Hello everyone. 

A few days ago, I ordered Viel S-5-M 1/3HP. This is my first 1X42" belt grinder.(It has not arrived yet)

So I have to choose belts. For the grit belts, I think 3M Cubitron recommended by grepper is the best choice. But I don't know about strop belt. 

The easiest choice is this.
https://www.amazon.com/1x42-Leather-Stro...42+leather

But I'm also considering a linen belt or an another leather belt. 

I want to hear your recommendation. 

Thank you.

This is the knife:
 
https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Fibrox...B000QCLEFC
 
I ground it at about 15° (dps) on my Kally with a 150 grit Cubitron belt.  The 150 Cubitron is my go to belt for general use knife sharpening.  It is very fast, and especially considering I use a light touch when sharpening they seem to last a very, very long time.  I've been using the same belt for a long time now and it seems like new.  Pretty amazing.  Additionally, the 150 grit produces just the toothy edge I’m looking for.
 
I ground on alternate sides until I noticed a barely visible burr forming on one side of the blade.  I continued grinding on the opposite side as the burr until the very small, barely visible with careful examination under a good light burr formed evenly along the entire length of the blade.  Then I ground the other side in the same manner. 
 
My new method of deburring is to use a very fine Scotch-Brite belt.  It is by far the quickest method I’ve ever found, and does a most excellently complete job of removing burr without smoothing the toothy edge.
 
To deburr, alternating sides I did four passes each side with the S-B belt.  I could still see some little flecks of burr, so I ran my fingernail at 45° down each side of the edge and the burr sprinkled off the edge like tinsel rain.
 
Then I did one swipe on each side of the blade with the rough side of a clean leather belt on the Kally, wiped the blade a few times on my jeans against the top of my thigh to clean off any loose crud and took four sharpness reading from handle to tip:
 
110, 130, 110, 125
 
Now here is the interesting part.  I put the knife in one of those flat in-drawer knife blocks overnight.  The knife was not used it just sat in the drawer overnight.  The next day, today, I removed it and checked the sharpness.  The readings were:
 
160, 150, 150, 175
 
That’s a maximum 50 point reduction in sharpness from just sitting in a drawer overnight.  Without real proof, I suspect this sharpness reduction is due to a lesser extent oxidation but mostly from metal memory as the extremely thin toothy edge returned to whatever position it was in after the tortuous micro heating, tearing at the steel and bending that happened during grinding.
 
So, I did one pass each side of the blade using the rough side of the leather belt on the Kally, wiped it clean on my jeans and took four readings from handle to tip:
 
125, 110, 105, 100

Here is a picture of the edge:

   

 My best guess is that the one swipe on each side of the blade with the leather belt straightened the edge.
 
You may be thinking this is just a fluke.  Well, consider this:
 
The same day I sharpened the Victorinox I sharpened an 8” Calphalon chef’s knife.  It’s a nothing special, big, heavy blade with a full tang that is 1/8” wide at the spine and tapers to the edge.
https://www.kmart.com/calphalon-classic-...860553000P
 
Unfortunately I didn’t write down all the numbers documenting the saga but I did when I had finished sharpening and pretty accurately remember the rest.  I also noted the final sharpness numbers after checking it today.  So the first and final numbers are completely accurate.
 
I sharpened it using the same method as the Victorinox.  After sharpening the readings were:
 
95, 85, 115, 105
 
After sitting in the drawer next to the Victorinox overnight, the reading were all between
 
125 – 185
 
That’s up to a 100 point lower sharpness reading!  So today, as on the Victorinox, I did one swipe each side with the leather belt on the Kally and the readings were:
 
110, 130, 110, 125
 
So…, Hey Kids!  Try this at home!  Get a blade as sharp as you can, take four sharpness readings along the edge from handle to tip and let it sit for 24 hours or so.  The next day do another four sharpness readings.  Let us know your results!

We may not know much but we do know how to listen. Here are two accessory improvements that came to us via two very good customers, Grepper and Mark Reich. The first is our new ATF-10G (G for Grepper). This new design addresses several use issues with ease and speed of rerunning test media first and foremost of those issues. We also listened to Rick KR on this design and made it about 30% more efficient in the use of test media. It really is a huge improvement and many thanks to Grepper and Rick for suggesting the changes.

                                                       

We've also made changes to the Knife Fulcrum with new part number KF-10R (R for Reich). Mark Reich suggested a cork cradling point for the knife/straight razor edge and we've now included it. The slot is now .5mm wider as well. The cork insert will be provided with every fulcrum henceforth but use of the cork is optional. The pictures below show fulcrums both with and without cork insertion.

