I have been sharpening friends' knives that had been used for years and sharpened free hand using steels or stones. From my small sample, 15-16 degrees seem to be the most common.
I agree. Initially every knife should be sharpened at 15 and then decide if it is too narrow and mostly it won’t be. But forums are filled with staying on “safe side” and sharpening everything to 20 😂. The gain in performance is big at 15. Even Victorinox performs very well after cutting wood for a while, still shaves hair on hand. So like you said hard steels should go below 15 per side easily and yet they are sharpened at factory to 20.
Low abrasive speed/pressure ground cutting edges high HRC (58+) knife steels are more likely to go dull as a result of micro cracking than wear or rolling over. Cutting edges that roll over they have likely been softened 4 to 5 HRC in the sharpening process. Knife steel/cutting edge toughness is likely a more important factor than hardness in terms of real world cutting durability but this parameter is often ignored.
Excellent point, and I was a bit lazy with my language in this video. Knives should be sharpened to the keenest angle they can reliably withstand, not just against rolling but also cracking and other deformations as you say… But I still maintain 15dps as a more useful edge angle for ‘everyday’ applications.
Thank you for tuning in , and yes, definitely true. But to extend my point, people use knives as cutting tools, not as things that don’t roll edges.. To take an extreme example, a butter knife will never, ever roll, but is terrible at cutting. People have to decide where along the continuum between butter knife and extreme sharpness they want to sit. And I think for most knives and most uses, 20 dps is too conservative considering that we are talking about cutting tools.
@@greatedgeltd Good point . . . you clearly define the both extremes. At one point I had arrived at the same conclusion, though that just raised more questions in my mind. My focus turned to what is the smallest radius of a theoretical knife apex we can reasonably expect to withstand the first few encounters with a cutting board ? Any thoughts ?
Excellent explanation, I watched a lot of videos and only got clarity on the issue after watching this.
I have been sharpening friends' knives that had been used for years and sharpened free hand using steels or stones. From my small sample, 15-16 degrees seem to be the most common.
Very impressed with your video. Honest, straight forward and without theatrics. Subscribed. 🍁
Great content. Thanks for this video!
Can you show us how to use the Tormek WM - 200 angle guide properly ?? 👍🏻👍🏻
That’s the topic of my next video 👏
I agree. Initially every knife should be sharpened at 15 and then decide if it is too narrow and mostly it won’t be. But forums are filled with staying on “safe side” and sharpening everything to 20 😂. The gain in performance is big at 15. Even Victorinox performs very well after cutting wood for a while, still shaves hair on hand. So like you said hard steels should go below 15 per side easily and yet they are sharpened at factory to 20.
Low abrasive speed/pressure ground cutting edges high HRC (58+) knife steels are more likely to go dull as a result of micro cracking than wear or rolling over. Cutting edges that roll over they have likely been softened 4 to 5 HRC in the sharpening process.
Knife steel/cutting edge toughness is likely a more important factor than hardness in terms of real world cutting durability but this parameter is often ignored.
Excellent point, and I was a bit lazy with my language in this video. Knives should be sharpened to the keenest angle they can reliably withstand, not just against rolling but also cracking and other deformations as you say… But I still maintain 15dps as a more useful edge angle for ‘everyday’ applications.
A knife/cutting edge sharpened to 20º or higher is significantly less likely to be rolled over & instantly dulled.
Thank you for tuning in , and yes, definitely true. But to extend my point, people use knives as cutting tools, not as things that don’t roll edges.. To take an extreme example, a butter knife will never, ever roll, but is terrible at cutting. People have to decide where along the continuum between butter knife and extreme sharpness they want to sit. And I think for most knives and most uses, 20 dps is too conservative considering that we are talking about cutting tools.
@@greatedgeltd Good point . . . you clearly define the both extremes. At one point I had arrived at the same conclusion, though that just raised more questions in my mind.
My focus turned to what is the smallest radius of a theoretical knife apex we can reasonably expect to withstand the first few encounters with a cutting board ?
Any thoughts ?
I hope this guys head reattachment surgery goes well.
Turns out I don’t need it that much!
@@greatedgeltd
Well, TOT and AvE have managed without them for years so I guess you’re on to something.