Show your Paper Wheel edges

[djones]

I bought a set of wheels because of your posts. There is a learning curve and my results varied from knife to knife. None of my edges were of the quality of the ones in your photos, but some were very good. All were sharper than I could do with stones and took minutes not hours. And this was the first day.
Thank you for bringing sharpening wheels to my attention.

[kwackster]

Good to read about your positive experiences thus far, and do post some pictures of your edges.
I'm sure others would like to see them just as much as i do.

[kwackster]

Italian made A.G.A Campolin Maltese stiletto from a collector.
The knife was recently bought brand new from a foreign shop, but it came with quite a lot of blade play, a very rough ~55 degrees inclusive "edge" with a big burr still attached to it, and no point at all.
Also both sides of the blade aren't mirror images of each other, with a center ridge that is off a bit on one side.
Anyway, especially the lack of a point bothered the owner, the bad edge came in second, and fixing the blade play will probably be a job for another day.
This is how the knife looked before resharpening:










And how the knife looks now.
While keeping the edge angle about the same so the bevels would not widen too much per owner's request, i resharpened the main edge completely and the bayonet grind only superficially to come to a sharp point with a 15 micron diamond compound Paper Wheel, then cleaned up the bevels a bit and removed the tiny burr with a 1.0 micron diamond compound Paper Wheel.
The edge angle again measures ~55 degrees inclusive, yet the new apex is just sharp enough to shave the hair on the back of my hand a bit on skin level.

[kwackster]

The first owner of this small Sebenza apparently thought it a good idea to use the knife for sharpening practice in his new Wicked Edge.
The outcome made him sell the knife for a measly 150 Euro's to owner number two, who sent it to me with the request to tidy things up a bit and give it a bit of a shiny edge.

Below is what the knife looked like when i received it, still with it's very rough and partly unapexed "edge", and with an edge angle of ~40 degrees inclusive at the straight part of the edge, changing into ~45 degrees inclusive from belly to point.

[kwackster]

After reprofiling & sharpening on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound, then deburring and polishing it a bit with a second Paper Wheel coated with 1.0 micron diamond compound.
The new edge is a bit convex, and measures ~30 degrees inclusive on the straight part of the edge, changing into ~35 degrees inclusive from belly to point.
This to avoid widening the bevels there too much, as this blade is relatively thick behind the edge in that area.
The last picture shows a small facet at the heel which has an entirely different angle, so i could not remove it without making things worse.
Visually it's not perfect yet treetopping sharp, and the owner was happy.







photo link code

[djones]

Hello,
I am curious about your fee. I realize it would depend upon the blade, but could you say for instance how much some of your posted work would be?
I have a set of paper wheels and love them. I can get a great edge on any blade if it is profiled properly, but most blades have terrible profiles and the "profiling" part that you do, requires much more skill than I possess.
You do fantastic work.
Thanks
Dan

[kwackster]

Hi Dan, thanks for the kind words.
The thing is that i'm in the Netherlands in Europe, and i assume you are in the US ?

[djones]

Yep,
Good ol' U.S.A.
I should have known.
Thanks
Dan

[kwackster]

For all members in the US i would highly recommend Josh from Razor Edge Knives: http://www.razoredgeknives.com/
Not only does he have all the necessary skills & machinery, he is also a genuine knife aficionado & allround nice guy.

[kwackster]

User LH Sebenza Micarta with it's blade made from Devin Thomas stainless basketweave damascus (AEB-L and 304)
Reprofiled & sharpened the old slightly convex edge with it's apex @ ~40 degrees inclusive into a new slightly convex edge with an apex @ ~30 degrees inclusive on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound, then removed the extremely fine burr on a piece of copypaper with a dab of 0.25 micron diamond paste.
The new apex is reverse chest hair whittling sharp and the new point is also quite close to being centered again.
To my functioning eye the bevels look near-mirror like, but the camera sees a bit blotchy scratch pattern due to the different layers in the damascus steel.

Before:










After:

[kwackster]

For people using diamond compounds on Paper Wheels like i do; give Nano-Oil 5 weight a try.
I have been using this oil exclusively for quite a few years now, and so far it's the best i've come across.
It remains speculation if that is because of the special "fullerene" additives or something else entirely, but it seems to make the diamond particles cut cleaner than anything else i've experimented with.
Certain steels like ZDP-189 and S35VN come off the 15 micron diamond compound wheel completely burr-free and ready to use, which is something i've never been able to do with any other oil type.

[LaneLander]

I've not heard of this and now I am happy to say that I am glad that I did. I will need to look into this process as I would like it for one of my knives. While I am sure I could figure it out to do myself I think the research will be more fun. Great topic and wonderful images. they all look extremely sharp.

[kwackster]

To get an idea about how sharp these Paper Wheel edges can be have a look at this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25997

[kwackster]

A small black ceramic backlock folder without any markings (Böker ?) i did in 2013.
This well made knife had practically no edge and no point to speak of when i received it, and even opening mail with it was difficult.
I used the Tormek Blackstone graded to around 1000 grit for freehand reprofiling, followed by 3 Paper Wheels coated with 15, 6.0 and 3.0 micron diamond compounds for refining & polishing.
The new edge fits in the 30 degrees inclusive slot on my Tormek angle gauge, is slightly convex, and can shave the hair on my leg in both directions.









Specs:

Length open: 4.72 inches (12,0 cm)
Length closed: 2.76 inches (7,5 cm)
Blade material: black zirconium oxide
Blade length: 1.57 inches (4,5 cm)
Blade thickness: 2,0 mm
Handle material: Ivory Micarta & Nickel Silver bolsters
Weight: 61 grams

[kwackster]

A niece of mine is an avid amateur Chef (but not yet a knife afi), and this black ceramic knife (a rebranded Kyocera) is one of her favorites in the kitchen, as due to the tougher blade material the edges can be made thinner and thus the knife cuts better than a white ceramic version.
Longtime use however (not always on a suitable cutting board) plus storing it unprotected in a drawer between a bunch of steel bladed knives had blunted the edge to a point next to unusable, complete with quite a lot of (micro) chips and a broken tip.

This is the knife as it was when i received it.
(when you click the pictures 2 x you can see the chips clearly)









This is the knife after sharpening.
I reprofiled the rather bad factory edge to an ever so slight convex edge of +/- 25 degrees inclusive, and the sharpness is just hairwhittling (only towards the root, not to the point)
It easily slices single layer toiletpaper (torn apart 3-layered version) and a tomato of course.
Removing the chips and setting the new bevel was done with a Tormek T7, refining & convexing with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and semi-polishing with a second Paper Wheel coated with 6 micron diamond compound.










Specs:

Overall length: 11.0 inch (28,0 cm)
Blade length: 5.8 inch (14,8 cm)
Blade thickness: 1,84 mm
Blade type: black ceramic / saber-hollow
Thickness behind the edge: 0,4 mm

The first clip shows the slicing of a piece of standard 3-layered toilet paper, for the second clip i peel off 1 layer and slice the remaining 2 layers, and the third clip shows the slicing of just the remaining single layer of toilet paper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubg_drYHoKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUkKfwGFogY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSkxPA9BK8E

Slicing a tomato:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3-A0SMcIbw