Micro Bevel?

[Dan West]

OK, so I am a Neanderthal in training and I am working on my sharpening skills using the Scary Sharp method. I have a veritas Mk II fixture and I think I am doing well enough for a beginner but I am confused about the micro bevel. I understand what and why but I am iffy about the process. Lets say that I flatten the back of a chisel through 600 grit and then hone the bevel at 35 degrees and I am now ready to hone the micro bevel, do I drop down in grit to a lower - courser paper and work my way back up or do I just use the finest paper I have to hone the bevel? It seems to me that if I work my way through all the stages again the micro bevel will not be micro any longer, does that make sense?

Also, those of you who sharpen using this system how far do you go? 1200, 2000 grit or?

Dan

[Mike K Wenzloff]

If you want to use a micro bevel, simply use your finest grit. No sense going beyond 2k grit--and at that just for the micro bevel. Just should take a few strokes.

Take care, Mike

[Derek Cohen]

Dan

Mike is correct - use your final grit. The point is that, although a fine grit will remove very little metal, you have very little metal to remove in a microbevel.

The other issue is that the back of the blade must be honed to the same degree as the final bevel face (your microbevel) otherwise the sharpest/smoothest edge you can achieve are the striations on the back of the blade (in this case, your 600 grit).

Regards from Perth

Derek