Heavenly Hones Here!

[wadebevan]

Mark,
Just wanted to give an update...
Sunday night is usually when I check my kitchen knives and touch them up, and last night was no exception.
Instead of using my strop with the unknown 'green' compound, I used the one you made.
BIG difference!
2-5 strokes per side was all that was needed, whereas, on my old one, it was 10-20!
You can even 'feel the bite'.

My only suggestion would be a 10-12" version, only because with a 10" chefs knife, you have to make a pretty high angled stroke.
Not a huge deal, just something I had to get used to.

Thanks again,
Wade.

[Mark Reich]

Thank you, Wade.   

How does the tooth feel when you're cutting a tomato?

Can you gentlemen with optics look at the surface on a hone and see 16um size grit?

[grepper]

I would imagine that yes; my 200X scope could see a 16 um scratch.  I’ll have to try it and see, but I suspect yes.  I don’t have one of your hones, but I could try it on a 1000+ grit belt and see what I could see.
 
So, 16 um is between 1200-1400 grit.  My idea of a “toothy” edge is somewhere around 150-180 grit.  From my experience at least, a knife sharpened with 1200+ grit will cut a tomato just fine while it is still very sharp, but soon it starts riding on the skin.  It seems you have to get really “toothy” to avoid that.
 
But then again Mark, I would think that with regular use your strops would keep an edge very sharp regardless of the grit finish. 

[Jan]

Can you gentlemen with optics look at the surface on a hone and see 16um size grit?

Mr. Mark, I do not have your new hone. I have not ask you for it because I was not sure about the postage fee for sending it over the pond to Europe.


In the attached image you can see the Tormek honing compound, I use, taken at magnification 500X. The image was taken in transmission light where the compound was on glass slide. The average grain size of this aluminium oxide abrasive is 3 micron. It is assumed, that during honing, the grains break and so become much smaller.