Originally Posted by
ken hatch
Luke,
Many folks starting down the sharpening road have been sold or have bought into only a mirror finish can be sharp. The bottom line is that ain't so. Shinny is not necessarily sharp. It can be but most important is the scratch pattern on both surfaces and do they truly met at an acute angle. I've seen and tried to use irons with a mirror finish so bright and shinny to almost blind you but have a scratch pattern on the cutting edge that looked more like a saw than a chisel. They would not cut warm butter nor hold up pass the first contact with wood. Conversely I've used irons where the back and bevel have a near matt finish and the iron was very sharp and held up very well to contact with wood.
Oh, one question. Are you using DMT diamond plates?
Of course as with all thing wood, YMMV.
ken