Sharpening Made Easy

A PRIMER ON KNIFE SHARPENING - Chapter 4

by Steve Bottorff

Contents

Knife Steels
Sharpening Theory
Stropping
Using Steels
Power Sharpening Machines - continued
Paper Wheels
Sharpening ceramic knives

KNIFE STEELS

Traditionally knife blades are made from steel, an alloy of iron with carbon and
other elements. The steels used in knives are called high carbon steels and
typically have a carbon content of 0.5 to 1%. This steel in its unhardened or
tempered state is easy to shape by forging or grinding. It can then be heat-treated
to hardnesses suitable for knives. High carbon steel takes an excellent edge, but
it has no corrosion resistance.

Most knives today are made from some form of stainless steel. Stainless steel is
made by adding 12% or more chromium to the alloy. It is a little harder to work
with and sharpen, but it has the advantage of corrosion resistance. Because of
this, it will hold an edge longer in wet conditions. The term surgical stainless
steel is meaningless, because there is more than one stainless steel used for
surgical instruments. Other elements added to steel to improve hardness, toughness
and wear resistance are cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel and vanadium.

The most popular stainless steels in use today are the 420 and 440 families. A
typical kitchen knife will be made from one of these steels or a close relative.
They are easy to sharpen and have moderately good edge retention. 440C is an
excellent compromise of price and performance and is used by many custom and
production makers. 440C is slightly more difficult to sharpen than the others, but
has better edge retention.

If you buy specialty cutlery or a custom made knife you will have more steels to
choose from. ATS-34 is used by custom makers and by a few production makers,
notably Benchmade. Among steels, CPM-440V is the edge retention champion, but it is
difficult to sharpen. BG-42 challenges CPM-440V in edge retention, and is as easy
to sharpen as 440C. Only a few custom makers are using CPM-440V and BG-42 at this
time.

Powdered metal technology makes it possible to incorporate higher percentages of

alloying elements than will stay in solution in molten steel. Increasing desirable
elements like carbon and vanadium has created a whole new family of steels like
CPM-440V mentioned above. CPM stands for Crucible Particle Metallurgy, and CPM is
the pioneer in this area. Look for new knives to be produced with steels that start
with CPM and end with a V.

Steel is heat treated to control its hardness. Steel hardness is measured on a

Rockwell hardness tester. Knife blades may vary from about 55 to 62 on the Rockwell
C scale. Blades over 60 Rc are difficult to sharpen and chip easily.
Using combination of tempering and annealing, the maker tries to get the perfect
balance between hardness and strength. You want enough hardness for wear resistance
without being brittle. Cryogenic treatment, freezing with liquid nitrogen, is used
to quickly complete any further transitions in the steel that would normally take
place over time, creating a more stable blade.

Sometimes differential heat-treating is used to combine a hard edge with a tough

spine. Mechanical methods can be used to create this same effect. Laminated steel
with a hard core that becomes the edge and tough outer layers is available in both
regular and stainless. The samurai sword is a well-known example of both
differential heat treatment and mechanical layering.

Laminated steel is different than Damascus steel. Laminated steel has only three
layers, stronger outer layers for strength and an inner layer for its hardness.
Damascus steel has many layers, and is often chosen for decorative effect.

Another approach to knife steels has been taken by knifemaker David Boye. His
knives are made from cast stainless steel. His steel has a matrix of carbide
dendrites that are exposed to form a micro-saw when sharpened. These carbides are
highly wear resistant.

The search for edge retention led knifemakers to try the wear resistant materials
like Vascowear. It is used in industrial knives subject to high wear. Vascowear is
a high vanadium steel that has great wear resistance.

Another wear resistant material is Stellite, a cobalt alloy with about 30%
chromium, 3% or less iron and 1 to 3% of other elements. Since it contains so
little iron, it is technically not steel but a cobalt-chromium alloy. Stellite
tests at a low Rockwell C hardness, about 38 to 40, but it contains harder carbides
that do the cutting and retain the edge. Stellite will tie or beat CPM-440V for
edge-retention, but it is very difficult to sharpen. A cobalt-chromium-tungsten
alloy named Talonite is similar to Stellite. Both alloys cannot be heat-treated and
are non-magnetic.

