SE sharpening advice

[burntrice]

My mate has just got himself a dragonfly frn se and has been quizzing me about sharpening it.

I have a sharpmaker, does anyone have any tips or sound advice for sharpening a chisel spyder edge?

[The Mentaculous]

I do 4-5 strokes on the ground/beveled side, then one on the flat side to remove the burr. The balance may be different for different steels, pressures etc. Basically you need to do more strokes on the ground side, then make sure the burr is removed, and if you do too many strokes on the flat side, go remove the burr on the other side. I believe Sal says to do 5 strokes, then 1 on the other to remove the burr.

I just do that, then when it's sharp enough, I test for a burr with my finger nail and/or do a paper cut test to see if it's a true enough edge. If it snags on the paper/you feel a burr, just do a stroke or 2 on the side with the burr and test again.

I suggest watching the sharpmaker DVD. The rest, I just figured out from trial and error. It's pretty easy though, as I explained, the main thing is to do more strokes on the beveled side, then make sure you remove the burr.

[jackknifeh]

Two schools of thought on sharpening serrated edges that I'm aware of.

1. Sharpen the back side like you would any straight edge knife keeping the edge angle as low as possible for that knife. Then use a serrated sharpener to remove the burr from the inside of the serration grooves. I do it like this and it works very well. The very tips get rounded a little though.

2. Use a serrated sharpener to get inside each groove and sharpen that side as close to the factory angle as you can. Then remove the burr from the back side. This seems to require quite a bit of skill and time even with the best tools. I've tried this on two knives (with 6" long cone shaped sharpeners) and made the appearance very uneven and ugly. That is because of my lack of skill I'm sure.

I have a set of Spyderco profile stones on order and they should arrive today. I'll try them out and let you know how they work for me. Like most things having the right tools as well as skill is the key.

Jack

[araneae]

Sal covers it in the sharpmaker video.

[ChapmanPreferred]

I use a 3 to 1 stroke pattern. One on the side without without the grind, then three on the side with the grind and repeat until you are pleased with the edge.

[SQSAR]

+1 on the 3/1 pattern, although sometimes I will go 5/1. Another thing I've started doing on my CE Manix2 is on the SE portion I stop when I've used the fine rods. But, on the PE portion, I take both the back bevel and micro bevel to the ultra-fine rods and then hit it with my 3 then 1 micron strops. My theory being, I want a toothier edge on the SE and a wicked polished edge on the PE portion for more push type cuts. So far it seems to be working out just great and is proving itself to be quite the versatile tool for heavy EDC type applications. (and I still can't believe I'm saying anything positive about a CE, but I think the Manix2 is just the knife for it)

[burntrice]

Thanks all. I do remember Sal's instruction on the dvd but cant find it anywhere, i think i'll mess about on a bread knife before i tackle his dragonfly.

[Zenith]

I dont use a sharpmaker so I made a plan. Buffing wheels with green compound works wonders on serrations. I can shave arm hair with my serrations.

[JBE]

Use the corners of the brown/grey rods on the Sharpmaker at 40 degrees...Use the 3:1 sharpening ratio...Finish off by stropping between the serration scallops with a sturdy leather shoe lace (you can put compound on the lace if you want for even more polishing)...

[jackknifeh]

I dont use a sharpmaker so I made a plan. Buffing wheels with green compound works wonders on serrations. I can shave arm hair with my serrations.

Sounds great! I have a Dremel with polishing buffing wheels that I already treated with DMT diamond paste. Never thought about using them for serrated edges though.

Use the corners of the brown/grey rods on the Sharpmaker at 40 degrees...Use the 3:1 sharpening ratio...Finish off by stropping between the serration scallops with a sturdy leather shoe lace (you can put compound on the lace if you want for even more polishing)...

Another great idea. A shoelace strop! Once again people on this forum have provided excellent information. Well done and thanks.

Jack

[jackknifeh]

Two schools of thought on sharpening serrated edges that I'm aware of.

1. Sharpen the back side like you would any straight edge knife keeping the edge angle as low as possible for that knife. Then use a serrated sharpener to remove the burr from the inside of the serration grooves. I do it like this and it works very well. The very tips get rounded a little though.

2. Use a serrated sharpener to get inside each groove and sharpen that side as close to the factory angle as you can. Then remove the burr from the back side. This seems to require quite a bit of skill and time even with the best tools. I've tried this on two knives (with 6" long cone shaped sharpeners) and made the appearance very uneven and ugly. That is because of my lack of skill I'm sure.

I have a set of Spyderco profile stones on order and they should arrive today. I'll try them out and let you know how they work for me. Like most things having the right tools as well as skill is the key.

Jack

I'm quoting myself to keep from retyping. I got the profile stones today and have used them a little. I emailed Spyderco the other day and I'm also including part of the reply. Here it is.

Email from Spyderco start:
The Serrations on Spyderco and Byrd knives are not all the same, however they are ALL designed to be sharpened effectively by the Sharpmaker. We design the corners of the triangle stones at .031" and all of our serrations are wider than that. The Profile stones you questioned about have a hard corner (.031") as well as a softer edge, which will act like two different grits (similar to the flat and corner sides of the triangle stones). Serrations should ONLY be sharpened by the corners of the stones and not the wider corners of the Profile stones. All 3 corners of the triangle stones are the same, whether it be Medium, Fine, or Ultra Fine stones. When you sharpen our serrated knives, it is imperative that you do not sharpen each serration valley separately but run the length of the entire knife with each stroke. The corners of the stones will work their way into all serration valleys as long as you move at a moderate speed.
Email from Spyderco end:

The way I'm going to sharpen serrated knives is like I describe in method 1 above. You can check this out on Edge Pro's web site for a demonstration by Ben Dale, the guy who invented the Edge pro. He shows how he does it on the Edge Pro. I have an Edge Pro but the theory is the same no matter what sharpener you use, even freehand sharpening.

Jack
Edit: The profile stones fit inside the serrations better than anything I've used before. The only thing I've used is the long narrow cone shaped serrated knife sharpeners and the profile stones are far easier to use. The large curve corners would be great for sharpening re-curve blades. I'd recommend them to anyone wanting tools for serrated edges.