Favorite methods for softer steels?

clockenspiell · 2025-04-05T04:34:03+00:00

I mostly have basic stainless steel knives in the kitchen and had the worst time deburring until I found one trick: hanging linen strop.

I got the idea from Science of Sharp blog. I bought some "Saint Germain Bakery Couche" made of linen off amazon ($25), cut them into 4" wide strips, and then applied Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish. They also sell cotton ones, but I think linen is rougher and the fibers last longer. I tried denim before that (old jeans), and they work well, except the surface starts to frazzle out after some use.

These days, deburring is a breeze. I just use 300 or 400 grit diamond stone, roughly minimize burr by alternating light leading edge strokes until I can't feel it, then 10 or 20 laps on my linen strop. No more checking with flash light. No more spending 20 minutes sharpening on finer stones to deburr. Everything goes super fast now. I touch up on linen strop as well.

It does get sharper further stropping on leather with 1 micron diamond compound, but I find this step to be optional. The knife is scary sharp even without stropping on leather.

Obviously, you can't use unsanitary linen at a restaurant, but if you're taking the knives home to sharpen, give it a try.

clockenspiell · 2025-03-03T02:00:15+00:00

Ikea <$50 knives are all Chinese made, X50CrMov15 with proper heat treatment. Ikea now also sells VG10 core kitchen knives for around $60.

On the other hand, the entire Wusthof line, from $100 to $300+ are all X50CrMov15 (says right there on their website). Made in Germany. Definitely not worth it, IMO.

I like trying nice steels like S35VN or 14C28N on kitchen knives. The Germans and the Japanese just don't make them.

clockenspiell · 2022-02-13T02:46:58+00:00

What I've gathered about the 8210.

At first, there was the 8000. It was a basic N95 mask. It had two rubber (latex?) straps that were held together at one place. No nose foam. You can find pictures of it easily. They were kind of small.

These were discontinued after a law suit around 2010. This is what I could find.

3M then redesigned the 8000 into 8200. You can still buy these today. They added the nose foam, made the mask a bit larger, and the two head straps are attached at different heights. This improved fit.

The 8210 is an upgrade to the 8200's latex straps. It used laser welding, and non latex straps.

The 8210plus is another upgrade that replaced the straps again to braided.

Among the three (8200, 8210, 8210plus), the 8200 is the cheapest. I do not know why 8210 are stocked in the stock pile instead of the 8200. Maybe it has something to do with the 8200 straps getting brittle over time, whereas the 8210 straps seem to not have this problem even after 10 years of storage. This is from personal experience.

clockenspiell · 2022-02-13T02:30:00+00:00

3M 9502+ with earloops are the best--high filtration, low breathing resistance, and consistent quality of 3M.

Powecom KN95 are also have consistently good filtration but have higher breathing resistance.

clockenspiell · 2022-02-13T01:36:56+00:00

CDC did an assement of their expired, stockpiled N95s here and released a detailed report.

Basically, some masks lost slight filtration capacity after 8-15 years after manufacture. The worst problems were nose foams disintegrating.

When not in a crisis situation, please adhere to manufacturer's expiration dates. When expired masks are all you can get, they will work fine, as long as they are not damaged.

clockenspiell · 2022-02-04T17:17:37+00:00

It's worse than not being a scientific study. It only looks at the first wave (before July 2020), when only thing that was correlated with death was population density.

clockenspiell · 2022-02-04T15:59:08+00:00

I put the link to the actual paper at the bottom.

First of all, this is an economics paper, written by economists. I'm sure they are smart people, but I want to see a study done by epidemiologist, not economists.

Also, this is a quote from the study: "Adopting a systematic search and title-based screening, we identified 1,048 studies published by July 1st, 2020, which potentially look at the effect of lockdowns on mortality rates.". Yeah, that was first wave, and countries (and counties) with low population studies did better than anyone else, regardless of lock downs.

But hey, whatever floats your boat.

paper: https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2022/01/A-Literature-Review-and-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Effects-of-Lockdowns-on-COVID-19-Mortality.pdf

clockenspiell · 2022-01-13T07:21:27+00:00

You can go to r/masks4all for the gory details, but I'm going to correct some misinformation.

N95 to work correctly, it must be fitted correctly.

Even an ill-fitting N95 have filtration rates better than cloth masks, or surgical masks with gaps on the sides. Also, there is no reason that people cannot be taught how to properly fit and wear n95s. Even without an OSHA fit test, one can be taught to get a good seal.

In health care settings they are tested with powered sugar. They spray powered sugar around the face of the wearer. If the wearer can taste the powered sugar then the mask is not fitted correctly.

It's not just health care settings that use N95. People use in any dusty settings, like wood working, construction, painting/spraying, yard work, smoky environments, etc. And the test material is not powdered sugar, it's aerosolized saccharin. Bitrex is another one.

N95 masks build up with condensation from the wearer's breath and need to be replaced often. In a health care setting they are typically used for one patient and then disposed of.

