Community Sharpening Journal

[Bemo]

Awesome thanks!

[Strauss95]

Vivi has started a coarse edge sharpening revolution!

His work also inspired me to try finishing with a lower grit than I normally would have stopped at. I had been experimenting freehand with finished edges off the DMT coarse and or fine, as well as the Venev F240. Now I've been inspired to try finishing on the Venev F150!

To the few that recently finished on the Venev F80 or F150, did you do any light stropping to help remove any bits of remaining burr?

Now that my diamond matrix 80 grit stone arrived for my Edge Pro, I'm going to try some low grit edges coming off the Edge Pro. Since I'm still working on improving my freehand technique, I'm better at removing the burr with a stone on the Edge Pro due to the precise angle control provided by the system. Freehand always requires me to do some stropping to fully remove the burr, which in turn will also remove some of the aggressiveness that I'm looking to keep from the low grit edge finish.

[ncrockclimb]

Vivi has started a coarse edge sharpening revolution!

His work also inspired me to try finishing with a lower grit than I normally would have stopped at. I had been experimenting freehand with finished edges off the DMT coarse and or fine, as well as the Venev F240. Now I've been inspired to try finishing on the Venev F150!

To the few that recently finished on the Venev F80 or F150, did you do any light stropping to help remove any bits of remaining burr?

Now that my diamond matrix 80 grit stone arrived for my Edge Pro, I'm going to try some low grit edges coming off the Edge Pro. Since I'm still working on improving my freehand technique, I'm better at removing the burr with a stone on the Edge Pro due to the precise angle control provided by the system. Freehand always requires me to do some stropping to fully remove the burr, which in turn will also remove some of the aggressiveness that I'm looking to keep from the low grit edge finish.

I have been working hard to avoid the strop. IME, the strop very quickly eliminates "toothyness." I have found that I can remove the burr / refine the edge with just the stone. I use a combo of "folding" the burr up by sliding a dowel perpendicular to the blade, VERY light edge-forward strokes, slicing the blade into soft wood, and finally slicing into a felt cube. All of this refines the edge / removes the burr.

For maintenance, I have tried stropping with 40 micron paste on leather and plain leather or cardboard. I am still uncertain about what works best.

[Wandering_About]

Quick refresh to the edge on my most carried knife for the past couple months. Just a few swipes on a 1000 grit super vitrified diamond stone and a few more swipes on a strop loaded with 1 micron diamond. That's been my edge maintenance routine for this knife. Today I dressed the diamond stone (I do this maybe once a year) and cleaned the metal buildup off my strop and refreshed it with some fresh diamond spray.

[TkoK83Spy]

That looks great! Can't wait to get mine on the stones and see what's so amazing about this Magnacut. So far in use, I can't really tell any difference between it and most steels I use.

[Strauss95]

Quick refresh to the edge on my most carried knife for the past couple months. Just a few swipes on a 1000 grit super vitrified diamond stone and a few more swipes on a strop loaded with 1 micron diamond. That's been my edge maintenance routine for this knife. Today I dressed the diamond stone (I do this maybe once a year) and cleaned the metal buildup off my strop and refreshed it with some fresh diamond spray.

Edge looks great! Do you have a small microbevel on it? If so, I assume that is what you touch up during your maintenance sharpening?

Definitely jealous of that super vitrified stone! They are my "end game" stones and hope to one day own a couple of them but funds have been tight as of late.

[Wandering_About]

Quick refresh to the edge on my most carried knife for the past couple months. Just a few swipes on a 1000 grit super vitrified diamond stone and a few more swipes on a strop loaded with 1 micron diamond. That's been my edge maintenance routine for this knife. Today I dressed the diamond stone (I do this maybe once a year) and cleaned the metal buildup off my strop and refreshed it with some fresh diamond spray.

Edge looks great! Do you have a small microbevel on it? If so, I assume that is what you touch up during your maintenance sharpening?

