Knife Sharpening, Advanced, Grain of the Blade

Taking A Crack at Grain

A DL Sharpening tip.

File created on April 16, 2005. Main idea sketch. Having a little trouble with it, yet.

DL has mentioned “grain” several times, in regards to knife sharpening. We have discussed it, with little effect, but I am getting some ideas about what he is trying to tell me.

Let’s get at the problem.

1) First, know that DL was taught to sharpen with a file. “The only time we would use a sharpening stone, would be if we were trying to impress somebody. Mostly, we used files.”

2) Grain seems to be hard to describe, but once learned, it is easily recognized. From some internet research:

“An important consideration in producing a sharp tool is grain orientation, or flow. When steel is rolled, the grains are elongated, and oriented in the direction of rolling. This process imparts desirable directional properties such as tensile strength, ductility, impact toughness, fracture toughness and fatigue strength. To take advantage of these properties the blade must be cut from the long axis, parallel to the direction of rolling.” http://www.rebrookforge.com/blades.htm

3) Grain is viewed on a new knife, only.

4) Grain should appear as a horizontal line, running the same way the edge of the blade does.

5) The purpose of discovering the grain of the blade is to find the most efficient angle to turn your file to, in order to sharpen the knife most effectively, and give it the strongest edge.

6) If the line of metal grain, in the blade, runs perfectly along the widest part of the “V” that forms the edge of the blade, then the knife was ground perfectly.

7) If the grain line can be seen to be slightly above that widest part, and near it, then the angle of the file should be slightly steeper than the edge you are seeing.

8) If the line of grain is just below that widest part of the “V” that forms the edge of the blade, then the file should be less steep, or be held at a greater angle than the edge you are seeing.

9) The last time I talked with DL he said that I was beginning to understand “grain” when I “talked him through” the basic outline detailed above.

10) If anyone out there understands this, or importantly more about this, write me at paul@survivalprimer.com

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