Spyderco Forums

Hello,

I need yall's help on sharpening my Para 2 . I'm having a hard time getting the edge back to factory, I did do some research but didnt find much. Im currently using the sharpmaker and my Paramilitary 2 is the S30v version. What is the factory edge that Spyderco has on the blade? When I'm sharpening the blade im using the 40 degree side but I still have to angle the blade just a little to a edge and when I do that I get a ok edge and it somewhat cuts the hair on my arm, but the edge does not last long and its pissing me off lol. I really appreciated your help! Thank you so much!

The angles on Spyderco knives (or any production knife I think) are going to vary. I almost bet they are never exactly 30 or 40 degrees like the Sharpmaker's settings. They are sharpened by hand on a grinding wheel I believe so the angles will vary a little. You may need to spend some time to reprofile the edge to the 30° setting. Then use the 40° setting for touch ups or a micro-bevel. This is how the Sharpmaker is designed. If you need to angle the blade off vertical now it means the angle is higher than 40°. That's not really bad, but if it were me I'd want to correct this as soon as possible. I'd put the Sharpmaker at 40 and keeping the blade as vertical as possible keep working on the edge until the entire length is sharp. Use the med stones (or diamond if you have them) to do this. Then the knife is usable and you can work on creating the 30° "back bevel" at your convenience. Without seeing the edged it's hard to tell exactly but I think this would help. Others may have other ideas you like (or are) better. Hope this helps.

welcome to the forums! to find out the angle of your edge you should draw on it with permanent marker, and then sharpen it with the sharpmaker and when the marker starts to come off, it will show u the angle of the edge

First, thank you for the help. See when I keep the blade as vertical as I can on the 40 degree I dont feel the blade is getting sharpened, and its not. But I think im going to try the 30 degree and see what happens. Ill let you know. Thanks again!

if 40 wont sharpen it, 30 certainly wont. what you gotta do is use 30 for an extended amount of time until you reprofile the blade, then use 40 degrees to give it a micro bevel

O Ok Ill sure and do that, thank you.

It's always nice to sharpen your own blades, but option #2 is to send it to Spyderco and have them sharpen it. $5.00 for shipping or something like that.

setldown wrote:It's always nice to sharpen your own blades, but option #2 is to send it to Spyderco and have them sharpen it. $5.00 for shipping or something like that.

O YA for some reason I thought it was $5 for shipping and $20 to get it sharpened but I doubled checked and its only $5, I think im gonna do that instead! THANK YOU!!!!

On a couple of my Para2s, I spent the time to re-profile the blade at 30 degrees - then use a 40 degree micro-edge bevel. This allows me to use the Sharpmaker at 40 degrees for quick touch ups. Once every couple of years, I'll probably need to reprofile (or sooner if I get significant edge damage).

That is one of the primary considerations with the SharpMaker - you have to true-up the bevel on the knife to match one of the two angles on the SharpMaker appliance. Once you do, it is a snap to maintain the edge.

TedP

P.S. - +1 on the sharpie trick. And also I'd recommend buying a small magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe. This will enable you to take a close look at the edge while you sharpen.

My PM2 is probably around 30* from the factory, I use the 40* setting on the sharpmaker to give it a microbevel. I continue to sharpen with the 40* bevel as it will slowly but eventually wear all the 30* factory bevel away.

How many strides are you doing per side? I usually do 100 or so on the fine stones to get back a quick edge. You may have to do more or less depending.

Roundabout136 wrote:My PM2 is probably around 30* from the factory, I use the 40* setting on the sharpmaker to give it a microbevel. I continue to sharpen with the 40* bevel as it will slowly but eventually wear all the 30* factory bevel away.

How many strides are you doing per side? I usually do 100 or so on the fine stones to get back a quick edge. You may have to do more or less depending.

100???? Wow! Maybe that what my problem was, I was probably doing around 10 on each side, since I dont use my blade much just to cut things here and there... :/

A touch up should require much fewer than 100 passes. On a relatively sharp knife I would say I do between 10 and 15 for a touch up.

Do the sharpie trick. If you don't know whether you are even hitting the edge you are waisting your time. Use the sharpie, make about 5 passes and then examine the edge. If you haven't removed the marker from the edge you need to go to the 30 degree setting until you are taking off all the sharpie on the edge. Then move to 40 for a microbevel.

kmorar556 wrote:100???? Wow! Maybe that what my problem was, I was probably doing around 10 on each side, since I dont use my blade much just to cut things here and there... :/

Depending on how sharp the edge is. On my VG-10 Delica it won't take nearly as much. S30V is tough stuff.

On a thin edge I typically touch then to the whites for about 10 passes each side, sometimes 5 instead. I'm probably killing time more than sharpening, they don't get really dull though :) .

Convex it itll last forever

Melektau wrote:Convex it itll last forever

[video=youtube;uHBMDRJpxWQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBMDRJpxWQ[/video]

Yngwie! YES!!!!

You have unleashed the fury!!

You have unleashed the fury!!

If you've been angling the blade while using the Sharpmaker, then you probably have a pretty confused edge right now. Might want to reprofile it and start from scratch. S30V requires a bit more patience to sharpen than say 8Cr13MoV, but it can be done. I have several knives in S30V (mostly Para2s) and I can get every one to hair popping sharp with a bit of patience. Once you get it there you can maintain it with the white stones with relativel ease.

Might be simplest just to send it in to Spyderco for a resharpen/reprofile to get a good baseline to start with... Good luck!