What is the advantage....?

[Anonymous]

What i would like to know is what is the advantage of polishing a blade allbeit a chisel or a plane iron i use the diamond sharpening system and seem to get a excellent edge but for me to polish the blade i would need to purchase the extra fine stone and at £25 i can't see the point if i already get a sharp tool using the fine stone. Could someone please explain to me why i would benefit from polishing my cutting edges.

Cheers,
Derek.

 

[Midnight]

Derek... got a magnifying glass?? Take a look at the buisness end of your blade..

 

[Jorden]

Hi Derek

If you look very closely at your sharpened chisel with a magnifying glass, you will see the cutting edge is actually very ragged, full of peaks and nicks. The chisel will cut well as is is, but because of that uneven surface it will start to wear quickly than it would if the edge were more uniform. We polish edges to get the edge more uniform and therefore carry an edge for longer.

Incidently I use a leather strop to do the polishing.

Hope this helps Dennis

 

[Anonymous]

Two highly polished edges meeting at the cutting edge will provide a far sharper blade with less scratches and small indents. The edge will last longer and cut better. Use a lense with at least 30x magnification and look at the scratches left on your blade

I use 6000 grit waterstones but many use 8000 grit for the final polish