree with Holymolar. He is spot on. He just made a mistake in identifying the knife. It's an IKEA chef's knife.

Burn the witch!
i totally dident see the marker.. thats just good!

OK,.. Time for a HINT:

Holymolar was very observant about the Black Line. He was RIGHT it is a BLACK Line, but it *was not* made with a Sharpie Marker. The hint is that (read very carefully here-->>) the marking material was *applied* another way, not by a Sharpie...

Does your wife know that you used her mascara to put that black line on the edge?
I'm telling.
LOL

Well, it's been 1 week, and no one has really gotten close, or even tried to guess, so I will end the teaser now:

The Black line is a coating of PVD (vapor deposited) Boron Carbide, and the blade is an off the shelf item from Rite-Aid Pharmacy, it is a Double Edged Razor Blade... For those of you that are interested the BC coating provides increased edge life and lubricity.

That's interesting! How do you apply this boron carbide? And does result in better edge retention? And doesn't it make the edge duller? (It probably makes the edge thicker, but if that is only a few molecules, you probably won't notice.)

mark76 wrote:


You can't make that work at home, unfortunately.. it is a either lab / or industrial process. Requires equipment that is not usually found in the average garage or work shop. There are, however, coatings that you can apply at home that contain teflon and molybdenum disulfide, They are epoxy paint based, and would probably have very limited life on a blade, but it might be a fun hobby project to experiment with.. Try this source to get yourself a test can of the stuff..