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Thursday SOTD Thread - Oct 05, 2023
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this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2023
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Here's some info for you to consider. The coarsest stone you use (3K in your case) should do all of the shaping. These means that the edge coming off that stone should be a finished edge, geometrically. Cut tests off of this stone are very important. It should cut like a finished edge. A finished edge will be more refined, and will provide a smoother cut, but only by a little bit.
I stopped using hair to test edges many years ago. Of course, a standard for testing is tomatoes or grapes, but you need to have them on hand, and there is variation in ripeness to deal with. About a 6 months ago I ran out of the paper I test with and moved to polystyrene packing peanuts. Polystyrene peanuts (not the "nicer" biodegradable packing peanut) have a "skin" and an internal cell structure. You need to develop a feel for this, but push-cutting polystyrene peanuts turns out to be a good method to test. When an edge is too dull, the peanut will offer resistance to the push-cut and will make a sound when you break the surface. When the edge is sharp enough it passes through the surface without a sound and with almost no effort. When the edge is ultra-sharp, it passes through the skin as if melting through it; an amazing feeling. I expect my coarse stone my edges to break the surface soundlessly with almost no effort, and my final edges to have that "melting-through" level. And, I sample test at 4 or 5 places along the edge from head to toe.
Good advice! I spent some time yesterday honing my Parker, and ran out of hair on my arms and lower legs (yes, I completely failed, and then I had to abandon). I'll try again next weekend.
Thank you! As I mentioned, getting the feel of different sharpness levels takes a while with the packing peanut method, but it is consistent, you can test the entire edge, and you can test at each phase of a sharpening progression without much fuss.
Thanks for the advice! I'll get myself some packing peanuts and report back 🫡