                                                      

A big thank you to all who have helped us by providing helpful suggestions and ideas. Both of these new items will appear in our online store next week.

New article on the definitions of sharpness and cutting ability, where I answer such questions as:

How is sharpness defined in the scientific literature?
Is sharpness better measured with its cutting behavior or by observing the edge?
Is a thinner edge automatically sharper than a thicker edge?

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/08/06/sharpness-vs-cutting-ability/

Can't wait to finally qualify some of my knives with the Edge On Up coming in the mail.   This is old school testing along with arm and leg shaving.   I have run out of hair....  LOL



https://www.facebook.com/michael.howe.94...29854/?t=0

Sharpening the knife with whetstone creates a diagonal scratch. But when you use a machine, it becomes vertical. How does it affect the edge?

Especially for a kitchen knife, it seems to affect the feeling of cutting food and the edge retention. Has this been studied or tested?

Now folks with standard optical scopes such as dissecting microscopes can replace the eyepiece on the scope and share images on the Exchange!  Umm,  cameras for regular scopes are not uncommon, but it's interesting that Dino-Lite has entered the fray even though they don't produce traditional scopes.  

It seems I'm becoming a Dino-Lite fan boy even though, sadly, I don't have any Dino-Lite equipment.

Product: http://www.dino-lite.com/products01.php?index_m1_id=3

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0JkQVJnorA

After seeing Mr. Cyrano’s images I did some checking out of the current Dino-Lite USB hand-held scopes.  I must say I’m impressed.  I also did some checking around and didn’t find any other scopes with similar features. 
 
The two coolest features are focus stacking and exposure bracketing.  Additionally the scopes can be focused with the keyboard which solves the hair pulling freak show of focusing USB cameras by having to touch the scope.  Add to that they have an internal polarizing filter to help reduce reflection on surfaces. 
 
Focus stacking and exposure bracketing is well known in photography, but I’ve never seen it before in USB scopes. 
 
The following image is a great example of where focus stacking, exposure bracketing and a polarizing filter would be very beneficial. 
 
Here the top part of the bevel is in focus, but is less focused at the edge.  With focus stacking an image can be taken focused at the top of the bevel and then another focused on the edge.  The two (or more) images are then combined so the entire bevel and edge are in focus. Very cool.
 
The top of the bevel is exposed well, but the edge is over exposed with blown out highlights.  With exposure bracketing, one exposure is taken so the top of the bevel is properly exposed, then another (or more) with reduced lighting (exposure) so the edge is not blown out.  The images are combined so the entire bevel and edge are properly exposed. Combine that with a polarizer and it should be able to make very excellent images to shiny steel surfaces. 

   
 
They also have cool adjustable frames and other accessories. 
 
I want one!  The only issue is that they are expensive.  For a scope and stand it can cost $1,000.00 - $1,400.00.
 
Sadly I don’t have a Dino-Lite so I can’t speak to how reliably this stuff works in practice, but I’ve got to hand it to
Dino-Lite for a feature set that directly addresses the major problems of USB scopes. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5SdWb8pZfg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7aWMIuYTlo
 
Mr. Cyrano, could you please post some example images of the automatic 5 stack focus stacking and exposure bracketing?  I’d love to see some actual examples from a forum member.

My experiance is that freehand sharpening wobble minimum 3 degrees and that it is impossible for the human hands to come below 3 degrees wobble.
I have also read a scientific research that also say this dor meny years ago - but I cannot find that research now.

I think that a new research about this are important to do.

3 degree wobble = freehand sharpening = both hands free in the air, knife in ine hand, sharpener in the the other hand.

2 degree wobble when the sharpener are fixed and stabile and the knife are hand hold with 1 hand

1-2 degree wobble when the sharpener are fixed and stabile and the knife are hanshold with 2 hands

0 degree wobble when both tha sharpener and the knife are fixed in position in a stabile sharpening tool.

This is my experiances - but my experiances are not scientific...

Also;
Freehand sharpening, semi freehand sharpening, one hand, two hands...we need words for different types/ways of sharpening...that also give, or describe, how much wobble there is...?

A research like this will soon be Basic knowledge I think and it will also kill a lot of myths about sharpening.

Is it possible to make a sientific research like this here on BESS Forum?

It will be hard discussed with much anger and resistance - but also much accepted and i think loved - and it will absolutley market the BESS Forum

Thomas