Been playing around with this  with moderate success. But not anywhere near the sharpness  shown on YT vids or other web pages

Quote from: flybynight on July 11, 2021, 09:58:42 AM
Been playing around with this  with moderate success. But not anywhere near the sharpness  shown on YT vids or other web pages

I have a friend I work with occasional at camp.  IT by trade, woodworker in his spare time.  He has 2 different wheels setup on a portable grinder.  He'll bring it in to camp every so often and sharpen all our kitchen knives to razor sharpness.  Same with his woodworking and carving knives.  He's mentioned the angle you use the wheels at is critical and has markings on his grinder base he can place the knives in front of to hit the right angles. 
I'm not sure if an Axe would sharpen the same TBH.  I've always used the old file and puck for my axe.    Think of the angle you want with knives vs the angle you want with an axe...  a super sharp knife edge in the kitchen is good.  A super sharp edge on an axe is going to roll/dull pretty quick... 

There I was thinking "MDF is medium density fiberboard, there must be another meaning for that acronym" then a quick Google and I see you can make sharpening wheels from *that* MDF!
https://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/diy-sharpening-wheel.html

Sounds an interesting idea. I've only got an angle grinder, though, and nowhere to mount a bench grinder

Quote from: sheddi on July 11, 2021, 10:35:04 AM
There I was thinking "MDF is medium density fiberboard, there must be another meaning for that acronym" then a quick Google and I see you can make sharpening wheels from *that* MDF!
https://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/diy-sharpening-wheel.html

Sounds an interesting idea. I've only got an angle grinder, though, and nowhere to mount a bench grinder

Paper is actually a pretty abrasive material so I could see MDF used in this role.  In high school, I had a machine shop teacher who showed us how to use just a folded sheet of notebook paper to polish things on a lathe. 

https://youtu.be/4XGB5MivABM

Quote from: SCBrian on July 11, 2021, 10:33:15 AM

Quote from: flybynight on July 11, 2021, 09:58:42 AM
Been playing around with this  with moderate success. But not anywhere near the sharpness  shown on YT vids or other web pages

I have a friend I work with occasional at camp.  IT by trade, woodworker in his spare time.  He has 2 different wheels setup on a portable grinder.  He'll bring it in to camp every so often and sharpen all our kitchen knives to razor sharpness.  Same with his woodworking and carving knives.  He's mentioned the angle you use the wheels at is critical and has markings on his grinder base he can place the knives in front of to hit the right angles. 
I'm not sure if an Axe would sharpen the same TBH.  I've always used the old file and puck for my axe.    Think of the angle you want with knives vs the angle you want with an axe...  a super sharp knife edge in the kitchen is good.  A super sharp edge on an axe is going to roll/dull pretty quick...

You want sharp axes and sharp knives. Both need to be sharp to be safe.

What I suspect you are referring to is the angle of the edge. A knife will usually want a hard temperd edge and a fairly steep angle for the edge...or shallow, depending on how you look at it. But it will be very acute and extreme. You may or may not want a convex edge on the knife, depending on task and taste. My taste runs towards convex edges but a V ground edge has some nice features.

With the axe you need a convex edge. No other realistic option, really. A V ground edge will chip or roll. You also want a softer temper and a softer steel because that softness will better absorb impact stresses an axe or hatchet receive.

But "sharpness" is how well two separate planes intersect. And how polished the edge is. You want all your tools to be sharp.

Thank you Woods, you stated it better than I could and clarified what I was trying to state.

Quote from: NT2C on July 11, 2021, 10:47:18 AM

Quote from: sheddi on July 11, 2021, 10:35:04 AM
There I was thinking "MDF is medium density fiberboard, there must be another meaning for that acronym" then a quick Google and I see you can make sharpening wheels from *that* MDF!
https://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/diy-sharpening-wheel.html

Sounds an interesting idea. I've only got an angle grinder, though, and nowhere to mount a bench grinder

Paper is actually a pretty abrasive material so I could see MDF used in this role.  In high school, I had a machine shop teacher who showed us how to use just a folded sheet of notebook paper to polish things on a lathe.

+1 On paper beeing abrasive.
My granddad showed me how to use paper to sharpen up a used razor blade..

He'd put a few sheets of newspaper on a table and "strop" the razor blade in a back an forth motion with a bit of downward pressure, pinching the middle of the opposite edge between his thumb and forefinger.
Kind of like when you strop a straight  razor or knife on a belt or strap..

The one he showed me on was  the old style square profile razor blade with just a couple of holes in it , so I imagine if you do it on the newer flimsyer  blades with a big cutout in the middle you'd perhaps want to use something to sandwich the blade with to support them..

It's easiest/best if you start doing it as a "touch up" before the blade gets too dull..