Titanium is known mainly for making lightweight, high-strength fasteners for

aerospace use, but it is also used for knife blades. Titanium is favored for salt
water diving because of its excellent corrosion resistance. Like Stellite and
Talonite, titanium has a low Rockwell C hardness, but it has good wear resistance
and requires diamond hones to sharpen. Titanium is also non-magnetic.

Ceramic materials exhibit very high hardness and wear resistance. Boker, Kyocera
and others make knives with ceramic blades.

In the future expect to see surface coatings take a greater role in blade
technology. It is now possible to coat extremely hard materials like carbides,
nitrides ceramics and even diamond onto steel. This can dramatically improve edge
retention, and application of these materials to only one side can result in a
blade that is self sharpening like a beaver's tooth. And don't think the underlying
material will always be steel. Carbon and ceramic fibers have some superior
characteristics that I would love to see incorporated into knife blades.

The materials used for grinding are measured on another scale intended for
minerals. It is called Mohs' scale after its inventor, Friedrich Mohs. The
original Mohs' scale runs from 1 for talc to 10 for diamond. Scientists introduced
a new Mohs' scale that spreads out the scale between silica and diamond to make it
more closely equal to physical hardness, but it never caught on. Because the Mohs
and Rockwell scales use different methods they cannot be compared exactly, but
knife steel is roughly 5.5 on Mohs' scale and files are roughly 6. A chart at the
end of this article compares these scales and the new Mohs' scale.
SHARPENING THEORY

A knife edge 

Several things - blade thickness, blade shape, edge angle, edge thickness and edge
smoothness, determine cutting ability.

Blade thickness is set by the manufacturer and has a great effect of slicing
ability. Your hunting knife will never slice like a fillet knife or a kitchen
knife, no matter what you do to the edge. It is possible to change blade thickness
a little near the edge, but that can make a big difference in cutting ability.

Blade shape likewise is set when the blade is made and is determined by the usage.
For instance, more belly or curve helps skinning and fillet knives slice, while a
reverse curve is needed on a linoleum knife. Blade shapes like serrations and
reverse curves give an aggressive look to fantasy knives.

Serrations help with some cutting chores by letting the edge attack repeatedly from
different angles, always slicing the material a different point. This lets you cut
with less pressure. In my opinion serrated edges are desirable for three common
cutting tasks - slicing tomatoes, slicing bread, and cutting rope. Rescue workers
like them for cutting rubber and Kevlar. All other tasks are done as well or
better with a plain edge (sometimes called a fine edge). A plain edge is also
easier to maintain.

Sharpening is about the remaining three items - edge angle, edge thickness and edge
smoothness. Edge angle is measured between the center of the blade and the bevel or
flat cut by the stone. Most Western knives are double bevel, so the total angle at
the edge is twice this angle. Asian knives and woodworking tools are single bevel,
and the resulting smaller angle can make them aggressive cutters. That is why
sashimi knifes seem so sharp.

Edge angles can vary from 10 degrees to 40 degrees, but most are between 15 degrees
(fillet knives) and 30 degrees (survival knives). Different angles are suited for
different tasks. What's suitable in the kitchen will not do for camping. Twenty
degrees is about right for kitchen knives, twenty two degrees is good for pocket
knives, and twenty five degrees gives a long lasting edge to a camp knife. A good
starting point is to duplicate the angle the maker put on the blade. Edge angle is
difficult to measure after the fact, but is fairly easy to control when sharpening
by controlling the angle between the stone and the blade.

Any edge thickness under a few thousandths of an inch may be considered sharp.
Paper is about 2 to 3 thousands thick and will cut you if conditions are right.
Edge thickness naturally increases with wear.

