Hey guys, just a quick question...
I EDC a DF2 in Super Blue and don't really use it that much. Just minor EDC tasks, opening up mail, boxes, breaking down boxes, etc..
Can I use my Suehiro Rika 5k to do a few strokes to touch it up without setting a burr, etc..? Or would a UF benchstone be better for that? Or just a strop block?
Thanks guys!
Maintaining with high grit waterstone
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Cliff Stamp
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If you are just trying to keep it sharp and are not concerned about how often you have to maintain it and you are using it for very light work and you are not jigging then you would likely end up liking how a strop block worked for you.
The main reason being that the angle tolerance is much lower with leather and thus you can hit the apex easily compared to with the UF benchstone which you would end up micro-beveling and if you angle was off slightly (too low) it would hit behind the apex and do nothing and thus you could find it taking much longer.
The downside of the stropping is that it wastes the potential of steel, if you are doing that then you might as well be using the lowest grade of steel you can find because if you are willing to put up with the results of a constantly stropped edge on a lightly used knife then you are not getting any benefit from a highly refined steel.
With a waterstone, they are much more complicated to use than the Spyderco stones because they wear and form a slurry. The wearing changes the angle and the slurry affects how the edge is formed. If the slurry is heavy, if the edge bites into the stone - then you could dull the edge rather than sharpen it.
The main reason being that the angle tolerance is much lower with leather and thus you can hit the apex easily compared to with the UF benchstone which you would end up micro-beveling and if you angle was off slightly (too low) it would hit behind the apex and do nothing and thus you could find it taking much longer.
The downside of the stropping is that it wastes the potential of steel, if you are doing that then you might as well be using the lowest grade of steel you can find because if you are willing to put up with the results of a constantly stropped edge on a lightly used knife then you are not getting any benefit from a highly refined steel.
With a waterstone, they are much more complicated to use than the Spyderco stones because they wear and form a slurry. The wearing changes the angle and the slurry affects how the edge is formed. If the slurry is heavy, if the edge bites into the stone - then you could dull the edge rather than sharpen it.