Sharpening Sickness

[Kuolema]

Hey guys,

Hope all is well. I'm basically posting on sharpening, but not really asking for help or that. See, I've got many Spydies, and I made the mistake of buying one's that I lack the ability (as of yet) to sharpen.

However, there's a few I can. So I've taken to EDCing my Sage I. The thing is... It's sharp. It shaves hair, it fillets paper... But it doesn't FEEL sharp. I'm not sure if it's me misconstruing the idea of what a 'sharp knife' should feel like, or I'm just infected with sharpening sickness.

Really, there is no reason for this concern, but I just keep wanting to make it lazer sharp. I'll bifurcate paper, etc. but it just feels like it could be sharper. Maybe it's just my immaturity in terms of my knife knowledge. I think adding to this is the threads I've read saying that if you let S30V get really dull it's a pain to get back to form.

I'm not sure what a truly scary sharp knife feels like. I'll be cutting a box up, but notice I'm not gliding through it as easily as I think it should, so I've feel I've failed in properly sharpening up my Sage. I'm praying for some guidance, before I go insane and spend three days using the sharpmaker and ruin the blade of my Sage.

[Noble]

If you follow the instructions for the Sharpmaker, its not likely that you will reuin your sage. I was very skeptical of getting my knives back to lazer sharp, after getting some experience on my sharpmaker I am glad to report that not only do i get it back to lazer sharp, I can do it consistantly. Its getting over the initial hump of not wanting to ruin your own blades. I know its scary at first, but youll get the hang of it.


Cheers.

[Nifty_Nives]

practice on something cheap.

Get yourself a Tenacious, and dull it (from use) to the point where it wont cut ANYTHING. then grab your sharpmaker, and away you go. because its like a $30 knife, you shouldnt be scared if you have to reprofile it, or if it looks like a turd, and you will practice sharpening the knife, and about how long it takes to dull a knife, so you know EXACTLY when it needs to be sharpened, and EXACTLY when you need to stop sharpening it. Its all trial and error.

Heck, go grab a cheapo SAK and sharpen the H311 out of it until it cuts through... well... ANYTHING. just get it super dull first.

Or if its a hollow bladed knife, keep dulling and sharpening until you get to the hollow part, then you can try to sharpen the other side, until you have a hollow fork shape to show off. ive done it before, and it shows you how to sharpen things.

[BuffaloBill]

i sorta get the same way. more like if i get a knife sharp use it for a few days then i feel like i have to sharpen it again. i end up re-touching my knives too much i think.

i practice sharpening a little on my "retired" FG delica.

[vampyrewolf]

There's no such thing as "too sharp"

As far as something not feeling sharp, I should bring my ss dragonfly and show you that edge, compared to my lil temp. Thicker steel, more belly, larger grains... The lil temp feels sharper. The 'fly has thinner steel, sharpened at the same angle the blade is ground at, and polishes easier. Simply based on feeling the edge you'd think the 'fly is duller, because it doesn't bite.

If you polish an edge, it takes longer to break down under use. But when it does start it goes quickly and can be felt. If you leave an edge rough it doesn't break down as far, and is quicker to restore.

Easiest way to show this is to sharpen the same knife twice. Get it as sharp as you can and polish the edge up. It'll slip cutting plastic, but last a while. Now, when you can feel the difference, sharpen again as far as you can, and polish it up. NOW, rough up the cutting edge (increase your angle by 5deg) with a courser stone (go from fine to medium or even 800AO). See how much longer it lasts before you notice degradation in performance.

I can probably teach you a few things about sharpening. I'm still learning some tricks, but I've also made a lot of the mistakes along the path too (like "don't try to convex s30v, it takes a LOT longer than ats-55 by hand" )

[ront]

NOW, rough up the cutting edge (increase your angle by 5deg) with a courser stone (go from fine to medium or even 800AO). See how much longer it lasts before you notice degradation in performance.

Pat, I think this is a great tip and I am certainly going to give it a go!!


