Trouble Shooting video

Hi folks,
 This video is for people trying to learn who have run into some problems from the get go. The most common problem is an inability to form a burr and that has a ripple effect. No burr, despite best efforts leads to a lack of confidence in ability and products being used.

So in this video I am just attempting to really nail down that important, (CRITICAL) step.


I hate doing videos and listening to myself but I love trying to help folks, so despite what may be poor editing, the video will hopefully guide some people having troubles.

Peter Nowlan

PRESSURE VIDEO - Improved

The sole purpose of this video is to hopefully clarify my pressure system. As some may know I use a four tiered system. I just wanted to try and improve upon the last video.

Peter

I've seen the light.

 Hi folks

     I want to share a very simple yet incredibly effective tool that I have been taking for granted a lot. This is not something I have been doing for years and years but a habit that I now depend on.

      When you are sharpening a knife on a coarse stone and going for the raising of the burr, if you don't already do this, take a look the edge once in while under  a good source of light. In the picture above, you can see glints of light, reflections along the edge in the middle area. The light from above is causing some of the metal along the edge to show up. So what does this mean:

     It means that I have not completely closed the gap so to speak, we sharpen a knife by bringing both sides together as precisely as we can at the Apex of the knife, the Primary Edge. When we have done that, you should not see any light. So to take this further, take any knife out of a drawer and check the edge like this under light. If you see anything reflecting, it means that knife is starting to dull or is completely dull, the light you see is the metal that has folded over. When we sharpen, we remove that metal, we grind, adjusting pressure as necessary until the knife is sharp, when it is sharp you will not see any light.

     When sharpening, the difference between the edge above and the one a couple of minutes later on the same stone is remarkable in terms of sharpness.

     It is difficult to get a good shot of knife edges, for me it is anyway but in the picture here, and this is a 220 Shapton Glass Stone you can see the edge on the left, not yet finished and the one on the right taken just a minute or two later which is clean, no light reflecting. Once you reach this stage on the coarse stone or whatever stone you started with, you will likely see no more light.

     My advice is to stick with the stone, continue to sharpen until the light reflections vanish and I guarantee that you knife will be much much sharper. This is just from a 220 stone.  I suppose there was a time when I was unedgeucated :) that I would not be as vigilant as I should have been and not seen the light. Once I started doing this however, along with my variances in pressure, my edges have become much much sharper.

     It's so easy and you are probably already doing this maybe without realizing it.



     On another topic, STEELING, I want to show a picture of what improper steeling does to a knife, it does everything except what it is supposed to do.

A Steel should not, ever, come in contact with the blade of the knife just the edge. Now I know scratches can occur from other means but I know that this particular knife was steeled this way. This is the product of steeling the way it is often shown on TV, where the chef slaps the blade against the Steel. Completely ineffective and harmful to the knife.

To finish on a positive note, here are some beautiful knives to look at, I have these at home and they can be purchased. (Remember, I don't sell knives, I just carry them for someone who does so any money goes directly to them.)

I have these Shapton Pro stones as well, I really like this brand, been using them for years.

Thanks for looking.

Peter Nowlan

New Edge Sharpening

Middle Sackville, NS

sharpenerpeter@gmail.com

Jende Industries

Hello,

    An old friend and fellow sharpener, Tom Blodgett has provided me the opportunity to test out some of the products available on his site. Tom lives in Taiwan but don't let that bother you in terms of shipping costs.

     Tom sent me a full array of Nanocloth strops and diamond sprays for testing and review and if I liked them, I told him I would talk about them and provide a link to his site.

      What you are looking at is a colour coded nanocloth stropping setup and associated CBN sprays that you use to load onto the strops. They come in 3 different levels of refinement from 4 micron to .0.25 micron which is about 5,000 grit down to 60,000 grit. The strops themselves, i.e. the Nanocloth has absolutely no effect unless it is loaded with a compound, it is perfect for that though. The colour blocks you see are the acrylic bases the black nanocloth is adhered too. So basically, all you need to do is load up the strop with a corresponding coloured CBN spray, it is quite easy.  CBN is Cubic Boron Nitride, a very very hard substance, not diamond but next to it. I won't pretend to tell you I understand all the science behind these products, they have been around for quite awhile.

Poly Diamond is another one and I have samples of those as well.

Poly Diamond from Jende

So how did it go?

     You need to understand how to use these, i.e. in what order of course to get the most from them and they definitely need to be loaded up. So for testing I went from a 2k Stone to a 4 micron, 1 micron and finally a .25 micron strop. IT DEFINITELY made a difference, I did this on good quality knives that were sharp from the water stones already, all I was looking for was the slightest improvement and I got it. Repeatedly. 

     Now he also sent me a couple Kangaroo leather strops that I used bare and to be honest,  I think I like those as much as the loaded nanocloth strops, they are pretty nice. 

     Again, I do not sell products, so if you want to buy some of these and try them out, go for it, I don't get kickback or anything. If you live near me and want to see them up close and try them out, that is no problem for me at all. If you want to buy something from Tom, just check out his website.

I have a link to his website on my Page.

JENDE

     To summarize, you don't need these or similar products to make your knives sharp, if you are not getting your knives sharp on water stones, these will not help you but if you are there now and just want to explore another sharpening path, these will be fun for you. I do believe in strops, I didn't always but I do now and I do firmly believe that any good strop will make a difference, even a bare strop will work. 

NOTE:

     Tom Blodgett is not the first business owner to contact me for the purpose of advertising their product, or selling it. Some companies have come to realize that I have a good reputable business and I see a lot of great people who love sharpening. All they usually ask is for me to tell people about them  if they ask. If I like the product, I have no problem doing it, apart from a free sample in some cases, I don't get anything or want anything in return. 

     So if you sell something like water stones for example and you want me to tell folks about them like other folks have, Paul from Pauls Finest for example, just contact me. I WILL NOT recommend a product that I have not tested myself, so if you want me to tell folks about you and your products, you need to let me play with them :)

Peter Nowlan

New Videos

Hi folks,

I have had some nice comments regarding some of the videos I have made. I think I can improve them, they are not perfect and I don't think they ever will be but I think I can make them better.

So the next one will be on how to do a little edge repair followed by a full sharpening.


(Dwight, I got your message and for some reason I cannot reply to it but thanks, message heard)

Peter