Thread: You just accidentally hit your edge on the stone, what now?

I went over this briefly with bluesman 7 but being a beginner at honing I sometimes catch my edge on the stone, which every time I do I cringe inside... The higher I am on my progression the more wrenching it is lol but this just happened to me on my 8k I just looked at it at 100x magnification and the blade is wrecked I contemplate going just down one and to my 5k but almost feel as if I need to start over to the 1k... And if that's the right thing to do how much time should I spend on the 1k? Is it a really quick couple laps then back to where I was or should I just start the whole process over?

First you really should concentrate more and actually be with your work....i know that surely at the beginning this can happen...

However any trace of damage (small nick, break out, etc.) you should check with a magnification loupe at 10x, 20x or higher.
I would always start with the 1K stone to reset the bevel to be sure everything is ok.

Actually there is no proposal how many laps to do on the 1K Stone, because also these stones work different in their speed.
You should reset the bevel that far that none of the damages is still visible.

And there are no rules, so you can also try to step one back and try to remove the damage with the 5K...its always a factor how big the damage really is...

With more experience you will get a feel for how large of a chip you can take out, in a reasonable amount of time, with each stone. You can always start fine, and if you're not making good progress drop down.

It's often a toss up of staying on your 5k, for example, for a long time, or going back to the bevel setter and then spending a while on the 5k to hone out the 1k scratches.

Most importantly, you need to analyze WHY or are hitting the edge of the stone and adjust your stroke to eliminate that issue

Originally Posted by bluesman7

With more experience you will get a feel for how large of a chip you can take out, in a reasonable amount of time, with each stone. You can always start fine, and if you're not making good progress drop down.

It's often a toss up of staying on your 5k, for example, for a long time, or going back to the bevel setter and then spending a while on the 5k to hone out the 1k scratches.

Thats a great idea, last night I needed up looking at it at 100x finishing my damage and just thinking it was too bad for the 5k.... In hindsight what I should have went to the 5k and seen how it was dealing with my problem...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Most importantly, you need to analyze WHY or are hitting the edge of the stone and adjust your stroke to eliminate that issue

I think what my problem is getting too comfortable, I'm starting to really get the hand of my rolling x stroke, then I'll throw in a couple reverse in there and go back. I'm really starting to pick up speed with my strokes (I'm not going crazy fast) but my bad will start to cramp or my arm will start to get tired and ill fight though until I hear scratch....I never knew there were sounds worse.... than my ex-wife lol

You should also chamfer the edges of you stones if you haven't already, and turn with the spine down, not the blade. I'm also new but I'm so careful around the stones that sometimes I feel like I'm not doing anything at all, but I stress patience, care and slowness, with no distractions.

Speed is the problem here, I never go fast on the rolling X stroke, there is to much chance of damage at the end of the stroke when the edge is almost off the stone. I will go fast on something like a 1/2 x-stroke where there is no flipping of the blade

Originally Posted by Haroldg48

You should also chamfer the edges of you stones if you haven't already, and turn with the spine down, not the blade. I'm also new but I'm so careful around the stones that sometimes I feel like I'm not doing anything at all, but I stress patience, care and slowness, with no distractions.

Yep I got them edges knocked off and I'm rolling with the spine every time now... For a little bit there's was doing a mixture of the two and not realizing it... Maybe that's what I need to be is more tenitive to what I'm doing... i think it's because I've been practicing with gold dollars, I have yet to put a blade on the stone that I really care about...

Originally Posted by rodb

Speed is the problem here, I never go fast on the rolling X stroke, there is to much chance of damage at the end of the stroke when the edge is almost off the stone. I will go fast on something like a 1/2 x-stroke where there is no flipping of the blade

Okay, yeah I do flip my blade probably faster than I should... I don't think my stroke is fast but I do flip that blade in a hurry, sometimes I'll even get some of the slurry flying off the blade on the turn