Spyderco Forums

I think I'm going to have to buy an S110V knife to mess around with.

I finished resetting the bevel on the S110V Para 3 on my 200 grit stone.

Once I could see and feel the old edge was gone and a bevel was being raised on either side, I switched to alternating strokes.

I stopped once I couldn't detect a burr on either side. Stropped with 7 micron diamond paste twice per side.

The result? A steel with having the reputation of being one of the more difficult to sharpen got sharper than any other knife I've sharpened on these 200 grit plates.

Shaving: https://streamable.com/34r1ja

Slicing a piece of cardboard: https://streamable.com/wjjdvp

Here's where I accidentally hit my sharpening stool.




I think I'm going to use this same finish when I send the knife back to the owner. I'll touch it up again with the same process but try to keep a steadier hand and see if I can get it a little sharper.

I'm really impressed with the speed with which I was able to reset the bevel, and the ease of getting it shaving sharp off a 200 grit stone. I've touched up S110V for people before but this was my first reprofiling and my first attempt at a low grit edge.

R100's post inspired me to put a fresh edge on my PE Pacific Salt.



300 grit + a light stropping. Took a nice edge easily.

I carried it a bit this evening and used it around the house. Been a while. Last time I remember carrying it was the summer of 2016.

Finally reprofiled my M4 Manix XL.

Ground a fresh bevel on my 200 grit stone shooting for about 10dps, then ground a 15dps microbevel at 300 grit. Stropped three times per side with 7 micron diamond paste. Took a nice edge.

Lets rename this thread "vivi's sharpening journal" :rolleyes:

Took two knives to my sander today.

Edged another beater chef knife for work, so if I don't feel like sharpening one after a long day I can switch to the other.



Also breathed life back into my old Tasman SE beater. It had a severely rounded tip and a dull edge. Used the sander to give it a fresh tip and the diamond rods at 20 degrees to give it a quick toothy edge. I've been thinking about carrying both a PE and SE knife instead of my usual single knife, and the Tasman is light an unobtrusive.

vivi wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:24 pm

Finally reprofiled my M4 Manix XL.

Ground a fresh bevel on my 200 grit stone shooting for about 10dps, then ground a 15dps microbevel at 300 grit. Stropped three times per side with 7 micron diamond paste. Took a nice edge.

Lovely edge.

Put my native on my KME at 18.5 degrees with a 600 grit edge, stropped on my jeans. I love a working edge

I always strop on my jeans too, but I'm thinking about getting a real strop. I'm considering one of those diamond blocks Vivi likes too. Really, the Sharpmaker makes everything sharp enough, but I'm getting to the point where I might have to do a little reprofiling, or sending a couple knives to Spyderco.

Strop question for y'all: If the compound or micron liquid has dried out, do you put some oil on it? If so, what kind? Or should I just add more compound or micron liquid if im using that? Thanks.

Spydergirl88 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:27 pm

Strop question for y'all: If the compound or micron liquid has dried out, do you put some oil on it? If so, what kind? Or should I just add more compound or micron liquid if im using that? Thanks.

If it's just dried out and doesn't need cleaning, I just add more compound/liquid. If it's loaded with steel you can use ISO to strip the compound and start fresh.

Spydergirl88 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:27 pm

Strop question for y'all: If the compound or micron liquid has dried out, do you put some oil on it? If so, what kind? Or should I just add more compound or micron liquid if im using that? Thanks.

I too need some clarity on strops. I only have that KnivesPlus green leather strop, they say to use Olive oil to recondition it...I just never know when I'm supposed to do so. I don't use it all that often, but sometimes it looks a little dry so I add a little dab on my finger and rub it in.

Not my best work but I reprofiled my Chap with a Venev 150 grit (100/80 micron) stone and stropped with 1 micron CBN on bass wood. It shaves but won't tree top arm hair. Glides through cardboard like it's not there though. :D

bbturbodad wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 7:36 pm

Not my best work but I reprofiled my Chap with a Venev 150 grit (100/80 micron) stone and stropped with 1 micron CBN on bass wood. It shaves but won't tree top arm hair. Glides through cardboard like it's not there though. :D

Very nice edge. Clean looking bevel. It's wild how much a little stropping on low grit edges boosts the push cutting ability.

