Sharpening rant

[Evil D]

Well, more like reprofiling rant. I hate when I'm redoing a bevel and the entire thing comes out nice and clean and even except one spot like this:



See that little bit of marker still on the edge at the tip? Ugh.

[Wanimator]

I know the pain, it happens in US Spydercos more than others.

[Brock O Lee]

Haha! I can relate, especially on a hard to sharpen steel like S110V... :)

Especially when you see a wonky bevel in the daylight a day or so afterwards!

[JD Spydo]

I bet if you got one of those sharpening guides from "RAZOR EDGE SYSTEMS" out of Ely, MN USA you could cure that problem rather quickly. Those guides that RAZOR EDGE sells are great. A lot of their sharpening tools are good and interesting to work with. Those guides are great especially when using benchstones and/or whetstones. RAZOR EDGE will send you a catalog upon request. I've been hoping that Spyderco would soon come out with some type of sharpening guide for working with benchsstones. Hopefully they will at some point.

Just last night I was fine tuning the edge on my C-46 Lum Tanto folder. The very end of that blade has a convex hamiguri grind and it's also hard to sharpen at a perfectly even angle because of its unusual configuration. Tanto blades are a special challenge and a completely different type of edge to maintain compared to what you have pictured. But those RAZOR EDGE gudies will keep you even from tip to heel.

[Evil D]

Oh, it's not all that difficult to correct especially with a 80 grit silicon carbide stone, it's just an annoyance that I almost always encounter with factory bevels (of any brand).

[Jazz]

Mine are usually a bit wonky near the tip, but I freehand and don't care, as long as they're nice and sharp still.

[Bloke]

Near the tip is no fun but a divot .020" deep and 1/4" long at the ricasso like on my Stretch is painful.

I'd be very happy to have the option of buying a new knife finished but without an edge. I'd much sooner start with a blank canvas than some of the factory grinds.

[tripscheck'em]

You doing it free-handed? I find it impossible to get the bevels straight free-handed.

[Bugs]

Looks like Vuja De for me. Then I just go back to work on it til I get it right.

[Evil D]

Near the tip is no fun but a divot .020" deep and 1/4" long at the ricasso like on my Stretch is painful.

I'd be very happy to have the option of buying a new knife finished but without an edge. I'd much sooner start with a blank canvas than some of the factory grinds.

Yeah I see it a lot at the ricasso.

You doing it free-handed? I find it impossible to get the bevels straight free-handed.

No I'm on an Edge Pro. I can freehand but I don't even have the stones for it anymore and I hate doing it.

[Steel_Drake]

You doing it free-handed? I find it impossible to get the bevels straight free-handed.

With care and patience its possible to get pretty even edge bevels freehand, but its the kind of thing that requires an experienced freehand sharpener to be picky enough about it to slow down and be careful. Even then, the edge bevel will only come out the same width along the whole edge if the thickness behind the edge is the same the whole way along the blade.

I've found that both of my PM2s have fairly even width edge bevels along the whole cutting edge after being re-profiled.

[Evil D]

I did this Leek freehand, it was the last knife I did freehand and that was probably 5 years ago. Just takes way too much time to get the results I want.

[mb1]

Well, more like reprofiling rant. I hate when I'm redoing a bevel and the entire thing comes out nice and clean and even except one spot like this:



See that little bit of marker still on the edge at the tip? Ugh.

Was this your hacksaw repair? (I think that was you that found you had cut thru hidden metal?).

How long did the reprofile take you?

[JD Spydo]

Oh, it's not all that difficult to correct especially with a 80 grit silicon carbide stone, it's just an annoyance that I almost always encounter with factory bevels (of any brand).

I know exactly what you mean because I've had similar problems sharpening Hawkbill blades and not being able to get the tips as perfect as I like them. Hawkbills are a bit of challenge as it is but the tip part of a Hawkbill blade is truly a difficult hurdle to get over.

I've never had any Silicon Carbide benchstones before but I have used Silicon Carbide sandpaper with decent results. I would like to check out one of those stones for sure.

[Steel_Drake]

I did this Leek freehand, it was the last knife I did freehand and that was probably 5 years ago. Just takes way too much time to get the results I want.

Wow, nice work. How low are those edge bevel angles? What was the stone progression (if you remember)?

[Evil D]

I did this Leek freehand, it was the last knife I did freehand and that was probably 5 years ago. Just takes way too much time to get the results I want.

Wow, nice work. How low are those edge bevel angles? What was the stone progression (if you remember)?

I'd guess and say it's around 10 degrees and I actually used my Edge Pro stones which is probably part of why it took so long. Those stones were 220/320/400/600/1000/2000/3000 and then a 16k Shapton glass stone and then a few different diamond pastes on straps. That knife is really only ever used to open mail so a stupid thin edge is just fine.

[Evil D]

Was this your hacksaw repair? (I think that was you that found you had cut thru hidden metal?).

How long did the reprofile take you?

I'm not quite done, got side tracked but all together I'd say about 20 minutes of work to hone out all the chips. It actually takes more time to correct that low spot on the bevel than it does to get the chips out. The factory bevel was around 35ish inclusive and I'm going down to 30 and then micro beveling on the Sharpmaker at 40.

[Bloke]

I've never had any Silicon Carbide benchstones before but I have used Silicon Carbide sandpaper with decent results. I would like to check out one of those stones for sure.

JD, you can't go wrong!

After over a decade of sharpening nearly everything with diamond I’ve rediscovered SiC and couldn’t be happier.

Thanks Jim! :cool:

If you haven’t used SiC before you’ll likely find that new stones tend to come “sealed” and “glazed” out of the box (as do most new stones irrespective of composition) and none are dead flat anyhow! A tickle with SiC loose grit and water on glass will leave them fresh, sharp and flat.

Yes, yes, I am well aware that SiC can’t cut niobium or vanadium carbide, but I’m not too sure anyone has told SiC? :)

[Steel_Drake]

I'd guess and say it's around 10 degrees [...] That knife is really only ever used to open mail so a stupid thin edge is just fine.

I EDC knives with "stupid thin" edges all the time, ~10 degrees per side with a ~20 degree per side microbevel is pretty much normal for me. My EDC tasks don't include anything that would even potentially be an issue for that geometry since I'm mostly doing cardboard, clamshell packaging, consumer grade zip ties, food prep, etc.



There's my two M4 PM2s which were both reprofiled to ~10 dps freehand with ~20 dps microbevels.

[Evil D]

I'd guess and say it's around 10 degrees [...] That knife is really only ever used to open mail so a stupid thin edge is just fine.

I EDC knives with "stupid thin" edges all the time, ~10 degrees per side with a ~20 degree per side microbevel is pretty much normal for me. My EDC tasks don't include anything that would even potentially be an issue for that geometry since I'm mostly doing cardboard, clamshell packaging, consumer grade zip ties, food prep, etc.



There's my two M4 PM2s which were both reprofiled to ~10 dps freehand with ~20 dps microbevels.

I did too for a while and probably could now but I guess I'm too lazy to do the reprofiling lol.

My one and only Para 2 at 10dps with a 30 micro.