Salt 1 sharpening angle!

sir_mike · #1

Hi all,

I was sitting around today and thought that I would sharpen my Salt1 plain edge but for some reason no angle lines up on my DMT Aligner. Is it because of the Saber grind type or could have this been sharpened a certain way prior to me getting it? I did get it used!

I put marker on it and tried the 20 deg setting but that only hit the very edge. I dropped it to the 17 deg setng and that hit a little more of the edge but not even close to the whole edge. The sSharpmaker doesnt hit much of the edge either and almost exactly the same as tne DMT did.

Should I just start over with the extra coarse and reprofile it to 20 degrees using the DMT Aligner and diamond stones or ? Any ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Cliff Stamp · #2

The angle is simple lower than those settings, if your experience is that you need those angles for durability then sharpen at them. However you have to be doing fairly hard work to want a higher angle than is use on the Sharpmaker.

ChapmanPreferred · #3

Hi Mike,
Cliff's post is accurate. The angle that is in place is lower/thinner than the angles you are accustomed to using on your sharpening system. This works in your favor from my point of view. The backbevel angle on the Sharpmaker is to thin out the edge geometry so when you just need a quick touch up on the edge angle, it takes less time and you remove less material. Every 10th sharpening it is recommended to spend some time on the back bevel angle again to maintain that thin geometry while you work up into thicker steal after years of sharpening.

As far as direction from here, I would say to use your thinnest angle to touch up the edges. I would not waste your steal on a re-profile at this time. :)

Best wishes!

Doug

sir_mike · #4

Cliff Stamp wrote:The angle is simple lower than those settings, if your experience is that you need those angles for durability then sharpen at them. However you have to be doing fairly hard work to want a higher angle than is use on the Sharpmaker.

I figured it was at a lower angle but wondered if that was the norm for this model or if occured during the first owners use! I just thought to get the edge to the 20 deg so I could touch up with the Sharpmaker. None of my blades are hard used!

ChapmanPreferred wrote:Hi Mike,
Cliff's post is accurate. The angle that is in place is lower/thinner than the angles you are accustomed to using on your sharpening system. This works in your favor from my point of view. The backbevel angle on the Sharpmaker is to thin out the edge geometry so when you just need a quick touch up on the edge angle, it takes less time and you remove less material. Every 10th sharpening it is recommended to spend some time on the back bevel angle again to maintain that thin geometry while you work up into thicker steal after years of sharpening.

As far as direction from here, I would say to use your thinnest angle to touch up the edges. I would not waste your steal on a re-profile at this time. :)

Best wishes!

Doug

Okay, I will just put a 20 deg angle for use and touchups but how would I "spend more tkme on the back bevel" with the two sharpeners I have as the lowest degree is 17 that I can get? Oh and FYI, I am a sharpening noob so I dont know much about this. That is why I use an aligner or sharpmaker! :)

Thx.

Surfingringo · #5

Just use the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. Your angle is obviously lower than that so the 40 degree setting will put a very functional microbevel on your knife. When the 40 degree microbevel starts to "take over" the entire edge bevel, you can switch to the 30 degree setting on the sm (if u want) and re-establish your primary bevel at 30 and from there continue to microbevel at 40. Make sense? If that sounds too complicated then just put the rods in the 40 degree slots and sharpen your knife. :D

And remember, the 30 & 40 degree settings on the sm are inclusive so that is 15 & 20 degrees per side. Lower than the 17 you were talking about on the aligner.

sir_mike · #6

Surfingringo wrote:Just use the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. Your angle is obviously lower than that so the 40 degree setting will put a very functional microbevel on your knife. When the 40 degree microbevel starts to "take over" the entire edge bevel, you can switch to the 30 degree setting on the sm (if u want) and re-establish your primary bevel at 30 and from there continue to microbevel at 40. Make sense? If that sounds too complicated then just put the rods in the 40 degree slots and sharpen your knife. :D

And remember, the 30 & 40 degree settings on the sm are inclusive so that is 15 & 20 degrees per side. Lower than the 17 you were talking about on the aligner.

Makes sense to me! I may be pretty new to sharpening but not a total dummy! :D

Thx.

FYI - I have been thinking about regrinding my Salt 1 so it has a point like you did with your pacific salt.

Surfingringo · #7

sir_mike wrote:Makes sense to me! I may be pretty new to sharpening but not a total dummy! :D

Thx.

FYI - I have been thinking about regrinding my Salt 1 so it has a point like you did with your pacific salt.

Go for it. I did that on the salt 1 too. I like the result. :)

sir_mike · #8

Yeah, I think I wojld like it to!!!

Did you use that 60 grit wet or dry?

Surfingringo · #9

Dry. I think it only took 10-15 minutes. It was very simple.

sir_mike · #10

Surfingringo wrote:Dry. I think it only took 10-15 minutes. It was very simple.

