Finally got my kme. Results

[Eliteone2383]

It's not as hard as I thought but I did make a mistake along the way. Bevel is wider on one side of the knife than the other. Gotta try to figure out how to fix that. Tip wasn't a issue and I got a hair shaving edge. Not shaving like my arm but I can shave a single hair. Never had a knife do that before. Got a nice mirror edge but not happy I messed up the bevel. Good thing it's on one of my budget beaters (griptillian). Any hints on how to even up my bevel is much appreciated. Pics of my first sharpening attempt.

[Matus]

Be gentle with those diamond stones - they don't last much if you use too much pressure.

[Eliteone2383]

Be gentle with those diamond stones - they don't last much if you use too much pressure.

I watched a lot of videos. I let the weight of the stone do the work.

[araneae]

This probably belongs in off topic.

[JuPaul]

Hmm...could you maybe have bumped the knife out of position on the "short bevel" side? Did you spend equal time on both sides?

[Eliteone2383]

Hmm...could you maybe have bumped the knife out of position on the "short bevel" side? Did you spend equal time on both sides?

Yeah I counted my strokes. The bevel was off when I tried to free hand it but couldn't fix it with the KME. Instead I made it worse.

[Evil D]

Don't assume the actual grind of the blade is perfectly even, I've seen uneven bevels come as a result of uneven blade grinds many times. If it looks like the edge is perfectly centered then that's about all you can do. Sometimes this happens because you grind too much on one side/spot and not enough somewhere else. Even counting strokes may not be a fool proof method of keeping them even.

[MFlovejp]

In my experience it can be due to a few things:

1) You somehow spent more time/effort on one side of the edge and ended up grinding away a little more there. I've done this many times, especially on the "left" side of an edge because it's harder for me to sharpen the tip on that side for some reason. This can be subconscious.

2) The blade was not clamped perfectly evenly in the jaws of the KME. This is surprisingly easy to do, especially with FFG knives (which I know is not the case here, but for your Spydies it will happen.)

3) This is the least common in my experience, but the blade can be ground unevenly from the factory.

I, like many people, had dreams of making all of my edges perfect when I bought the KME. I know now that this really can't be done for the average person, and I've learned to be very happy with the most important result: shockingly sharp edges and tips that are easy to touch up by hand once reprofiled. My edges look good too, but you can always find some flaw if you're looking for it. Some of my edges have a wide bevel and a narrow bevel and that can even be desirable for certain tasks. Enjoy your KME, it's a fun piece of the sharpener's toolkit, and never stop exploring!

[Eliteone2383]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

[kennethsime]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

Others have more experience with this, but you might try clamping the tang, rather than an FFG portion of the blade.

[ZrowsN1s]

Clamping any ffg is challenging. The flat spot near the handle (ricasso) is a good spot.

As for even bevels... you really have to eyeball it. Getting an electronic angle gauge can help. But if you're starting off with uneven bevels (most knives come from the factory uneven), even grinding at the perfect 15 or 20 degrees per side wont fix the problem.

If you've got one bevel thats 15 degrees and the other is 20 you're going to have to remove a lot of steel from both sides to get them even.

And you're wasting a lot of your knife's edge doing it. In that situation I'd say, find what the lager angle is (in this case 20) and sharpen the knife at 20 degrees per side until it's sharp. Then use the knife. Repeat process. Eventually the bevel will even out.

Or you can grind off months worth of use reprofiling, which don't get me wrong, I do this a lot. But be prepared to spend a few hours.

*another option is to keep the bevels uneven. Find the angle that matches the first side, sharpen till burr. Then find the angle that matches the other side, sharpen till burr. Strop, call it a day. You'll get a lot more mileage out of the knife.

[JuPaul]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

Here's what I do:

1) use a ruler to draw a sharpie line from the tip of the edge to the end. Then mark the center point.

2) Line up the bottom of the kme jaws parallel to your line, with the center of the jaws lined up to the center of your line.

Like this:

This one is actually a little crooked, but you get the idea. I take pictures of each knife I do so I can duplicate my setups/angles each time.

[Eliteone2383]

Clamping any ffg is challenging. The flat spot near the handle (ricasso) is a good spot.

As for even bevels... you really have to eyeball it. Getting an electronic angle gauge can help. But if you're starting off with uneven bevels (most knives come from the factory uneven), even grinding at the perfect 15 or 20 degrees per side wont fix the problem.

If you've got one bevel thats 15 degrees and the other is 20 you're going to have to remove a lot of steel from both sides to get them even.

