https://youtu.be/xt8f49tfE0s
I tried out a Longship Armoury 5160H blunt dadao after sharpening for 3 days. The target is a big uncored newspapers rolls.

Just saw that video.

Thanks for watching. :D Good to see the ex-blunt cut that good.

That bevel looks great! Excellent work and thanks for sharing.

Hand sharpening can take a lot of patience and hard work but it's much easier to control and not screw up the edge.

Using a belt sander to start the bevel and finishing by hand is sort of a cheating shortcut but best to finish by hand if one has the skill due to years or decades of hand sharpening knives.

Using a bench stone wheel grinder is asking for a rough and very badly made secondary bevel due to vibration with most abrasive wheel type grinders.

With a blunt you will probably get a wider secondary bevel than with a sword made to be a sharp, but it will be a very robust edge.

The difference between a good cutting edge and the best cutting edge you can make. ( The poor victim would likely lose a limb from any decent cut either way ).

In any case your cuts look very clean ! Skill is also a factor I think because a very good cutter can get better cuts with a marginally sharp blade than a bad cutter can get with a razor sharp blade.

( Note writing this as I eat sushi and drinking some saki, so forgive any typos that the " Spellchecker " may have missed and that I might also miss ..... ;) :p :D :cool: )

I guess one can praise your sharpening technique as much as your competence with actual cutting. :D :cool:

Thanks again for your nice words.

Yes, I actually considered doing coarse grind with a work sharp tool but I dun own one. Plus I am quite sensitive to noise, with my wife even more so. So nah, that's outta question.

Have you checked the videos I just put up about our third visit to a friendly dojo for test cutting? I tried out some new techniques there (well, not so new but never cut tatami with them before).

Once again thanks for watching and your nice reply!

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Hand sharpening can take a lot of patience and hard work but it's much easier to control and not screw up the edge. Using a belt sander to start the bevel and finishing by hand is sort of a cheating shortcut but best to finish by hand if one has the skill due to years or decades of hand sharpening knives. Using a bench stone wheel grinder is asking for a rough and very badly made secondary bevel due to vibration with most abrasive wheel type grinders. With a blunt you will probably get a wider secondary bevel than with a sword made to be a sharp, but it will be a very robust edge. The difference between a good cutting edge and the best cutting edge you can make. ( The poor victim would likely lose a limb from any decent cut either way ). In any case your cuts look very clean ! Skill is also a factor I think because a very good cutter can get better cuts with a marginally sharp blade than a bad cutter can get with a razor sharp blade. ( Note writing this as I eat sushi and drinking some saki, so forgive any typos that the " Spellchecker " may have missed and that I didn't also miss ..... ;) :p :D :cool: ) I guess one can praise your sharpening technique as much as your competence with actual cutting. :D :cool:

You can check the three links that I posted in reply. Those were the students' test cuts. You will notice that they were using the swords that I later tested with.

Accusharp works. Just that it set the angle already, which is good for those who dun want the freedom of screwing up. :D

I use diamond all the way, from 60 to 8000 grits, then finish with felt block.

Jean Thibodeau wrote:

Lancelot Chan wrote: Thanks again for your nice words. Yes, I actually considered doing coarse grind with a work sharp tool but I dun own one. Plus I am quite sensitive to noise, with my wife even more so. So nah, that's outta question. Have you checked the videos I just put up about our third visit to a friendly dojo for test cutting? I tried out some new techniques there (well, not so new but never cut tatami with them before). Once again thanks for watching and your nice reply! I may have missed some of your videos although I usual view most of them. I've used a tungsten carbide sharpening tools to start the bevels on at least one Del Tin I hand sharpened as the aggressive carbide did a quick job of establishing the secondary bevels, but I did finish using a diamond hone and then ceramic hones. Something like this on KoA, maybe not the same brand ? In any case the " V " shaped cutting edge on the tool does produce a symmetrical bevel, but it does tend to be wavy and rough and needs work to smoothen out with finer abrasive tools. http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...+Sharpener