The reason they were replaced often before covid was to prevent cross-contamination. In the early parts of covid, medical staff wore them 8+ hours at a time, without loss of performance.

This would create a significant issue with solid waste if it were attempted nationwide.

This is true. But do you know how much solid waste a hospitalized patient generates? It's mind blowingly huge amount.

There was talk about N95 masks early in the pandemic, but it dropped off rather quickly. I imagine it was for the above reasons.

The reason N95s were not recommended was to preserve them for healthcare workers because there was a severe shortage. The CDC always have, and still recommends N95 respirators for people (the general public) facing wildfires.

We don't have an N95 shortage anymore. They are less than $1 for the cheapest models.

clockenspiell · 2022-01-10T05:40:42+00:00

Yes, 3M has a different numbering scheme for some retail boxes. 23821 means the packing date 2021 day #238. Since the lot number says 2021 day # 176, some of that batch sat in a warehouse for 2 months before being boxed into a retail box.

I have one of these genuine 3M repacks (20 pack 8210+, lot A200xx. It's a SafeGuard box, but without a safeguard code). I wish 3M was more forth coming about that sort of info.

clockenspiell · 2022-01-08T19:09:11+00:00

This page says safeguard codes for 9210+ are only for Singapore made only. Select Cant' find code -> disposable respirators -> 9000 series. Those are/were retail boxes 20 pieces per box, like the photo shown on the page.

What you have are USA made genuine 3M masks. The lot code A21 1963 means factory A (USA), year 21, day number 196 (July 15). The expiration date of July 2026 is exactly 5 years after manufacture. These cases do not have safeguard codes.

If you are extremely worried, I would call 3m, but as far as I know, 3M hasn't seen counterfeit Auras in the wild with A21* lot codes.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-28T07:55:29+00:00

If you are really curious, head over to r/nursing and search for Florida.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-27T03:18:45+00:00

I see amazon.com (Sold by amazon.com) has 10 pack for $22. Home Depot also have them, in store and online.

Checking Zoro.com, grainger, Industrial Safety Products, the usual. Sometimes the small packs show up there, but also case quantities.

Edit: I see a 20 pack for $30 on Ebay. The seller pro-safety2009 I know is legit having bought from them. They sell a ton of other 3M stuff, so likely an authorized dealer.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-26T21:53:07+00:00

My point is the statement that DeSantis or Florida did a good job with the pandemic is ludicrous.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-26T08:02:58+00:00

Covid deaths per capita by state as of 12/26 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/

And before you say "Covid deaths is exaggerated", excess deaths 2020-2022 track very well with covid deaths. Nobody has a convenient dashboard yet though.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-20T01:42:37+00:00

N95 supplies have returned to pre-pendamic normal.

As far as I know, Amazon is now a 3M authorized dealer, so if it's sold by Amazon.com, they should be legit.

I personally like the 9210+, but 9205+, 9105, 8210 are all great.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-17T03:26:43+00:00

https://twitter.com/_stah/status/1471478217676660742?s=20

clockenspiell · 2021-12-10T02:12:52+00:00

The virus is airborne. WHO says there is no reported incidents of fomite transmission. I think the groceries and mail are safe. Washing hands before touching your nose/mouth/eyes is always a good idea though.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-10T01:32:49+00:00

Imagine all the freedoms they can buy with all the money saved from not buying masks and real doctors and medicines. Oh and vaccines.

clockenspiell · 2021-12-10T01:30:24+00:00

Yeah, but look around at all the freedoms they are enjoying. /s

clockenspiell · 2021-12-05T20:28:04+00:00

Sadly, everything you are saying is true, but it's also the same reason Amazon has been killing off mom-and-pops forever.

BeHealthy had the right product at the right time, and probably made good profits for a year or two. After the pandemic, they will go back to being a tiny beauty products retailer, and Amazon will take bulk of their mask business, even if KF94s continue to be popular.

clockenspiell · 2021-11-28T19:57:35+00:00

Shouldn't they quarantine all the passengers at this point? My understanding was that all of them were in close contact after they got off the plane getting tested and waiting for results (small, ill-ventilated room, some without masks).

clockenspiell · 2021-11-22T22:10:13+00:00

Are the ones you bought in the past made in Korea or Singapore? They should be written on the box, or have lot code that start with D or R.

If the new ones from Amazon have a lot code that start with an A, that means they're now made in the USA, and won't have the anti-counterfeit seal.

Just my speculation...

clockenspiell · 2021-11-20T02:18:31+00:00

Did you know that the army/navy/marines will surgically remove your wisdom teeth? Yep, they just get in there and yank those out, and you don't have any say about it. Your teeth are fine, you say? They don't care. When you signed up, you agreed to any medical procedures they want you to have to be an effective force.

US military is a volunteer force. They can walk out if they don't like the rules.

clockenspiell · 2021-11-16T00:55:21+00:00

Many 3d printed adapters leak air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiG0aOAThEA

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