And you're wasting a lot of your knife's edge doing it. In that situation I'd say, find what the lager angle is (in this case 20) and sharpen the knife at 20 degrees per side until it's sharp. Then use the knife. Repeat process. Eventually the bevel will even out.

Or you can grind off months worth of use reprofiling, which don't get me wrong, I do this a lot. But be prepared to spend a few hours.

*another option is to keep the bevels uneven. Find the angle that matches the first side, sharpen till burr. Then find the angle that matches the other side, sharpen till burr. Strop, call it a day. You'll get a lot more mileage out of the knife.

Ok so maybe it's not me then because nothing I did evened up the bevel. Im just gonna sharpen it at the angle it is and forget about it.

[Eliteone2383]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

Here's what I do:

1) use a ruler to draw a sharpie line from the tip of the edge to the end. Then mark the center point.

2) Line up the bottom of the kme jaws parallel to your line, with the center of the jaws lined up to the center of your line.

Like this:

This one is actually a little crooked, but you get the idea. I take pictures of each knife I do so I can duplicate my setups/angles each time.

Thank you! I will take this approach.

[JuPaul]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

Here's what I do:

1) use a ruler to draw a sharpie line from the tip of the edge to the end. Then mark the center point.

2) Line up the bottom of the kme jaws parallel to your line, with the center of the jaws lined up to the center of your line.

Like this:

This one is actually a little crooked, but you get the idea. I take pictures of each knife I do so I can duplicate my setups/angles each time.

Thank you! I will take this approach.

No problem! I love my KME. Have you watched any KnifeKrazy videos on youtube? He does great KME how-to videos.

[Eliteone2383]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

Here's what I do:

1) use a ruler to draw a sharpie line from the tip of the edge to the end. Then mark the center point.

2) Line up the bottom of the kme jaws parallel to your line, with the center of the jaws lined up to the center of your line.

Like this:

This one is actually a little crooked, but you get the idea. I take pictures of each knife I do so I can duplicate my setups/angles each time.

Thank you! I will take this approach.

No problem! I love my KME. Have you watched any KnifeKrazy videos on youtube? He does great KME how-to videos.

Absolutely. I've watched all the kme videos I could find. My second go round on my other griptillian is a work of art I must say. Only my second knife and it clicked. But these spydies and my Sebenzas are a little trickier. Pic of my second attempt with my other griptillian.

[JuPaul]

Looks great! ^^^

[AHarbuck]

How are the spydies supposed to be clamped in the KME? I'm afraid to even try currently.

Here's what I do:

1) use a ruler to draw a sharpie line from the tip of the edge to the end. Then mark the center point.

2) Line up the bottom of the kme jaws parallel to your line, with the center of the jaws lined up to the center of your line.

Like this:

This one is actually a little crooked, but you get the idea. I take pictures of each knife I do so I can duplicate my setups/angles each time.

Thank you! I will take this approach.

No problem! I love my KME. Have you watched any KnifeKrazy videos on youtube? He does great KME how-to videos.

I clamp the same way, guess I got the idea from the same set of videos. Works well to balance out the inherent error in the angle changes as you get further away from the center line. Minor, but I like trying to keep things even if I can.

Clamping can be tricky, with the real critical area I’ve found is getting the blade parallel to the ground so it’s not canted up or down. I have found the jaws of the clamp are flexible enough to handle the full flat grind with distal taper Spyderco uses.

Only clamping limitation I have found so far are blades that aren’t very tall like the ladybug. I think they make a mini clamp as an accessory but haven’t looked into it.

Good luck!

[JuPaul]

Here's what I do:

1) use a ruler to draw a sharpie line from the tip of the edge to the end. Then mark the center point.

2) Line up the bottom of the kme jaws parallel to your line, with the center of the jaws lined up to the center of your line.

Like this:

This one is actually a little crooked, but you get the idea. I take pictures of each knife I do so I can duplicate my setups/angles each time.

Thank you! I will take this approach.

No problem! I love my KME. Have you watched any KnifeKrazy videos on youtube? He does great KME how-to videos.

I clamp the same way, guess I got the idea from the same set of videos. Works well to balance out the inherent error in the angle changes as you get further away from the center line. Minor, but I like trying to keep things even if I can.

Clamping can be tricky, with the real critical area I’ve found is getting the blade parallel to the ground so it’s not canted up or down. I have found the jaws of the clamp are flexible enough to handle the full flat grind with distal taper Spyderco uses.

Only clamping limitation I have found so far are blades that aren’t very tall like the ladybug. I think they make a mini clamp as an accessory but haven’t looked into it.

Good luck!

Yes, they do make a miniclamp for very small knives like ladybugs or SAKs. I've got one but haven't used it yet.