Blade alloy and burr

[Mark Baldwin III]

Life got the best of me there for a few months, and hopefully I've gotten back to a fair state of balance. Now that I'm trying to get back into a few WW projects I have a silly sharpening question. This could be a totally stupid question (and I apologize if it is) but it's been on my mind for a while. What is the relationship between the alloy of a blade and the burr that is created during sharpening? I have some blades that form nice obvious burrs, and others that I don't think I've noticed a burr on. It just had me wonderin' is all.

[Dale Cruea]

Mark, As a rule of thumb I have found that the softer the metal the bigger the burr.
This is NOT always true. Just a rule of thumb for me.

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on what Dale posted about the softer the blade the more likely to raise a burr.

My blades often do not raise much of a burr. This is mostly because of my habit of putting pressure on the push stroke and sometimes actually lifting the blade on the pull stroke. Also any time a burr is noticed, it is on to the next step.

jtk

[Terry Beadle]

I've also noted that the coarser the grit of the stone used, the larger the burr.

On those blades that you don't notice a burr, you should be careful to check that you have not sharpened enough. Without a burr showing, it usually means you haven't sharpened enough or the stone you are using is not working on the A2 steel or other alloy based steel.

Produce a burr = sharpened edge IMO.

Enjoy the process !

[Jim Neeley]

Mark,

The amount of the burr is related to the ductility / malleability of the metal. Wikipedia talks about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ductility

Jim