Sharpening 420C, not getting the edge I want

[Syncharmony]

My girlfriend's dad gave me one of his knives to sharpen, a Buck 105 (420C). I have a Sharpmaker with diamond rods for reference.

On my Spyderco knives with S30V, I can get them to shave hair very easily and be on the verge of scary sharp without much issue. I've taken kitchen knives and other pocket knives to a hair shaving edge as well with some work.

I started the Buck knife on the diamond stones first at the 30 degree back bevel setting and marked the edge with a sharpie. I worked it down until the scratch marks were all the way to the edge and I couldn't see anymore sharpie coloration under observation with my loupe. I then ran up through the grits to fine to polish the back bevel a little bit, then switch to the 40 degree edge setting.

At the 40 degree edge setting, I started with the diamonds again and used the sharpie to mark the edge to be doubly sure I was hitting it. After a few passes and a check with the loupe, I was certain I was indeed working the edge. So I then worked my way up in grits. Edge of diamond, flat of diamond, edge of medium, flat of medium, edge of fine, flat of fine. Doing about 20 strokes a side, keeping it even, not letting a burr build up.

I kept my pressure on the stones very light, the weight of the blade and not much more. As I progressed through the grits, I relaxed even more so that by the fine grit I was literally just letting the blade slide along the stone of it's own accord and just providing insurance the angle was correct. This works great for my Spydercos...

The end result was a knife that could easily slice through phone book paper without issue. The edge 'feels' sharp and honestly, for his use I think it's probably sharp enough and the sharpest it's been in years. That being said, it just doesn't shave hair off my arm as easily as I want it to. I can apply some pressure and make it happen, but it's reluctant.

There are a couple small nicks in the blade edge that I've noticed under magnification and you can feel running your fingernail down the edge. It doesn't seem to effect the rest of the blade which isn't nicked but I'm wondering if it somehow is a problem.

I even went back and stepped up through the grits again later in the evening since I wasn't satisfied but the result was pretty much the same, maybe marginally sharper. I'm sort of at a loss as what to do to unlock a really nice edge on this thing though. The sharpie tells me I'm hitting the edge, the loupe confirms it, I am using light pressure and holding a consistent angle... Not sure what I'm missing.

Any thoughts?

[yablanowitz]

Probably just need more strokes to get there. Buck uses an excellent heat treat on their 420HC, so it takes a bit more work than you might expect. Personally, I'd go back to the diamond rods at 30° and take the nicks out of the edge, then go to the corners of the medium rods at 40° and work down to the flats of the fine rods to polish just the edge. Depending on my assessment of the person I'm sharpening for, and how they use their knife, I might even stop at the corners of the brown rods and give them a fairly toothy edge. Most of the people I know have never used a genuinely sharp knife, and usually hurt themselves with one of my edges.

[phillipsted]

I used Bucks for a lot of years prior to getting bitten by the Spyder. Never was impressed with their 420HC. I could get it reasonably sharp - but one day in the field and the useful edge would be gone. This is a real issue if you are on a week-long hiking trip. I'd much rather take a knife with good steel and *maybe* have to sharpen it once during the week.

I eventually gave up and put my 110, 124, 532, 535, 505, 301, and 180 in a drawer. They've pretty much been gathering dust ever since...

TedP

[.357 mag]

Maybe do a little stropping on you jeans. Maybe you have a little wired edge. That's happened to me before.

[Syncharmony]

I used Bucks for a lot of years prior to getting bitten by the Spyder. Never was impressed with their 420HC. I could get it reasonably sharp - but one day in the field and the useful edge would be gone. This is a real issue if you are on a week-long hiking trip. I'd much rather take a knife with good steel and *maybe* have to sharpen it once during the week.

I eventually gave up and put my 110, 124, 532, 535, 505, 301, and 180 in a drawer. They've pretty much been gathering dust ever since...

TedP

Maybe I should buy him a Spyderco replacement for Xmas! :)

[JHR]

I've found that 420HC gets as sharp as any steel, from my observations, anyways.

Edge retention is another matter but I always seem to sharpen knives before they really need it anyways.

[TheChunk91]

I have had similar things happen with buck 420hc, I would try 10 strokes on the flats of the medium stones, 10 on the flats of the fine ones then finish up with the extra fine then strop. I have been doing this method with all my knives lately and it produces a sharper edge with a sharpmaker than I previously thought was even possible, it makes the hair fly off your face like crazy :D Of course it only works if you already have a hair shaving edge of some sort.