Deburring for a Toothy Edge

[danforth]

Thanks for taking the time to write. Sounds like you have a very well thought out process. I have a few restaurant clients who complain that the knives aren't sharp when I use leather with compound, hence my trying to seek a toothier edge. One commercial account in particular is requesting an 800 grit finish, but with enough bite to grab a tomato skin, so that's why I've been using the A30 Trizact. Even when I can preserve the grind pattern, any use of compound is buffing off the teeth from the very apex. The only saving grace is how fast the burr removal action is. So I think for now I will move to no-compound finishing. For clients who are not requesting a specific grit, I will give your suggestion of 150 grit a shot.

I find unloaded leather alone is not enough to remove the burr, but sounds like a scotch brite can do it! There is also a white felt polishing belt made by 3M that does not have abrasive on it, but I also find that it's not quite enough to remove the burr. I'll experiment with the scotch brite some more. Sometimes I still see a burr under magnification following the felt or scotch brite belt. Do you think this is incomplete removal of the existing burr, or perhaps a new burr created by the belt? Then I guess plain leather might be enough to finsih the edge!

What kind of BESS reading are you getting with a 150 grit edge? I know perhaps it's not the right test for the application, but just curious.

Cheers!