Poll on Blade Grinds

[Johanna]

Okay, important poll question here. Need your feedback!

Johanna

[Johanna]

Romey's Guide to Sharpening Part One

Here is a tease:

The Hollow grind

This type of edge is likely to produce the keenest edge of all. It's what is most common on straight razors for shaving. Little more then a swipe on pants leg is needed to bring this edge back to life. It dulls just as fast and more importantly it can chip very easily at the edge which of course means it would need reground or at the least rehoned.

The Chisel Grind

This edge is a one sided edge and has steel behind it on one side for strength yet a very fine flat zero grind on the other for intricate shaving. Woodworker's especially good ones will have variations of this grind for specific tasks and interestingly enough I found they have a high amount of sharpening knowledge due to varying styles of chisels and hardness of woods. Many times their chisels are most guarded tools.

The Flat grind

This edge is probably the most common edge on any type of blade. It has steel behind the edge to maintain a high degree of strength and depending on the angle of the edge can be almost as sharp then a hollow grind yet due to having more steel in it doesn't wear the edge back as quickly or as much. Most of these edges are between 20 and 17 degree set

The Convex grind

The old saber grind, although an axe grind should be a better description of this as it's a more common tool to have around the house. The reason is although it can be a very sharp blade its main intention is chopping. There is a lot of steel behind this edge and hence it holds a edge the longest of all the edges, the drawback of this is it also makes the widest roughest slice due that it pushes the cutting material apart as much as slices. It also is one of the harder edges to sharpen correctly.