Thread: Found a great article on sharpening with awesome pics

Found this document the other day, it tests and documents a couple different methods of sharpening various tools including razors. There is a nice section on whetstones, artificial and natural, as well as stropping with various compounds on leather as well as on buffing wheels. And the best part is that all of the experiments come with scanning electron microscope images of whats really going on.

Enjoy.

http://www.mse.iastate.edu/fileadmin...nifeShExps.pdf

Page 7 has some cool shots of a straight razor.
Page 18 starts the experimentation on whetstones.
Page 43 has a summary and conclusions for all experiments.

Thanks for the link... however I believe this document is already in the SRP archives for some time.
Click the link below and scroll down to "Knife Sharpening Study"

http://straightrazorpalace.com/compo...d,18/Itemid,3/

Darn, well it's still a good document.

Dr. Verhoeven is one of the two folks who rediscover the wootz steel recipes. He's much interested in all things blade related.

Russel,
I cite that link in my Honing How To page on my website. It IS a good study. It's also very rare to find professionally done studies in this area as Gillette and others don't publish their research. You might want to check out my site for more info.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Dr. Verhoeven is one of the two folks who rediscover the wootz steel recipes. He's much interested in all things blade related.

Verhoeven and Pendray are two names that I will never forget for their contributions to the world of sharp things.

I recognized the name immediately, part of the reason I was so impressed with the study was that he was involved.

p.s. I saw you post a few things over at the bladesmiths forum on new techniques for blooming and smelting, very interesting stuff, something I plan to dabble in as soon as time permits. Do you have a recommendation for a supplier of iron ore or the like?