Definitely jealous of that super vitrified stone! They are my "end game" stones and hope to one day own a couple of them but funds have been tight as of late.

Yes, there's a microbevel. I lay the main bevel back quite thin so put a beefy microbevel on for durability. Pedantic folks might call it a double bevel edge, which is fine by me, it's the compromise I have made for cutting ability vs durability.

The stone is amazing. Nothing else like it that I've used. Game changer for sharpening high wear resistance steels, for me.

[Strauss95]

I currently have a set of the the full size Venev resin bonded stones, which I really enjoy using. They are my go-to diamond stone when I'm working on anything "nice". I also have DMT and Ultrasharp plates, but they serve as my "beater" diamond stones.

TripleB's super vitrified stones would replace my Venev's. From what I've seen they don't load up at all, which is my one gripe with the Venev's. It also sounds like they cut faster too, which is awesome. They are the stuff of dreams for a knife sharpening nerd like myself.

[Josh Crutchley]

Just got some new diamond paste and emulsion the other day. I was able to bring Rex45 to hair whittling in just a few passes with the Jende 1 micron on a strip of leather. It was a similar story for Maxamet. I was surprised as both edges had some use and I was doing it freehand. Using the Ebay paste I would have to go through multiple grits and still struggle to get those results. I still need to try the Venev paste, I'll probably use it on balsa.

[ncrockclimb]

I am somewhat of a Venev fanboi, but I think their pastes are awesome.

That being said, I am now playing with an unloaded leather strop to "refresh" and maintain my toothy edges. The diamond pastes will definitely get an edge sharp and polished, but I hate how quickly stropping with abrasives eliminates tooth. I am hopeful bare leather will add some longevity to my edges while maintaining the micro-serrations.

[BeggarSo]

Quick refresh to the edge on my most carried knife for the past couple months. Just a few swipes on a 1000 grit super vitrified diamond stone and a few more swipes on a strop loaded with 1 micron diamond. That's been my edge maintenance routine for this knife. Today I dressed the diamond stone (I do this maybe once a year) and cleaned the metal buildup off my strop and refreshed it with some fresh diamond spray.

How low did you have to take this to get a good cutting edge? I see the bevel is much wider than normal for a Sebenza. I took the same model in S45Vn down to 17 degrees with a TSPROF Blitz and to be honest the darn thig is not as good of a cutter as my Manix XL.

I am thinking it has to do with the way the knife is ground there is a thick portion before you get to the hollow grind as you come up from the edge and despite the manufacturers claims of as you use it it get thinner and cuts better it is my observation it just makes for a poor cutter.

The edge is sharp but I think I am running into odd resistance that is not present in a fully Flat ground blade before it gets to the hollow. I am considering putting this on my Ken Onion belt and getting rid of that hump before the hollow grind which of course would make the bevel much wider.

Is this what you did?

Just so happens I am carrying mine today.

[TkoK83Spy]

Looks like you've got a pretty serious double bevel going on there. Could definitely be the reason for not cutting smoothly. I've reprofile 3 of my 4 CRK's and they've all been MUCH better afterwards. Typically 15-17dps for me.

[gunmike1]

Quick refresh to the edge on my most carried knife for the past couple months. Just a few swipes on a 1000 grit super vitrified diamond stone and a few more swipes on a strop loaded with 1 micron diamond. That's been my edge maintenance routine for this knife. Today I dressed the diamond stone (I do this maybe once a year) and cleaned the metal buildup off my strop and refreshed it with some fresh diamond spray.

Do you know approximately what angle you have the backbevel at? Maybe 10-12 degrees per side? I have a Sebenza 31 DP in Magnacut arriving tomorrow and generally I like to run 10 degrees per side with a 15 per side microbevel as a default edge angle for my folders. I go more acute if the steel doesn’t take damage so I can get maximum cutting ability, or go with fatter angles if it is chipping or rolling. The acute bevels don’t look the greatest, but they cut good.

