Community Sharpening Journal

[u.w.]

Definitely looking forward to hearing how the edge on your Auqa-Salt does, compared to your REX45 & M4 fine edge(s).

And how your PacSalt LC200N finishes up, and performs.

u.w.

[bbturbodad]

No videos yet but I took some better photos:

That's a good looking edge! Looking forward to seeing that LC200N @ 15 degrees.

My SE Native Salt is my only SE knife I still have @ 20 the SE pattern isn't too pointy and doesn't snag so I've been happy with it but I do plan to take it down to 15 soon.

I just printed these low angle adapters for the Sharpmaker so maybe I'll try going even lower. :cool:

[JRinFL]

No videos yet but I took some better photos:

That is a lot of work to get the edge where it should be from the factory. Now it resembles those old wavy edge knives that have been around for decades.

[metaphoricalsimile]

I set the primary bevel with 320/600 grit diamonds with a worksharp precision adjust, then hand polished with ceramics. V-toku2 Endura.

[vivi]

Refined the 200 grit edge to the point it cleanly shaved. One light stroke per side on the medium rods at 15 degrees. Stroppeed twice per side with 40 micron.

Thin, toothy, and hair popping sharp.

Curious to see how this type of edge holds up on PE H1.

[The Meat man]

Just got some diamond emulsion spray for my WE leather strops - 4 micron and 1 micron.

Right off the bat I could tell the diamond concentration was much higher than any other compound I'd used. I could actually somewhat feel the diamond grains as I applied it to the strop.

I sharpened up my Swayback, going to 1,000 grit, then spent a few minutes on each strop. Wow it is probably the sharpest I have ever gotten a knife! Pops freehanging hairs in half on contact, both ways.

So I took my freshly sharpened S110V Manix and gave it a few licks too. Now it's hair-whittling sharp, and that's sharper than I've ever gotten S110V.

The WE diamond emulsion spray works faster and better than anything else I've tried. (Gritomatic, Tormek, generic brand, CBN from KME.) I highly recommend it if you're looking for a good stropping compound!

[Wandering_About]

Finally got around to sharpening some SPY27. Native needed a touch up. Just kept the factory bevel for now. 3000 grit Naniwa Professional stone to make a burr and then knock it off, 1 micron diamond on a strop to finish it off. Pleased with the results, and didn't take too long. That Naniwa Pro 3K stone is my favorite when doing steels that don't need diamonds. But I may never use a conventional compound on a strop ever again, the diamond on a strop just brings great results fast.

[Steeltoez83]

Quick session this morning with my k390 delica. Used both sides of the spyderco cbn benchstone. Really like how seki heat treats their k390.

[TkoK83Spy]

This knife was already a favorite, came in at just under 17dps. Just knocked off a couple degrees to 15dps and left a toothy, yet fairly smooth (if that makes sense), edge at 320 grit.

Sharpening a wharnie is so easy!

[Wandering_About]

The Endela was due for a new edge, and after hacking through weeds this morning I figured today was a good a day as any, especially since I spent the afternoon hiding from the heat in my house. Reprofiled on the diamonds. 140, 400, 1000, then 1 micron strop. It won't whittle hairs, but I rarely get that kind of sharpness with my sloppy freehand style. It will separate matter well enough for me, though. Usually I'd go to 3000 grit but decided to leave it at 1000 today as an experiment.

[vivi]

Going through the collection, putting better edges on knives I expect to use between now and new years.



Living life on the wild side and gave my EDC a more polished edge than usual. Went all the way up to 260 grit. Shaves more aggressively VS 200 grit but still very toothy.



Manix XL, UF rods at 20 degrees per side until it was sharp enough to whittle hairs.



K390 Police 4 Lightweight, shaving sharp 200 grit edge. Still needs a little work, there's a tiny sliver of factory edge microbevel near the ricasso that needs ground off.



SK5 SRK, aggressive shaving 260 grit edge. Love how SK5 sharpens.



Another extremely easy steel to sharpen, BD1. Got the chip near the tip of this Ronin 2 ground out finally. 200 grit bevel with a Spyderco medium bench stone microbevel. Extremely aggressive shaving, its crazy how easy it is to get amazing edges with this steel. Planning to give the Ronin 2 more carry this fall, it's a really nice design.

Touched up a few others like an SRK-C, Recon Tanto, SE Pacifics, and a LC200N PE Pacific Salt.

Got the LC Pacific Salt ready for the head to head comparison with the H1 Pacific I EDC. May reprofile the H1 knife to 2-3 degrees thinner per side, because the LC one I took a little thinner than usual. I wanted to push the steel.

[cabfrank]

Stud.

[TkoK83Spy]

You're an animal Vivi!

[The Meat man]

Nice work!

[Steeltoez83]

Sharpened up my manix this morning. I only used an 800 grit King neo stone so it took a bit longer than normal. Especially since this maxamet was Rockwell tested 68.3.

[kennethsime]

I've been eyeing a KME for quite awhile, but the $400 price tag keeps putting me off. Another forum member has been raving about the Workshop Precision Adjust (basically a cheaper, less-modular KME knockoff) and I decided that $50 with next-day delivery was too good to pass up.

Today I sharpened two knives: a cheap old pairing knife just to try things out, followed by my LT Wright Small Workhorse.



The unit itself is built remarkably well for the price, and is very easy to use. It comes with 320-Grit & 600-Grit diamond strips, and one "Fine Ceramic" which feels about like the Spyderco white stones. One really nice feature is that you can flip the knife 180° without re-clamping it.

Anyway, nice as the unit is, it's not idiot-proof. If the scale is to be believed, my LTWK was about 19°, and I took it down to 15°through the 320, 600, Fine Ceramic, and then took it to the strop with black + green compound. The knife is plenty sharp, but the bevel isn't particularly even or pretty.



I clearly still have a lot to learn!
Looks to me like I spent a bit too much time on that spot near the heel where the bevel wavers.

I had a particularly hard time knocking off the burr near the tip, and I do see that the bevel is a bit thinner near the tip.

I know that some KME users clamp their knives at an angle to avoid rounding their tip - maybe I'll try that next time.

[TkoK83Spy]

Hmm, that's odd how the bevel turned out a bit wonky like that. I've done a chef's knife, Z Cut, various folders and a couple fixed blades without any issue. I'm puzzled how that happened!

[Badger410]

I know that some KME users clamp their knives at an angle to avoid rounding their tip - maybe I'll try that next time.

Draw a line from tip to cutting edge at plunge line and keep that line parallel with the front edge of the clamp jaws.

Try clamping the blade in the middle of the cutting edge.

To avoid rounding the tip don't take the centreline of the stone past the tip.

HTH

[cabfrank]

I just looked up some info. It sounds like you can't go below 15 degrees. Am I missing something, or would that be a limiting weakness?

[cabfrank]

Maybe not...
Not sure.
Interesting sharpener though, for not a lot of money, to complement the Sharpmaker.