Ideally the flats cut by the stone would come together to make a perfect edge with
zero edge thickness, but edge thickness is limited by several factors. First is
malleability, or the tendency for steel to move when it is pushed. The yield
strength of steel is thousands of pounds per square inch, but as the edge thickness
approaches zero, it takes only a fraction of an ounce to move it. The force of your
hand with a stone or steel can move enough steel to create or smooth a burr.

The second limit to edge thickness is edge smoothness. You can't have a 1/10,000-
inch edge if you have scratches 1/1000 inch deep. The grit of the cutting stone
determines scratch pattern or smoothness. Good edge smoothness requires careful
work with your finest stone.
STROPPING

Stropping the edge to a mirror finish on a leather strop or a buffing wheel charged
with a fine abrasive can improve an edge beyond where the hone leaves off. When
stropping or buffing you always stroke off the edge to prevent cutting into the
strop or buff.

STEELS

A butcher's steel is a round file with the teeth running the long way. They are
intended for mild steel knifes that are steeled several times a day, but are not
suitable for today's tougher and harder steels. I know a knife shop owner and
knifemaker that disagrees, but in my opinion they belong in a knife museum along
with natural stones.

A meat packer's steel is a smooth, polished steel rod designed for straightening a
turned edge. It is also useful for burnishing a newly finished edge. Because steels
have a small diameter they exert high local pressure. Therefore they affect the
metal in a knife when used with very little force.

The secret of using a steel is to use an angle about 10 degrees larger than the
final honed edge, and use light force. I am not aware of any guide for use with
steels. The Raz-R-Steel from Razor's Edge is marked for the proper angle. It's use
is similar to crock sticks.

A variation on the steel is the ceramic steel, where the steel rod is replaced by a
ceramic one. Since ceramic is an abrasive, it can polish as well as burnish.
Ceramic steels are available from many suppliers.

I prefer to use a steel in the vertical position as pictured, instead of the in-
the-air method.

Small ceramic steels are available in several grades, and are useful for sharpening
serrated knives, or carrying in the field for quick touchups. Ceramic sticks
without handles are available very cheaply at pottery shops if you want to make
your own. There are people that swear by burned out quartz lamps for sharpening
rods. They are textured at about 500 grit, and are harder than natural stones.

POWER SHARPENING MACHINES - continued

While hand sharpening meets the needs of most of us, a machine is the way to get
the work done. Here are some power sharpeners worth considering if you do a lot of
sharpening.

A wet wheel machine is very useful if you have to remove a lot of material, like
re-grinding a broken tip. The water prevents over heating the blade and ruining the
temper. Sears and Wen sell small wet wheel grinders for about $30. They are
suitable for light use. The Sears Home Sharpener rest is easy to adjust and can be
set from about 10 degrees to 90 degrees. It is reversible so that you can grind on
of off the edge from the same rest setting. There are several 10" wet wheels
available for $150 to $800.

Delta and Makita sell horizontal waterstone grinders for about $200. The advantage
of these is the flat bevel they put on knives. They are popular with woodworkers.
Larger wet grinders for professional use cost from $400 to several thousand
dollars.

The wet wheel machines mentioned above have a limited number of guides or fixtures
available, mostly for planer and joiner knives and other woodworking tools. The
only wet wheel grinding system with guides and fixtures for all sharpening needs is
the expensive Tormek. I will review the Tormek in Part five.

Woodworking catalogs offer a variety of rubberized, nylon and composite buffing

wheels for sharpening. These are usually sold industrially for deburring and
polishing. They require skill and practice, and they are expensive. I think paper
wheels are the best choice for the home knife sharpener.

PAPER WHEELS

If you are comfortable using power tools, try a paper wheel system. Paper wheels
are safer than buffing wheels and less likely to catch and throw a knife, but you
still work with the wheels moving off the edge, like stropping, for safety.

I use the paper wheel set from Razor Sharp Edgemaking Systems. They are often seen
demonstrated at gun and knife shows, and are also available from knife making
supply shops and woodworking tool stores. These wheels mount on a grinder or
buffer. The sharpening wheel is coated with silicon carbide, and grease is used to
cool the blade. Buffing compound is used on the other wheel for honing. Cost is
about $80 for the wheels, plus another $50 to $100 if you have to buy a bench
grinder.