[BeggarSo]

Looks like you've got a pretty serious double bevel going on there. Could definitely be the reason for not cutting smoothly. I've reprofile 3 of my 4 CRK's and they've all been MUCH better afterwards. Typically 15-17dps for me.

I saw that in the picture as well and had to do a double take. Turns out it is just the way the lighting hit it.

[Wandering_About]

How low did you have to take this to get a good cutting edge? I see the bevel is much wider than normal for a Sebenza. I took the same model in S45Vn down to 17 degrees with a TSPROF Blitz and to be honest the darn thig is not as good of a cutter as my Manix XL.

I am thinking it has to do with the way the knife is ground there is a thick portion before you get to the hollow grind as you come up from the edge and despite the manufacturers claims of as you use it it get thinner and cuts better it is my observation it just makes for a poor cutter.

The edge is sharp but I think I am running into odd resistance that is not present in a fully Flat ground blade before it gets to the hollow. I am considering putting this on my Ken Onion belt and getting rid of that hump before the hollow grind which of course would make the bevel much wider.

Is this what you did?

Just so happens I am carrying mine today.

Can't say I've ever noted undue cutting resistance on my CRKs. On the ones I've measured with my Mitutoyo calipers, I've not noticed any kind of "hump" at the edge. CRK drop point blades do thicken by a few thousandths behind the edge toward the tip though.

Do you know approximately what angle you have the backbevel at? Maybe 10-12 degrees per side? I have a Sebenza 31 DP in Magnacut arriving tomorrow and generally I like to run 10 degrees per side with a 15 per side microbevel as a default edge angle for my folders. I go more acute if the steel doesn’t take damage so I can get maximum cutting ability, or go with fatter angles if it is chipping or rolling. The acute bevels don’t look the greatest, but they cut good.

I do freehand, and while I haven't measured my edge angles, I think I'm doing ballpark of 10-13ish degrees per side with a 15-18ish degrees per side microbevel. It works well enough for me. Would not hesitate to do that on MagnaCut at all. Have an Insingo blade small Sebenza in MagnaCut that I'll be thinning at some point, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[BeggarSo]

How low did you have to take this to get a good cutting edge? I see the bevel is much wider than normal for a Sebenza. I took the same model in S45Vn down to 17 degrees with a TSPROF Blitz and to be honest the darn thig is not as good of a cutter as my Manix XL.

I am thinking it has to do with the way the knife is ground there is a thick portion before you get to the hollow grind as you come up from the edge and despite the manufacturers claims of as you use it it get thinner and cuts better it is my observation it just makes for a poor cutter.

The edge is sharp but I think I am running into odd resistance that is not present in a fully Flat ground blade before it gets to the hollow. I am considering putting this on my Ken Onion belt and getting rid of that hump before the hollow grind which of course would make the bevel much wider.

Is this what you did?

Just so happens I am carrying mine today.

Can't say I've ever noted undue cutting resistance on my CRKs. On the ones I've measured with my Mitutoyo calipers, I've not noticed any kind of "hump" at the edge. CRK drop point blades do thicken by a few thousandths behind the edge toward the tip though.

Do you know approximately what angle you have the backbevel at? Maybe 10-12 degrees per side? I have a Sebenza 31 DP in Magnacut arriving tomorrow and generally I like to run 10 degrees per side with a 15 per side microbevel as a default edge angle for my folders. I go more acute if the steel doesn’t take damage so I can get maximum cutting ability, or go with fatter angles if it is chipping or rolling. The acute bevels don’t look the greatest, but they cut good.

I do freehand, and while I haven't measured my edge angles, I think I'm doing ballpark of 10-13ish degrees per side with a 15-18ish degrees per side microbevel. It works well enough for me. Would not hesitate to do that on MagnaCut at all. Have an Insingo blade small Sebenza in MagnaCut that I'll be thinning at some point, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I was thinking your sharpening looks like a really good free hand sharpening. Good job.