Had a change of heart and decided to push my M4 Manix a bit. Ground off the microbevel. Straight off the 200 grit stone it could shave, stropping with 7 micron paste took it to the next level.

Here's a short video. I expect it'll hold up just fine at this angle for utility work, M4 is pretty sturdy.

https://streamable.com/o4rnum

Take it for what it's worth, but I have also seen on Youtube that a little olive oil can refresh a strop. I would probably use mineral oil instead.

TkoK83Spy wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 7:07 pm

I too need some clarity on strops. I only have that KnivesPlus green leather strop, they say to use Olive oil to recondition it...I just never know when I'm supposed to do so. I don't use it all that often, but sometimes it looks a little dry so I add a little dab on my finger and rub it in.

Hey Rick, save the olive oil for a salad, mate. It will eventually go rancid, break down the leather and ruin your strop. :eek:

Bloke wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:11 am

TkoK83Spy wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 7:07 pm

I too need some clarity on strops. I only have that KnivesPlus green leather strop, they say to use Olive oil to recondition it...I just never know when I'm supposed to do so. I don't use it all that often, but sometimes it looks a little dry so I add a little dab on my finger and rub it in.

Hey Rick, save the olive oil for a salad, mate. It will eventually go rancid, break down the leather and ruin your strop. :eek:

I've heard that before too, but wonder why they send instructions with the strop telling you to use olive oil :confused:

Finally got around to getting a dmt extra coarse stone to try out. It still needs break in, but I used it on a few students knives last night so it's getting there! Decided to try out my Super Freek in m4, which was already sharp, but I took it to the 220 grit for a bit, checked it out on paper towel, then proceeded to strop on 7 micron diamond paste for about 30 per side. It's toothy, very toothy, but it cuts the towel pretty cleanly if noisily!

I'm going to experiment with this system and see how it goes. I've come to find I like a variety of finishes, from this one all the way to spyderco fine. Seems like certain knives tell me what they want their blades to be finished to. Or I'm crazy. You guys tell me!

Also, I remade my strop to be smaller and more easily managed, because trying to use a small piece of leather glued to a 2x4 just wasn't doing it for me. And I had to mount the diamond plate, it was just too thin to work with in hand like I do. If I had a box to carry these in it would be a perfect quick sharpening setup to get a knife from completely dull to very sharp in almost no time.

I can see this finish not working well for wood work, but that's where my knives finished on spyderco stones excel. This will cut anything I'd need most of the time with great efficiency though!

I finally finished reprofiling my tenacious today. I’ve been playing around with different grits on the random stones I have, and now I’m gonna give a really low grit finish a try. Figure I might as well get some experience sharpening before I invest in something more pricey :)

Spydergirl88 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:27 pm

Strop question for y'all: If the compound or micron liquid has dried out, do you put some oil on it? If so, what kind? Or should I just add more compound or micron liquid if im using that? Thanks.

If I'm using a water-based product, I prefer to let it dry before use. I'll use the strop multiple times before reapplying. The degradation over time is evident.

I also have a greasy/waxy based product. It's doesn't really seem to dry out. I apply it with a finger so that there is an almost imperceptible film on the surface. Again, I only reapply when degradation is evident.

If you're using a water based product, do not allow any oil to come near your strop.

This is concerning materials to test your blade sharpness or the lack thereof. For a long time I've used fairly thin paper like grocery store receipts or other similar types of paper for testing freshly sharpened edges. And I still think they are not bad for gauging your newly sharpened blades when nothing else is handy.

But I recently went back to using ZiG ZaG rolling papers ( cigarette rolling papers). I've found that cigarette rolling papers to be about the most flimsy paper I can find. Now I'm sure that there is even some difference between the wide selection of rolling papers on the market. If there is a rolling paper even more thin than ZiG ZaG I would love to know about it. I had an old machinist I used to work with all the way back to years 99-2000 show me about using cigarette rolling papers to test blade edges ( he rolled his own cigarettes).

I was told by a guy on another forum a couple of years ago that there is also a variant of typing paper called "Onion Skin" typing paper that is really very thin and flimsy and has similar results. So what do you guys think? Or is there some other material more superior for testing sharp edges?

I really had to work on my VG-10 TEMPERANCE 1 model quite a bit with my Spyderco Ultra-Fine stone to get it to go easily through ZiG ZaG Rolling paper. I try to keep a pack of rolling papers handy anymore.