Community Sharpening Journal

[vivi]

Last touch-up before I reprofile. LC200N Pacific Salt 2 @ 20°



https://i.postimg.cc/fywBnT1Z/20201113-023435-HDR.jpg

[JD Spydo]

Someone needs to start a Spyderco sharpening class in N. Ca. because beyond using the Sharpmaker I can guarantee everyone I will destroy every knife I love learning to use a stone

I suggest a cheap paring knife, and have at it.

For sure do your practice on a knife that isn't so important. I tell everyone when they get their first 204 Sharpmaker to do their learning and practice on for at least the first month or so to use a boring kitchen knife or just some old Boy Scout knife they've had for years. Please don't start out with a $200 to $300 Spyderco or other high end knife.

One reason I bought all those German made culinary knives at the local thrift stores was to have knives I could use on new sharpening equipment that have decent to good steel in them. It's important I feel to also learn on knives that have at least above average steel blades.

[bbturbodad]

Reprofiled the Dragonfly on a Galley V.

I used 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around the ceramic rods to hog off the steel and then finished with 400 grit paper. I'm tempted to pick up a set of CBN rods but I don't think they'll last very long when taking off this much steel. I think the Galley V is supposed to be 10° but my angle cube was measuring ~11.5° either way it's more acute than the Sharpmaker.

[vivi]

So a while ago I tried these diamond plates from Harbor Freight out. Wasn't impressed. Didn't get good edges off of them holding them in my left hand and the knife in my right.



Today I decided to add some rubber feet to the bottom and try the 180 grit again. Reset the bevel on my chef knife I use at work. Here's a photo of the edge straight off the stone:



Very coarse edge. This stone reprofiles faster than any stone I've tried, second only to my powered equipment.

Despite the large crusty burr visible in that picture the knife could scrape shave right off this stone

I followed up with 5 passes per side on the sharpmaker at 15 degrees with brown rods, then finished with 3 passes per side on a 7 micrin diamond compound loaded strop.

I can run my nail down the edge and it feels very coarse, like its fresh off the 180 grit stone, but it sends arm hairs flying with a light touch. Excited to take it in to work tomorrow. It should push cut with ease, and once I've dulled it some it should still slice ripe tomatoes easily with the toothiness left on the apex.

Put this edge on November 5th. It's the 14th and it still glides through soft, ripe tomatoes with ease.



Chef knives were my last polished edge hold out. I've always kept them touched up with fine ceramics.

This new configuration is lasting much better. I was touching up the same knife every 2-3 days previously. I can go at least another week before it needs touched at the rate its been dulling.

Guess even my kitchen knives will be getting coarser edges from now on.

[pantagana23]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

[JakeXman]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

I’ve reprofiled my Tenacious in 8cr13mov on the sharpmaker brown rods to 15 degrees, and it took ages. I estimate 2 hours spread over multiple sessions. In my limited experience sharping friends’ VG-10 knives, it would take at least that long in your situation. There are definitely others with more experience who could give you a better ball park

[JakeXman]

I finally bit the bullet and reprofiled my SE Tasman Salt 2 to 15 degrees. I used 100 grit sandpaper binder clipped to my sharpmaker rods, then once I hit the apex I moved up to 220 grit sandpaper. I then polished up to the fine stones and called it a day. The tips are a little more rounded, the thickness of the scallops is significantly decreased, and (most importantly to me) the grind lines are gone.

Before:

After:

It’s quite a bit “slicier” now

[Cambertree]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

I haven’t done it myself.

It’s possible, but the brown Sharpmaker rods are not really the tool for the job. They load up fairly quickly in that type of work, and have a fairly limited contact area.

You could use the diamond/CBN rods, or as JakeXman mentioned, clip coarse sandpaper to the flats of the rods.

You’d probably want to use that ‘scrubbing’ motion if you use the Sharpmaker.

A coarse stone like the Norton Crystolon, the Gritomatic SiC benchstones, or the Harbor Freight four sided diamond setup Vivi has been using are inexpensive and far better suited to reprofiling edges.

My approach would be to use a coarse benchstone to thin out the edge at about 9-11 dps, then apply a 15 dps microbevel with the Sharpmaker.

VG10 can take quite thin, acute edges.

[Cambertree]

Reprofiled the Dragonfly on a Galley V.

I used 80 grit sandpaper wrapped around the ceramic rods to hog off the steel and then finished with 400 grit paper. I'm tempted to pick up a set of CBN rods but I don't think they'll last very long when taking off this much steel. I think the Galley V is supposed to be 10° but my angle cube was measuring ~11.5° either way it's more acute than the Sharpmaker.

Nice work Turbo.

How’s it been holding up in use?

[vivi]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

I haven’t done it myself.

It’s possible, but the brown Sharpmaker rods are not really the tool for the job. They load up fairly quickly in that type of work, and have a fairly limited contact area.

You could use the diamond/CBN rods, or as JakeXman mentioned, clip coarse sandpaper to the flats of the rods.