Sweet, I will have to pick some 60g and some tape up to try it.

elena86 · #11

Surfingringo wrote:Just use the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. Your angle is obviously lower than that so the 40 degree setting will put a very functional microbevel on your knife. When the 40 degree microbevel starts to "take over" the entire edge bevel, you can switch to the 30 degree setting on the sm (if u want) and re-establish your primary bevel at 30 and from there continue to microbevel at 40. Make sense? If that sounds too complicated then just put the rods in the 40 degree slots and sharpen your knife. :D

And remember, the 30 & 40 degree settings on the sm are inclusive so that is 15 & 20 degrees per side. Lower than the 17 you were talking about on the aligner.

Do you favor plain edge on your Pacific ? I have one in spyderedge and I love it but I wonder how difficult is to sharpen those serrations.... Difficult or not, my spyderedge Pacific Salt is a keeper for me ! If you had to go on a long trip would you take a plain edge Pacific or a serrated one with you ?

Surfingringo · #12

elena86 wrote:Do you favor plain edge on your Pacific ? I have one in spyderedge and I love it but I wonder how difficult is to sharpen those serrations.... Difficult or not, my spyderedge Pacific Salt is a keeper for me ! If you had to go on a long trip would you take a plain edge Pacific or a serrated one with you ?

Serrated for sure! I only have 1 pe salt and I honestly wish I had gotten it in serrated edge like my others. Serrated h1 outperforms pe by a mile IMO.

elena86 · #13

Surfingringo wrote:Serrated for sure! I only have 1 pe salt and I honestly wish I had gotten it in serrated edge like my others. Serrated h1 outperforms pe by a mile IMO.

You're my man Surfgringo ! I am with you in this....Salt spyderedge rocks !!!

Mjc1973 · #14

Gringo,

How do you sharpen your spyderco get? I have always stayed away from serrations because I didn't think I would be able to sharpen them correctly.

Surfingringo · #15

elena86 wrote:You're my man Surfgringo ! I am with you in this....Salt spyderedge rocks !!!

No worries. And it's not difficult to sharpen at all. I give mine regular touch ups on the sharpmaker to keep it shaving sharp.

I think different folks view the value of serrated edge in different ways. Some see it as a blade that will work even when very dull. For me I see it as a blade that will simply work better at certain cutting tasks...and the sharper the better. Most of the knife guys on here don't want to use a plain edge knife until it's butter knife dull. I see no reason to think differently about serrated edges. If you are planning to edc it I would definitely recommend getting comfortable touching it up on he sharpmaker. It's really quick and easy to keep that edge shaving sharp.

Mjc1973 · #16

Gringo,

How do you sharpen your spyderedge? I have always stayed away from serrations because I didn't think I would be able to sharpen them correctly.

Surfingringo · #17

Mjc1973 wrote:Gringo,

How do you sharpen your spyderco get? I have always stayed away from serrations because I didn't think I would be able to sharpen them correctly.

I stayed away from se for a long time too for the same reason. Glad I got over that because there's really nothing to it.

I use the sharpmaker and pretty much do it how Sal suggests in the video. I have made a few minor changes that seem to work for me. Like I said in the above post, I like to keep mine on the extreme side of sharp so I will do a 30-60 second touch up every couple of days. But I use mine quite a bit on thick fish skin and cartilage which is kind of tough on an edge so if I was just using it for normal edc stuff that would probably be more like once a week.

Mjc1973 · #18

Cool. Thanks. What is your favorite fish to catch and which is your favorite to eat. Here in Ohio small mouth is the funest on light tackle but for dinner it's walleye, perch or crappie.

Surfingringo · #19

Mjc1973 wrote:Cool. Thanks. What is your favorite fish to catch and which is your favorite to eat. Here in Ohio small mouth is the funest on light tackle but for dinner it's walleye, perch or crappie.

Funny, my girlfriend and I just had this discussion. Both love fish and we eat it pretty much every day. Honestly, we had a hard time saying what our favorite was. Snapper is excellent but we really enjoy the big Spanish Mackerel we get here too. Corvina is excellent here. Snook is hard to beat too. Lol, I dunno, I love them all! I have never had walleye but I've heard it's really good!

Mjc1973 · #20

I've had some nice fishing trips out of Panama City, FL. the Spanish and kings were very good but my father and brother in law caught Mahi-Mahi and we had them fileted and cook it on one of those little charcoal grills you get at Walmart. I have to say there something about freshly caught fish cooked over charcoal.

I need to eat more fish. I love it but for some reason rarely eat it. Maybe fear of over cooking it and I have MS which makes it tough to fish because I just can't take the heat. So I guess I need to go to the grocery.

Sorry for the rambling and semi hijacking this thread. I just miss camping and fishing and you have awakened something in me.