Edge trailing vs Edge leading

[Stapelfeld]

This is a quick one and hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer this for me. I understand that when I’m doing edge leading strokes the burr of the knife appears on the opposite side of where the blade is making contact with the stone however I do not know if this is the case with edge trailing strokes. Does anybody know where the burr appears in edge trailing strokes? Thank you. Wey much in advance.

[taz575]

The burr will allways be on the opposite side of the blade that is on the stone. Edge leading or edge trailing (stropping motion) will both put the burr on the non stone side.

[XexoX]

This is a quick one and hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer this for me. I understand that when I’m doing edge leading strokes the burr of the knife appears on the opposite side of where the blade is making contact with the stone however I do not know if this is the case with edge trailing strokes. Does anybody know where the burr appears in edge trailing strokes? Thank you. Wey much in advance.

Mr. Taz has provided an answer for you, so I'll just add, welcome to the CKTG forums M. Feld! There are some great people here.

[Radar53]

Hi Stapelfeld & welcome to our forum.

In terms of the burr taz has answered that. But, just in case you're interested there are multiple threads on our forum discussing the differences / benefits of edge leading vs edge trailing, that make good reading. I'm predominately edge leading, but use both depending what I'm doing. Probably the biggest thing I've learnt here over the years is that there's usually no, one right answer, so I try & explore different suggestions. YMMV

[eddiesalita]

As radar said. Edge trailing and edge leading are not the same. Nor they they necessarily create the same kind of burr. Same goes for alternating vs non alternating strokes.

This blog: https://scienceofsharp.com/home/ shows the effects under extreme magnification.

[taz575]

The science of sharp is a great website! But it seems geared towards straight razors, which is a different animal in terms of what they need for a shaving edge versus what we use in the kitchen. The principles are the same, but we have the advantage of not needing to be as picky in our kitchen knife edges if we don't want to be!

I use a scrubbing motion (back and forth), as well as lateral swiping motion (draw the blade across the stone so the edge is almost parallel to the direction of the pulling/pushing motion) and sometimes stropping (edge trailing) motions on the stones. I will often do my stone sharpening progression, deburr on the coarse leather strop with 14 micron diamond compound, go to the 3 micron diamond side of the strop and strop away. Then I go back to my last stone, and focusing on very very light pressure with both edge leading and trailing motions and just hitting the apex and then stropping again. This seems to work well to completely deburr, refine the apex slightly and give a better finished edge.

There are lots of ways to sharpen and "different strokes for different folks" really rings true here. Everyone has a type of edge that they like (some like toothier, some like more polished, some use different grits on different sides of the edge, etc), so go by what you are liking and what is working for you.

But make sure to remove the burr fully and really focus on getting the very apex of the edge clean.

[Stapelfeld]

Yes I think I’m also predominantly edge leading as well but I recently got a naniwa 12k and I don’t think I want to risk the edge leading strokes on that particular stone or anything above 8k for that matter… loving this forum, I feel like I could read every post and replies and keep myself entertained all day. Thank you all for the warm welcome.

[XexoX]

... I've learnt here over the years is that there's usually no, one right answer ...

As they say in the bee keeping world, ask two bee keepers, get three answers.

[Radar53]

Yes I think I’m also predominantly edge leading as well but I recently got a naniwa 12k and I don’t think I want to risk the edge leading strokes on that particular stone or anything above 8k for that matter.

It's all a matter of "feel" in that you need to know when you're right on the edge-of-the-edge and not going past that point. If you can reliably do this on 150 grit upwards, then that should also work for higher grits as well. Start on the 8k using slow, very light pressure strokes (almost no pressure). That way if you go over the edge and it digs in, it wont damage the stone or your edge too much. Don't rush it & once you nail the 8k, step & repeat on the 10k.

HTH

[FisherMAn1298]

I'd like to add my own welcome to our new member Stapelfeld. Everything is about personal preference within the technical boundaries of what you're trying to accomplish. Some use edge leading strokes, some trailing. Different angles for some, 19,12,15 and higher for some stainless steels. Once you get the basics down you decide what you like and works best for you. what kind of steel, blade design, which grinds feel right on your knives. So I say welcome to the rabbit hole! Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions and jump into discussions freely!

[Mowgface]

+1 for the “Scrubber” team.

Pressure on the trailing stroke, release on the leading, for the win. I do the lateral strokes like Taz during burr removal.

My personal opinion, is that it doesn’t really matter the method, as long as you are paying attention to the results. (Which by asking a question in advance shows attn to deets. Sharpening is age old. New techniques might be popular, but a sharp blade is the destination! Many stones and strokes to get you there

[potlicker]

For me, the burr removal was a problem and it came with a lot of frustration. As time passed on I finally came upon a solution for me and that is edge trailing on the opposite side, making the burr stand up so to speak. Then it was easy for me to make a couple of high angle passes on the stone cutting it off and it was gone. Well, not entirely gone, I don't check on 100/200 mag but it serves my purpose so no need to. For me, this is a quick and easy way to remove the burr or if you don't want to do it on the stone, a ceramic rod also works.