You’d probably want to use that ‘scrubbing’ motion if you use the Sharpmaker.

A coarse stone like the Norton Crystolon, the Gritomatic SiC benchstones, or the Harbor Freight four sided diamond setup Vivi has been using are inexpensive and far better suited to reprofiling edges.

My approach would be to use a coarse benchstone to thin out the edge at about 9-11 dps, then apply a 15 dps microbevel with the Sharpmaker.

VG10 can take quite thin, acute edges.

I'll second this entire post.

For under $15 you can easily save yourself 2 hours.

[Cambertree]

Cheers Vivi.

Here’s the last batch of stones I’ve been playing with.



From top to bottom:

Gritomatic JIS 120 SiC 3” x 8”

Venev F240/F400 bonded diamond waterstone 3” x 8”

Gritomatic JIS 400 SiC 3” x 8”

Venev F800/F1200 bonded diamond waterstone 3” x 8”

Venev F80/F150 bonded diamond waterstone 6” x 1”

I particularly like and recommend the Venev F240/F400 stone.

[Bolster]

Confess I've not read every page of this thread, but: does anybody use a slow speed buffer (like a Baldor) with a cotton wheel to do their stropping?

[Robert Ptacek]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

I’ve reprofiled my Tenacious in 8cr13mov on the sharpmaker brown rods to 15 degrees, and it took ages. I estimate 2 hours spread over multiple sessions. In my limited experience sharping friends’ VG-10 knives, it would take at least that long in your situation. There are definitely others with more experience who could give you a better ball park

I use a hybrid sharpening technique,like some others,of using a coarse hone to grind the relief angle and finish with the Sharpmaker.I realize some are hesitant about freehanding the relief but your not trying to get an exact angle but just thinning.With a coarse hone it should take less then a half hour even with thick edges.

[pantagana23]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

I haven’t done it myself.

It’s possible, but the brown Sharpmaker rods are not really the tool for the job. They load up fairly quickly in that type of work, and have a fairly limited contact area.

You could use the diamond/CBN rods, or as JakeXman mentioned, clip coarse sandpaper to the flats of the rods.

You’d probably want to use that ‘scrubbing’ motion if you use the Sharpmaker.

A coarse stone like the Norton Crystolon, the Gritomatic SiC benchstones, or the Harbor Freight four sided diamond setup Vivi has been using are inexpensive and far better suited to reprofiling edges.

My approach would be to use a coarse benchstone to thin out the edge at about 9-11 dps, then apply a 15 dps microbevel with the Sharpmaker.

VG10 can take quite thin, acute edges.

Prior to Sharpmaker, I used Fallkniven diamond/carbon stone for sharpening, where I would follow the existing bevel of the blade.

This would, however, end up as convex secondary bevel, or to be more truthful, the edge was all around the place.

The only steel that ended up great on the stone was LC200N.

It was when I started using Sharpmaker, that I finally found that the secondary bevel always has to be at 90 degrees to the stone (previously I would swipe it at maybe 45-90 degrees, making the edge on the root of the blade always the sharpest, and the tip was spoon-sharp.

I cannot reprofile to 15 dps on the stone, because I have no idea where the 15 degrees is. I used the phone once on the flat part of the blade to try to figure out where 15 is, but that was a joke: you cannot sharpen with your phone leaned to the blade, and as soon as you take it off, the angle continuously changes by little.

I think I'll just get diamond rods for Sharpmaker, or get KME.

[vivi]

People,
Have any on you tried reprofiling a VG10 Delica to 15 dps with standard Sharpmaker stones (medium, fine)?
From info I got, standard factory angle is cca 17dps.

Looking whether to do it or not, depending on how long it would take.

Also, would it make sense to sticky this thread?

I haven’t done it myself.

It’s possible, but the brown Sharpmaker rods are not really the tool for the job. They load up fairly quickly in that type of work, and have a fairly limited contact area.

You could use the diamond/CBN rods, or as JakeXman mentioned, clip coarse sandpaper to the flats of the rods.

You’d probably want to use that ‘scrubbing’ motion if you use the Sharpmaker.

A coarse stone like the Norton Crystolon, the Gritomatic SiC benchstones, or the Harbor Freight four sided diamond setup Vivi has been using are inexpensive and far better suited to reprofiling edges.

My approach would be to use a coarse benchstone to thin out the edge at about 9-11 dps, then apply a 15 dps microbevel with the Sharpmaker.

VG10 can take quite thin, acute edges.

Prior to Sharpmaker, I used Fallkniven diamond/carbon stone for sharpening, where I would follow the existing bevel of the blade.

This would, however, end up as convex secondary bevel, or to be more truthful, the edge was all around the place.

The only steel that ended up great on the stone was LC200N.

It was when I started using Sharpmaker, that I finally found that the secondary bevel always has to be at 90 degrees to the stone (previously I would swipe it at maybe 45-90 degrees, making the edge on the root of the blade always the sharpest, and the tip was spoon-sharp.

