Show your Paper Wheel edges

Yes, some time ago i even bought a large piece of MDF to possibly make some wheels out of somewhere in the future.
But at this moment i have some doubts if this material is a truly safe option for that purpose, as i'm not sure if the MDF material will be able to hold up to the centrifugal forces generated by the benchgrinder.
The last thing i want is that MDF pieces would come flying at me at high speeds in the event that such a wheel disintegrates while spinning at between 1400-1700 rpm, especially since there are no steel guards on the machine (like there would be when using the original stone wheels)

There are however people who use home made MDF Wheels for sharpening knives:

A small container filled with SiC particles comes with each set of Paper Wheels, and it's enough to re-coat the sharpening Wheel several times.

This second hand Spyderco Military in CPM-D2 steel was one of the first knives i ever sharpened on my standard set of Paper Wheels back in 2009.
It had some blade play (fixed it), some discoloration on the blade (left that) and it wasn't quite sharp (fixed that with the Wheels)
Was part of my edc for several years.

Did these chisel ground edges a a few years ago with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and then stropped the burr on the other side off on hard leather with some 1 micron diamond compound.
Both knives were quite blunt, one even more than the other.
The knives are owned by two Dutch Special Forces guys who used & sharpened them while on tour in Afghanistan, and they wanted the new edges to have a little bling.

Below you see 3 different viewing angles of the edge i recently put on a brand new Sebenza 25 (which had a subpar factory edge)
The owner of the knife took the pictures with a very expensive Leica camera to capture the different looks this edge type can have when seen from different angles.
For obvious reasons i named this a bling & bite finish, and it performs very well on especially high (vanadium) carbide steels.

I first reprofiled the factory edge from 35 degrees inclusive to 30 degrees inclusive with a Rubber Wheel coated with 230 grit diamond powder, then refined it with a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and lastly removed the tiny burr with a second Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
The new and ever so slightly convex edge could treetop the hair on the back of my hand (even whittle it a bit) and easily slice single ply toilet paper.
And this was after i tested the edge with a few firm cuts into the edge of a piece of laminated desktop.

This just came in, and it should be more than enough to coat both a Paper Wheel as well as a Rubber Wheel using the 3-step process.
According to my digital scale it weighs +/- 40 grams.

I own several vintage Gerbers in M2 steel, both outdoor & kitchen models, and this Durendal slicer model from the '60's does duty in our kitchen.
Opening all kinds of paper & plastic food packages, slicing bags with espresso beans, cutting up larger fruits like melons & pineapples, slicing bread loafs and hamburger buns without crumbling, cutting sausages, etc.
Not every day, but at least several times a week.

I bought this Gerber about 2 years ago on E-Bay completely blunt, so i reprofiled & sharpened it with a SiC grit Paper Wheel, then refined the edge with 15 micron diamond compound on a second Paper Wheel, and then again with 6 micron diamond compound on a third Paper Wheel.
The tiny burr was removed with a fourth Paper Wheel coated with 0,25 micron diamond compound.
The idea was to get something of a semi-polish that would protect the exposed M2 edge better against corrosion issues during kitchen use, while still having some degree of bite.

The knife was then used for about 2 years in our kitchen, and when not in use stored on a magnet strip on our kitchen wall.
After those 2 years the edge only had a few very minor dings/flat spots in it (in the tiny belly area), but it could still shave the hair on the back of my hand on skin level quite well with about 90-95 % of the edge.
When cutting tomatoes however the edge tended to slide a bit over the skin before it started to cut.
The main reason for this kind of edgeholding is of course the fact that most of the edge on a slicer like this never touches a cutting board, only the belly area does, but the M2 steel performed quite admirably in my book.

A few weeks ago i resharpened the edge, this time only with 15 micron diamond compound, then deburred with 0,25 micron diamond compound, as i want to try the knife with some more bite.
Will have to find out if there will be corrosion issues or not.
So far i've only used it on food packaging (both paper & plastic, no fruit or other things yet), but here are a few pics how the knife & edge look now.
The edge feels sticky and is still treetopping sharp.

