Sharpening Maxamet

[JumpingDog Hopkins]

I just got a Manix 2 lightweight in Maxamet as my first Spyderco, and it's incredible. I knew Spyderco was supposed to have an excellent factory edge, but I wasn't expecting it to whittle hairs straight out of the box! The ergos are incredible too. I have two problems with it though, and I'm hoping y'all might have some advice.

1. How do I sharpen it? I have a Smith's tri-hone, a Naniwa traditional 6k grit waterstone, and a Beavercraft leather strop with green compound. From the looks of things, I'm not sure if that will be enough to sharpen Maxamet though. I would like it to be at least razor sharp (~160 Bess?) before I take it to the strop. I'm decent at sharpening free-hand, so I should be able to use most any kind of stone I think. I was looking at the Spyderco sharpmaker with diamond rods or a DMT stone, but I've seen a lot of reviews saying that the diamond rods lose their abrasive regardless of how much pressure you use, and that DMT has lousy quality control. What are y'all's thoughts on a good stone to sharpen Maxamet, or do I need a new stone? Also, do y'all have any tips for improving my sharpening, especially being able to hold a consistent angle when sharpening a knife's belly/tip?

2. The wire pocket clip on my Manix is loosening. I was able to tighten down the screw, but I would like to prevent it from happening again. I was thinking about putting locktite on the screw. Do y'all have any suggestions for how to prevent the screw from loosening? Do you know if putting locktite on it would affect the warranty at all?

Sorry if I was long-winded, this is my first post here.

Thanks!

[jpm2]

2. Purple loctite for the screws.

1. When I sharpen maxamet and other high carbide steels, From medium grit onwards, I use diamond or cbn.
The reason for this is, any other finishing abrasive leaves a lot of edge life left on the table, due to I think, not being able to cut the carbides, and weakening the edge.

Some will say you can get a sharp edge with silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, and even a natural such as an arkansas stone... and you can... but it won't last very long compared diamond.

To get the best edge longevity from maxamet and other carbide rich steels, I recommend getting some diamond and/or cbn abrasives, including paste or spray if you plan to strop.

[Cambertree]

Welcome, JumpingDog Hopkins. :)

I used the Atoma diamond plates to thin out the bevel of my Maxamet Para 3, then refined the edge with the Venev diamond waterstones from Gritomatic. Maxamet seems to perform very well at 400-600 grit edge finishes.

After deburring as much as possible with the stones, I strop lightly and minimally with Jende diamond and/or CBN emulsion sprayed strops - generally in the 7,3,1 micron range.

I have used the brown Sharpmaker rods to touch up the edge with a 20dps microbevel from time to time, and it works fine, but I feel the Venev diamond pocketstones give a crisper edge when doing quick touchups.

Silicon Carbide stones like the Norton Crystolons would probably also work well.

I like your forum name, too. :cool: :D

[Cambertree]

There’s some interesting comparison images of a Maxamet edge on a Native, after being sharpened with diamonds, alumina abrasives, and microbevelled on a natural Japanese waterstone here:

https://scienceofsharp.com/2019/11/03/c ... n-maxamet/

[jpm2]

Anyone interested in getting the most of their carbide rich blades should watch this video in its entirety.

https://youtu.be/WBoA8VI6koE

[JD Spydo]

First off my experience with most of "Smith's" sharpening gear hasn't been all that great. But it's been about 10 years since I've used any of their stuff. They may have improved since I was last given one of those "Tri-Hones" so I'll reserve my comments about them until I know more.

If you possibly can swing it after buying that Cruwear Manix I would get a Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker sharpening kit and also get the extra stones you can buy with it. The kit comes with a Fine ( white) and medium ( brown/gray). But you can buy the Diamond, CBN, and Ultra-Fine stones extra. Trust me it will be a great investment if you plan on being a serious knife user. There are several vendors on the web that carry Spyderco's sharpening gear and I get most of mine through New Graham or Spyderco themselves ( SFO).

If you do get a 204 Sharpmaker I would most definitely watch the video that comes with it at least 2 to 3 times before trying to use it. I would also start out by using old kitchen knives or an old folder you might have had for years to learn on before attempting to sharpen a really high quality blade ( Like your new Manix). It's best to make "beginner's mistakes" on a knife that isn't so important to you. If you study the video closely and watch a couple of the Youtube videos on the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker you'll catch on pretty quickly. It's not a hard sharpening kit to learn but there are a few important things to learn about it first.

[Cambertree]

Regarding your question about sharpening the belly and tip consistently, you might want to take a look at the Community Sharpening thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84678&p=1452894#p1452894

One thing I’ll also say is that often people make the mistake of thinking they need to have as much length of the knife edge contacting the stone as possible.

This will usually produce inconsistent results around the belly, and often leave scratches up the flats around that area too. You actually only need a small area of the blade to be touching the stone at any time - it’s easier to hold a consistent angle while following curved blade edges that way.

This is basically the same principle as using the flat sides of the Sharpmaker.

Recently I had some small bits of scrap leather and balsa left after making some strops. I decided to experiment by making some strops that were glued to the thin side of some pieces of decking timber. The width is only a little wider than a Sharpmaker rod. Using very light pressure and diamond and CBN emulsions actually works very well. It’s easier to keep a consistent angle and pressure as you follow the curve of a blade on a thin strop.

The link above might also give you some useful techniques on getting a clean, needle sharp tip.

Good luck!

[SubMicron]

I have no problems sharpening Maxamet freehand on Atoma and DMT Diasharp plates followed up with diamond compound on a strop.

[bearfacedkiller]

DMT stones will work fine.

I usually set my bevel with a diamond stone then debur with a ceramic and have had good luck with that. I usually keep the edge pretty coarse with Maxamet. It, like many high hardness steels, deburs easily so I actually find it easy to sharpen.

[Albatross]

To keep consistent angles while freehand sharpening, I keep my wrist steady and lift the back of the handle to follow the curve of the blade. By pivoting at the shoulder, I can keep my wrist out of the equation and maintain more consistent angles.

I also put 2 or 3 fingers on the blade, to further steady it while sharpening. I can feel when the angle changes much easier than other methods I've tried. For a while, even though I thought my wrist wasn't moving, it was, and the area most affected was the belly/tip. Using 2 or 3 fingers on the blade itself helped me notice the poor form and address it.

Slowing your sharpening speed can be helpful as well. If you're going too fast, your results will reflect it. If this is the case for you, go slow, perfect your skills, and speed will follow.

The sharpie trick gives you real-time feedback, which allows you to focus on problem areas, or adjust your angle, and see instant results.

[TomAiello]

If you're not into sharpening as a hobby/art activity, my simple answer is "send it to Golden and pay for shipping".

For the amount of money you need to have invested in sharpening gear, you can get Spyderco to sharpen your Maxamet blade pretty much forever, whenever it needs it.

In the long run, I suspect that the new Spyderco CBN bench stone is going to be the tool of choice for sharpening Maxamet.

[sal]

Hi JumpingDog,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[vivi]

If you're not into sharpening as a hobby/art activity, my simple answer is "send it to Golden and pay for shipping".

For the amount of money you need to have invested in sharpening gear, you can get Spyderco to sharpen your Maxamet blade pretty much forever, whenever it needs it.

In the long run, I suspect that the new Spyderco CBN bench stone is going to be the tool of choice for sharpening Maxamet.

$12 and some free hand practice and you can get any high carbide steel shaving sharp.

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