Sharpening advice

[Streak]

I have owned a Sharpmaker for many years and it has been my only method of sharpening until I did not have one for some time.
I then bought the Smith's DCS4 4-Inch FINE & COARSE Diamond Combo Sharpening Stone which while small gave me a feel for non guided sharpening.
Roll on many years, I have my Sharpmaker back but got intrigued with stropping. I got some nice leather and made a few strops of different smoothness levels,one of them covered in green compound.
So, now I figure it's time to get a bench stone. I have a whole bunch of Spyderco and other folders that I carry and I like keeping the kitchen cutlery sharp as well. I'm not looking to split hairs right now but want something to get me going. Given that I have the course diamond plus diamond sleeves for my Sharpmaker I guess I have the course end spoken for. I was thinking along the lines of a 400/1000 whetstone to start with.
If I am not happy after 1000 followed by stropping (assuming my technique is right) I could always look at the finer grit stones.

https://www.amazon.com/Whetstone-Sharpe ... with+guide seems very highly rated and comes with a guide and at $16 shipped seems like good value.

Makes sense or do you suggest a different approach?

[Deadboxhero]

Can't argue with the price, dang

[Donut]

Some of the cheaper stones seem to fall apart while you're sharpening.

[Deadboxhero]

It looks like there are alot of cheap king stone clones on Amazon that didn't exist a year ago.

I'd still probably stick with what I know. A king deluxe 1k

[PKW]

Greetings all:

I'm new to the forum and Spydercos in general. Would love to get some advice on sharpening. I just picked up a used PM2 and Manix 2, both S30V. The tips of both look like they were worn or chipped by the previous owners. The tips are squared off roughly a millimeter. Any advice on sharpening to re-establish the tip?

Thanks!

[sal]

Hi Streak, PKW,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Surfingringo]

Greetings all:

I'm new to the forum and Spydercos in general. Would love to get some advice on sharpening. I just picked up a used PM2 and Manix 2, both S30V. The tips of both look like they were worn or chipped by the previous owners. The tips are squared off roughly a millimeter. Any advice on sharpening to re-establish the tip?

Thanks!

Hi PKW, welcome to the forum. The easiest way to re-establish the tips is to lay a piece of sandpaper (60 grit or so) on a flat surface and grind the spine down flat until you have reshaped the tip. When you have your tip back you can work your way up to 180-220 and it will look just like the factory grind. The pm2 is easier because the spine is already flat but its pretty easy to do the same with the Manix. Just start far enough back that you blend the new line into the natural curve of the spine.

[PKW]

Thanks for the tip sir. On DLC blades like my PM2, should I expect to have the new tip show some uncoated blade from the grinding? Or can the grinding be precise enough to not have any exposed blade if done right?

[Surfingringo]

Thanks for the tip sir. On DLC blades like my PM2, should I expect to have the new tip show some uncoated blade from the grinding? Or can the grinding be precise enough to not have any exposed blade if done right?

Ah, the dlc complicates matters. If you grind the spine down to meet the edge on that knife you will immediately grind through the dlc coating. It won’t hurt anything but you will end up with a shiny spine on your black blade. If you don’t want to marr the finish like that you can just keep working/sharpening the edge on a bench stone until you remove enough metal for the edge to meet the spine in a proper point again.

[PKW]

Thanks for the clarification. Much appreciated. Spyderco's are addictive I'm finding and have a friendly and helpful community.

[PKW]

I got some newbie sharpening questions...

What is the factory blade angle for the PM2 and Manix 2?

If you want to go to a wider angle for these blades for strength, are there any tips you might have? For example, are there particular things to pay attention to if you trying to go from a 15 degree angle to a 20 degree angle on the secondary bevel?

Thanks!

[PKW]

Thanks for the advice. I have a Manix 2 (S30V) with a micro bevel that is a little high, maybe a few millimeters. When I resharpened to a wider angle, I was able to get a burr below the upper line of the original micro bevel angle. So...it's like having a micro bevel on the micro bevel, going from a wide angle to narrow angle to the flat grind of the blade. Just seemed a little weird looking.

[PKW]

That was my initial thought, it's like a transition bevel so the angle change is not as abrupt. You just don't see that too often on factory knives. Maybe the closest is a hollow-grind with a micro bevel where there are three angles: micro bevel, hollow grind, and the flat grind of the spine. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's always good to have another perspective.

[BigCanadian]

Since getting into Spyderco's "small" full flat grind blades, I have switched to diamond paste for stropping. I use it on the smooth side (outside) of the leather. There are many Micron sizes available, so it's easy to tweak to get your desired results. I have turned into a stropaholic :)

[Tdog]

Greetings all:
I'm new to the forum and Spydercos in general. Would love to get some advice on sharpening. I just picked up a used PM2 and Manix 2, both S30V. The tips of both look like they were worn or chipped by the previous owners. The tips are squared off roughly a millimeter. Any advice on sharpening to re-establish the tip?

Thanks!


You could just send them to Spyderco. If they can be corrected with a simple sharpening it will be done inexpensively....and right. :spyder:

[Eli Chaps]

I have owned a Sharpmaker for many years and it has been my only method of sharpening until I did not have one for some time.
I then bought the Smith's DCS4 4-Inch FINE & COARSE Diamond Combo Sharpening Stone which while small gave me a feel for non guided sharpening.
Roll on many years, I have my Sharpmaker back but got intrigued with stropping. I got some nice leather and made a few strops of different smoothness levels,one of them covered in green compound.
So, now I figure it's time to get a bench stone. I have a whole bunch of Spyderco and other folders that I carry and I like keeping the kitchen cutlery sharp as well. I'm not looking to split hairs right now but want something to get me going. Given that I have the course diamond plus diamond sleeves for my Sharpmaker I guess I have the course end spoken for. I was thinking along the lines of a 400/1000 whetstone to start with.
If I am not happy after 1000 followed by stropping (assuming my technique is right) I could always look at the finer grit stones.

https://www.amazon.com/Whetstone-Sharpe ... with+guide seems very highly rated and comes with a guide and at $16 shipped seems like good value.

Makes sense or do you suggest a different approach?

I would caution to steer clear of the cheap stuff cuz you get what you pay for. Those stones are very hit or miss and tend to break down rapidly.

You'll find there is no "one" stone as different steels will dictate different types. Spyderco makes some nice bench stones as does DMT. I would suggest no less than 2" width and 3" is better. 6" long minimum but 8" is better.

I like Arkansas (novaculite) stones and Dan's Whetstones are excellent. Given your current course coverage, you could look at the hard to translucent/black stones as finishing stones. The translucent and black are more like stropping. Keep in mind though, something like S110V might not respond well to these stones. I did manage some slurry and polishing with a translucent on S90V. But, like I said, no one stone type is ideal for all the steels and such that are available.

Diamonds are probably the most versatile.