My Sharpening and knife related videos

[blgentry]

Test post.  My last 2 have not shown up yet.

Brian.

[admin]

Test post

[grepper]

Beautiful job on that machete!  You're getting to be a machete sharpening Zen master.

[chino]

Incredible! Wish I do the same.

[blgentry]

I thought it would be fun to try cutting something a little bit more substantial than paper with my sword/machete and...




...it was. 

Brian.

[grepper]

Playing with a machete should only be done under adult supervision!

It would be interesting to take a sharpness reading in that area where you tried to hack through the 4x4. I'll bet that area needs a sharpening touch-up.

[chino]

Nice cutting!

[blgentry]

Playing with a machete should only be done under adult supervision!

It would be interesting to take a sharpness reading in that area where you tried to hack through the 4x4.  I'll bet that area needs a sharpening touch-up.

But Daaaaad!!

My original, on camera reading for this blade, within 6 inches of the tip was 200.  I just examined the blade and found marks along the sides; presumably from the stuff (glue, etc) holding the cardboard together.  Kinda hard to get off, even with some oil on a rag.

I found what I think is the area of impact and a corresponding narrow mark on the side.  Feeling the edge with thumbnail I feel just a little little something there on one side.  Maybe a little bit of roll?  But if so, it's a very small roll; not a big ole' obvious one.

So I took a reading there.  Got 285.  Backed up (towards the handle) about 5 inches and took another reading:  215.

So yes, I believe it has sustained a bit of damage there.  But not much!  At least so far. 

Months ago, I bought a shorter bolo type machete (made by Condor) from a vendor at the flea market who always has interesting blades, many of which are actually collectable, high quality, or just interesting.  He has a big belt sander (4" wide by ??) and a paper wheel setup.  I've seen the results of his sharpening and he's good.  Does a nice job.  He sharpened this machete long before I bought it and said it was "very sharp".  I tried in on some small limbs (tiny ones) and some bushes.  It seems sharp.  Thumb says it's pretty sharp too.  BESS tester says 485.  Not all that sharp.  But still cuts.

I'd like to think that my sword/machete is a different animal with a good bit higher sharpness.

Brian.

[grepper]

If you don't stop trying to chop the house down we're going to have to take that machete away from you young man!

I would think 285 was very good.  I expected it to be much duller.  I suspect that you are doing a much better job of sharpening and producing a sharper blade than what would come from the factory or what most people would do for that matter.  

Feeling sharpness can be tricky, especially if the edge is toothy.  Toothy grabs onto skin and can feel sharper than a polished edge that is actually sharper than the toothy one.  

I'm no machete expert but I would guess that 250-300 is considered very sharp especially considering how it's used for whacking, hacking and slashing at stuff.  It would of course depend on what is being cut, but I would think that anything much sharper than that would get to 250 -300 very quickly whacking away at twigs and brush, etc.  You know, folks generally don't use a machete to slice their sashimi.

Nonetheless, you did a great job sharpening that blade.  It made short work of the cardboard!

[grepper]

maintenance post. This posts not showing up is annoying.