I cannot reprofile to 15 dps on the stone, because I have no idea where the 15 degrees is. I used the phone once on the flat part of the blade to try to figure out where 15 is, but that was a joke: you cannot sharpen with your phone leaned to the blade, and as soon as you take it off, the angle continuously changes by little.

I think I'll just get diamond rods for Sharpmaker, or get KME.

You don't need to stress over angles so much when setting the bevel. I reprofile all of mine free hand and shoot for roughly 10 degrees per side. Maybe my M4 Manix is 8 degrees on the bevel, maybe 10, maybe 12 degrees....either way it outcuts the factory edge easily.



As long as the freehand bevel ends up wider than the factory one and I can hit the apex of the new edge using the sharpmaker at 15 degrees I'm happy.

[pantagana23]

You don't need to stress over angles so much when setting the bevel. I reprofile all of mine free hand and shoot for roughly 10 degrees per side. Maybe my M4 Manix is 8 degrees on the bevel, maybe 10, maybe 12 degrees....either way it outcuts the factory edge easily.



As long as the freehand bevel ends up wider than the factory one and I can hit the apex of the new edge using the sharpmaker at 15 degrees I'm happy.

Am I getting you correctly: I could start on diamond stone on a lesser angle than factory.
Hmm, this way I could get it to the Sharpmaker afterwards on 30.

Now I just have to find a sacrificial knife for the test

[vivi]

You don't need to stress over angles so much when setting the bevel. I reprofile all of mine free hand and shoot for roughly 10 degrees per side. Maybe my M4 Manix is 8 degrees on the bevel, maybe 10, maybe 12 degrees....either way it outcuts the factory edge easily.



As long as the freehand bevel ends up wider than the factory one and I can hit the apex of the new edge using the sharpmaker at 15 degrees I'm happy.

Am I getting you correctly: I could start on diamond stone on a lesser angle than factory.
Hmm, this way I could get it to the Sharpmaker afterwards on 30.

Now I just have to find a sacrificial knife for the test

Yep, that's exactly what I do. The stone I use is only $12 too....much cheaper than a KME

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-sided-d ... 92867.html

[Cambertree]

Prior to Sharpmaker, I used Fallkniven diamond/carbon stone for sharpening, where I would follow the existing bevel of the blade.

This would, however, end up as convex secondary bevel, or to be more truthful, the edge was all around the place.

The only steel that ended up great on the stone was LC200N.

It was when I started using Sharpmaker, that I finally found that the secondary bevel always has to be at 90 degrees to the stone (previously I would swipe it at maybe 45-90 degrees, making the edge on the root of the blade always the sharpest, and the tip was spoon-sharp.

I cannot reprofile to 15 dps on the stone, because I have no idea where the 15 degrees is. I used the phone once on the flat part of the blade to try to figure out where 15 is, but that was a joke: you cannot sharpen with your phone leaned to the blade, and as soon as you take it off, the angle continuously changes by little.

I think I'll just get diamond rods for Sharpmaker, or get KME.

Yes, as Vivi and Robert Ptacek said, don’t worry about the exact edge angle when thinning out the factory edge.

I hold the knife with just enough clearance between the spine of the blade and the stone, so that I won’t leave scratches up the flats.

Basically you’ll start off sitting right on the shoulders of the edge bevel, then keep grinding until the new angle reaches the apex. Then I refine with the Sharpmaker at 15dps. The Sharpmaker effectively applies a microbevel at that angle.

Part of the reason I use this technique is it allows you to resharpen many times, very quickly on the Sharpmaker before you need to go back to the benchstones again. It’s very easy to keep your knife at a high level of sharpness.

Previously, I had estimated my edges to be somewhere between 11-13 dps, based on the way the 15 dps setting on the SM would only hit the very apex.

The only reason I quote 9-11 dps for my reprofiled edges is because I recently acquired a goniometer, so I know exactly what angle they are. They’re actually more acute than I thought.



There’s plenty of inexpensive knives with decent steel and proper heat treatments that you can use to practice with.

[prndltech]

A couple friends asked me to show them how I sharpen serrated edges... as we all know, this is the leading cause to the using of plain edge knives.

This blew their minds, so I thought I’d post it up here.

I don’t normally make videos, so I apologize for the poor execution, I was trying to hold my phone at the same time.

I’m sure I’m not the only one that does it this way. Sorry if this methods been posted here before. This is just one fast and effective way to make a serrated blade as sharp as I am lazy. Like I said I’m lazy, so the video is short, use your imagination and keep your negative comments outta here

Link to video: https://i.imgur.com/wy7UyML.mp4

Edit* if you turn the sound on - you can hear my sexy voice

[pantagana23]

The only reason I quote 9-11 dps for my reprofiled edges is because I recently acquired a goniometer, so I know exactly what angle they are. They’re actually more acute than I thought.



There’s plenty of inexpensive knives with decent steel and proper heat treatments that you can use to practice with.

For anyone questioning which goniometer this is, found it's Gritomatic Laser Edge Goniometer Lite 2.0

Not available on producer website, found one sold on ebay fot 56 $