I guess for what I am saying to make sense concerning a hump is to use an old machinist's trick and pinch the spine lightly and pull index finger and thumb in a light pinch down to the edge you will feel the hollow grind on the Sebenza for certain and then there will be a bumb or a rounded thickening before it becomes an edge bevel.

[Wandering_About]

How low did you have to take this to get a good cutting edge? I see the bevel is much wider than normal for a Sebenza. I took the same model in S45Vn down to 17 degrees with a TSPROF Blitz and to be honest the darn thig is not as good of a cutter as my Manix XL.

I am thinking it has to do with the way the knife is ground there is a thick portion before you get to the hollow grind as you come up from the edge and despite the manufacturers claims of as you use it it get thinner and cuts better it is my observation it just makes for a poor cutter.

The edge is sharp but I think I am running into odd resistance that is not present in a fully Flat ground blade before it gets to the hollow. I am considering putting this on my Ken Onion belt and getting rid of that hump before the hollow grind which of course would make the bevel much wider.

Is this what you did?

Just so happens I am carrying mine today.

Can't say I've ever noted undue cutting resistance on my CRKs. On the ones I've measured with my Mitutoyo calipers, I've not noticed any kind of "hump" at the edge. CRK drop point blades do thicken by a few thousandths behind the edge toward the tip though.

Do you know approximately what angle you have the backbevel at? Maybe 10-12 degrees per side? I have a Sebenza 31 DP in Magnacut arriving tomorrow and generally I like to run 10 degrees per side with a 15 per side microbevel as a default edge angle for my folders. I go more acute if the steel doesn’t take damage so I can get maximum cutting ability, or go with fatter angles if it is chipping or rolling. The acute bevels don’t look the greatest, but they cut good.

I do freehand, and while I haven't measured my edge angles, I think I'm doing ballpark of 10-13ish degrees per side with a 15-18ish degrees per side microbevel. It works well enough for me. Would not hesitate to do that on MagnaCut at all. Have an Insingo blade small Sebenza in MagnaCut that I'll be thinning at some point, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I was thinking your sharpening looks like a really good free hand sharpening. Good job.

I guess for what I am saying to make sense concerning a hump is to use an old machinist's trick and pinch the spine lightly and pull index finger and thumb in a light pinch down to the edge you will feel the hollow grind on the Sebenza for certain and then there will be a bumb or a rounded thickening before it becomes an edge bevel.

I just checked two of my Sebenzas (factory edges) with calipers and none show a "hump" in the grind directly behind the edge. The factory edges start at .025-.026" behind the edge and thicken from there as I measure back toward the spine. Maybe you have one with a grind that is off, but that seems pretty unlikely. CRK keeps things quite consistent.

[BeggarSo]

I guess I am unable to write this clearly every Sebenza I have owned 5 of them (Bought and sold over the years) have been like this. oh well time to experiment :)

[Giygas]

I guess I am unable to write this clearly every Sebenza I have owned 5 of them (Bought and sold over the years) have been like this. oh well time to experiment :)

I think I know exactly what you're talking about. It's extremely common on hollow grinds, to varying degrees. I don't have a Sebenza at the moment, but my Inkosi Insingo blade definitely has it. Ive only owned one hollow ground knife that hasn't had it, and it's ground ridiculously thin (.006-.008" bte)

My quick, terrible drawing of what I believe you're talking about:

[BeggarSo]

I guess I am unable to write this clearly every Sebenza I have owned 5 of them (Bought and sold over the years) have been like this. oh well time to experiment :)

I think I know exactly what you're talking about. It's extremely common on hollow grinds, to varying degrees. I don't have a Sebenza at the moment, but my Inkosi Insingo blade definitely has it. Ive only owned one hollow ground knife that hasn't had it, and it's ground ridiculously thin (.006-.008" bte)

My quick, terrible drawing of what I believe you're talking about:

Yes exactly you understood, this is what I was trying to describe. I also own the Inkosi in S45Vn and the cutting experience is night and day better.