Kuolema, I can sure identify with your post!! One thing to watch for is when you get the blade really sharp, you often end up with a wire edge that can end up rolling. The knife will feel very sharp, but when you gut something, it will roll the edge just a bit and the knife no longer feels shaving sharp. Getting rid of that wire edge is still something that I struggle with from time to time. I am thinking that Pat's tip (above) may help with it!

Ron

[vampyrewolf]

Coles Notes version...

The key is to work your edge the whole time you sharpen to limit the formation of a burr as much as possible. Then kill the burr with lighter pressure as you polish. Strop it, then hit the courser grit. Might take longer to kill the burr as you polish but is worth it.

I've posted a few times on here for my method, I don't feel like typing it all out again :p

The amount of time I want to spend on an edge defines how polished, and thus how sharp, I get it. Spending 20min with a strop till do wonders to a poor edge

[BuffaloBill]

i'm thinking of buying a mule just to practice sharpening.

[Slick]

There's no such thing as "too sharp"

As far as something not feeling sharp, I should bring my ss dragonfly and show you that edge, compared to my lil temp. Thicker steel, more belly, larger grains... The lil temp feels sharper. The 'fly has thinner steel, sharpened at the same angle the blade is ground at, and polishes easier. Simply based on feeling the edge you'd think the 'fly is duller, because it doesn't bite.

If you polish an edge, it takes longer to break down under use. But when it does start it goes quickly and can be felt. If you leave an edge rough it doesn't break down as far, and is quicker to restore.

Easiest way to show this is to sharpen the same knife twice. Get it as sharp as you can and polish the edge up. It'll slip cutting plastic, but last a while. Now, when you can feel the difference, sharpen again as far as you can, and polish it up. NOW, rough up the cutting edge (increase your angle by 5deg) with a courser stone (go from fine to medium or even 800AO). See how much longer it lasts before you notice degradation in performance.

I can probably teach you a few things about sharpening. I'm still learning some tricks, but I've also made a lot of the mistakes along the path too (like "don't try to convex s30v, it takes a LOT longer than ats-55 by hand" )

I was reading through this thread without looking at who the posters were but after several sentances I recognized you by your expert advice.

It is always good to see you weigh in to a forum thread. And as is usual your post exceeds common knowlege.

Good to see you here.

[Nifty_Nives]

i'm thinking of buying a mule just to practice sharpening.

id go for something cheaper, and as they no longer make mule teams (i think...) they are just going to raise the prices more. unless price point isnt a factor.

[BuffaloBill]

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=426

[MCM]

Some steels slice & some bite.
Both cut, but not the same.
I have some old ATS34 that is better than 90% of new steels.
Cant explain......
Am now a steel snob. Cant explain that either...... :o

[vampyrewolf]

I was reading through this thread without looking at who the posters were but after several sentances I recognized you by your expert advice.
It is always good to see you weigh in to a forum thread. And as is usual your post exceeds common knowledge.
Good to see you here.

Is my writing style that obvious? :rolleyes:

You know the old saying about not living long enough to make all the mistake yourself? Well, I keep typing anyways. I poke online and try methods out, or I'll alter my sharpening method slightly and see what happens. The worst thing will be having a burr left and my edge dying faster, but that means more sharpening :p

I'm not even going to think about how many times I've spent an hour or so cleaning up an edge that didn't work... Where do you think I picked up sharpening with power tools? I have taken a dremel with a sanding drum to a few knives, **** I've even taken knives out to the garage and used the 6" bench grinder on em.

[white cloud]

If you follow the instructions for the Sharpmaker, its not likely that you will reuin your sage. I was very skeptical of getting my knives back to lazer sharp, after getting some experience on my sharpmaker I am glad to report that not only do i get it back to lazer sharp, I can do it consistantly. Its getting over the initial hump of not wanting to ruin your own blades. I know its scary at first, but youll get the hang of it.


Cheers.

i with noble 100% on this. if you follow the directions with the sharpmaker the results are awesome. i thought i was always going to be a sharpening under achiever until i followed the directions provided with the sharp maker. it works really well with s.e. knives.

you may want to invest in the super fine rods for the sharpmaker and then ease off the pressure towards the end of the sharpening process. i test sharpness by cutting 1 mm cotton cord. if things are where you want them the slightest bit of tension will pull the blade through the cord.