Specs:

Blade steel: hard chromed M2 steel
Hardness: 60-62 HRC
Handle material: cast on aluminum, chromed.
Overall length: 29,5 cm
Blade length: 16,5 cm
Blade thickness: 1,36 mm in front of the handle tapering to 0,84 mm close to the point
Thickness behind the edge: 0,5 mm
Edge angle: +/- 30 degrees inclusive, slightly convex

Waterstones are still the only choice to sharpen & polish Japanese single bevel knives made from simple carbon steel types.
The Paper Wheels are simply not capable to sharpen those like they should be sharpened.

But if you need to be able to sharpen & polish knives made from more modern steels (especially PM steels with high (vanadium) carbide volumes) that have secondary edges, and do it within a reasonable time frame, a set of Paper Wheels with CBN and/or diamond compounds would give you far superior results.

And it is a misconception that sharpening with the Wheels is difficult, as most people i know of seem to master the basics quite fast.
Just remember to start practicing on your Mom's drawer with cheap kitchen knives, not on your Dad's Sebenza,

Currently busy with the same mod of a (user) Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn folder like i did earlier in post #13.
This is how the knife looked when i received it from the owner, still with a single edge & an edge angle between 40 and 45 degrees inclusive:

And this is how the knife looks after grinding the new edge on the back of the blade & trying to match it with the reprofiled edge on the other side.
The scratch pattern complete with burr remains still present on the apex comes from a Rubber Wheel coated with +/- 170 grit diamond powder & wax (as i haven't made a Paper Wheel with the same diamond powder yet) which i used for this job.

The idea was to make the 2 edges / 4 bevels as visually similar in width & curvature as i could, with a specific edge angle of +/- 35 degrees inclusive, without damaging the names on the blade, and to create a new point that would be centered as much as possible.
Trying to achieve all these things at the same time freehand, together with many checks with a loupe in between passes isn't easy for me, so i took my time.
Tomorrow i plan to continue with 15 micron diamond compound on a Paper Wheel for one of those bling & bite finishes, after which i'm going to take a few more pics.

And the result, after a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound & deburring with a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 diamond compound.
Both edges are treetopping sharp.

Sure, if you send me a PM we can discuss what is possible,

Did this user Spyderco PM2 in S30V steel for a customer who had seen pictures online of another PM2 in S110V steel i did earlier, and which are also somewhere in this thread.
The man wanted the exact same full mirror edge he had seen on the other knife, it had to be 30 degrees inclusive, and it also had to have a guaranteed hair whittling sharpness.
Of course i told him that this S30V is not the best steel for a full mirror edge, but it was what he wanted,

The old edge had a few flat spots and a bit of a rounded point from use, but nothing serious.
Total time i spent on this knife was one hour, in a succession of Paper Wheels with 15, 6, 3, and 1 micron diamond compound.
As a comparison: the same full mirror edge on that PM2 in S110V steel the man saw online took me two hours.
Most of this time is going into the many visual checks i do in between with my Victorinox loupe under bright light, not into the actual sharpening.

These are the quick pics i also sent to the customer, and they can be clicked twice for a bit more detail.
The owner was satisfied btw.

Hinderer XM-18 Slicer grind in S35VN steel.
According to my Tormek angle gauge the factory edge angle measured between 45 and 50 degrees inclusive, while the thickness of the steel just behind that edge went from 0.7 mm at the heel to 0.6 mm at the tip.
The knife is going to be used as a hunting folder, and the owner had 2 wishes: if possible no visually wide bevels, plus he wanted to be able to maintain the new edge on a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

Before sharpening:

After sharpening.

Edge reprofiled to an almost exact 35 degrees inclusive with a Paper Wheel coated with 220 grit SiC, after which the burr was removed with a second Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
The new edge is what i would call sticky sharp.

This special version of the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 in CPM-M4 steel & carbon fiber is in use with a Dutch knife forum member.
A small fraction of the tip had broken off and the apex sustained some damage (see pic 3)
This is how the knife looked before sharpening.
You can click 2 X on each pic for more detail.

After sharpening.
First i ground the old apex flat on the Tormek Blackstone until all damage in the apex was gone & there was a new point.
Then i made a new edge with 15 micron diamond compound on a Paper Wheel, which was then refined with 6, 3, and 1 micron diamond compound on dedicated Paper Wheels to a full mirror.
The new edge measures 30 degrees inclusive and is hairwhittling sharp.
You can click 2 X on each pic for more detail.