Most paper wheel sets are 3/4" wide. I also found a cheap 1/2" set made from
gray composition board instead of laminated paper. Avoid it, look for the white
paper wheels.

I've had good luck with this system. The sharpening wheel raises a burr quickly.
The honing wheel polishes the burr off and leaves a mirror finish comparable to
stropping by hand. Both operations are done with the wheels moving off the edge for
safety.

Using paper wheels requires a little skill, but once you get the hang of it, it is
very fast. I sharpen twenty knives at a time for my church's kitchen, and I can do
them in less than 30 minutes with this system.

The most difficult knives I ever tried to sharpen was an old set of Gerber kitchen
knives. They were so hard that natural stones hardly touched them. Diamonds would
grind them, but I don't have a diamond stone fine enough for a shaving edge. Paper
wheels is the only system that has ever brought these knives to a razor edge.

I use paper wheels a little differently than recommended by the manufacturer.

Normally a grinder wheel turns toward the user, and grinding is done on the front,
where debris is thrown downward. The instructions for paper wheels say to use this
same rotation but sharpen on top, where debris is thrown toward you. This seems
inherently unsafe to me.

Here is how to modify a grinder for safer use of paper wheels.

I recommend you buy a dedicated grinder motor for this purpose. Changing the wheels
too often can introduce wobble in them. When you buy a grinder make sure it has
removable guards, because you are going to take them off. Put a good light over the
grinder so you can see the burr as it develops then polishes away.

Mount the grinder so the top of the wheels moves away from you, and sharpen and
hone on top of the wheel with the edge away from you. This lets you see better, and
debris or anything caught by the wheel is thrown away from you. Hold the blade
level and work near the top for a small angle, down the wheel closer to you for a
larger angle.

If you thought trigonometry was something you learned in school but never thought
you'd use, think about this. When the blade is horizontal the angle between the
blade and the wheel is equal to the angle between the point of contact and vertical
(identical triangles). I've marked angles of 0, 15, 20 and 25 degrees on my wheel.
I put zero at the top and position the blade at the angle mark I want to grind
before I start the motor. Then I turn it on and hold the angle steady as I move
the knife lengthwise. Practice a little and you will learn to see the burr and
where to hold the blade to get the proper angle.

SHARPENING CERAMIC KNIVES

Diamond stones will sharpen a ceramic knife, but you must remove all scratches
caused by the diamonds. Scratches act as stress risers and can cause the brittle
ceramic blade to fracture.

Silicon carbide wheels or stones can be used to sharpen ceramic knives, which are
made of relatively softer aluminum oxide. Since paper wheels use silicon carbide
abrasive, they too can sharpen ceramic knives. SC wheels can also remove the
scratches from sharpening with diamonds.

Ceramic blades will not raise a burr. You have to use the other tests to determine
if you have created a new edge.

TABLES

MOHS HARDNESS SCALE

This chart was moved to its own page. Click this link to jump to Mohs

STONES AND ABRASIVE GRADES - FIVE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS COMPARED

This chart was moved to its own page. Click this link to jump to GRITS

SUPPLIERS

This chart was moved to its own page. Click this link to jump to SUPPLIERS

TO READ FURTHER

Click this link to jump to BOOKS

Woodworking catalogs have lots of sharpening equipment for hand and power tools,
and most of it can be used for knives.

The best book on tool sharpening is "The Complete Guide to Sharpening" by Leonard
Lee. It has a chapter devoted to sharpening knives.

"Sharpening Basics" by Patrick Spielman covers sharpening knives as well as

tools.

"The Gun Digest Book of Knifemaking" by Jack Lewis and Roger Combs has a good
chapter on sharpening.
"Step by Step Knifemaking" by David Boye covers sharpening with a belt grinder and
buffer, as well as manual sharpening and stropping.

This is the end of Chapter 4

Copyright 1996 - 2022 by Steve Bottorff