Community Sharpening Journal, Part 2

[vivi]

Here is the original community sharpening journal - viewtopic.php?t=84678

I thought it was a great thread, but with it being ~120 pages maybe starting a part 2 would facilitate easier searching.

Here's my latest purchase. 80 grit flattening plate, and a combination 400/1,000 grit plate, both $30 a piece from chefknivestogo.



I haven't had a need to use the 80 grit plate yet but I'm excited to. Their 140 grit flattening plate has been my go to reprofiling stone for a long time. If I'm not using my belt sander to reprofile, the CKTG diamond plates are my first choice.

The combo stone I've used a few times. I figured the 400 grit side would be good for coarse edged pocket knives etc., and the 1,000 would be good for culinary knives and more polished pocket knife edges. So far it seems to fill those roles well, but it needs more time to break in on the 1,000 grit side for the best results.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/search-r ... esc&page=1

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A while ago I also ordered some silicon carbide grit from CKTG, meant for flattening stones. As I don't really use stones that need flattening aside from a shapton 5k kuromaku, the plan was to use these on sharpmaker rods.



I finally got around to trying it out.

I have to say, for me this is a game changer.

While sharpmaker rods wear incredibly slowly, they do wear over time.

I bought a sharpmaker, then after five years bought a replacement set of both rods. Then I did the same thing five years later. Picked up a second sharpmaker ~20 years after getting the first.

Each time I noticed the same thing. The old rods felt much smoother to the touch, and they left a much more polished edge than the new ones.

My oldest brown rods leave a finish closer to new whites than new browns.

So I was hoping with a sheet of glass and some loose grit, I could bring them back to factory new aggression.

Taking it one step further, I hoped I'd be able to make a set of brown rods feel even coarser than a new set. I love the sharpmaker rods but always wanted something in between the diamond rods and brown rods for a finishing step on medium grit finished edges.

This did exactly what I hoped. I got a few grits of silicone carbide ranging from 80 to 320. The 80 brought the mediums down to a rougher feel than my newest set, just like I had hoped.

I'm really glad I held on to the old sets of rods, even though I stopped using them each time I got a new set. Now I'm going to have a wider variety of options when using my sharpmaker, ranging from diamond rods, to extra coarse finished mediums, regular mediums and fines, up to ultrafines.

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One last tidbit. Recently made a fairly long post with some general sharpening tips, someone reading this may find it helpful.

[Scandi Grind]

Let Part 2 commence!

Very cool experiment to recondition your Sharp Maker rods! Sounds like it worked well and isn't difficult to do.

[TkoK83Spy]

Good idea vivi. I know a handful of us have referenced people with sharpening questions to the original thread. I can see how that would be a lot to take in, especially for those new to sharpening.

[Wandering_About]

Opened a big box yesterday with my K390 Stretch, and naturally it had large staples in it which wanted to get to know the edge of my knife quite badly. Impressed by the K390, other than some minor rolling there was no damage (no chipping) but it did need an appointment with the stones to put things back to spec. 400 and 1000 grit super vitrified diamond stones then a strop with 1 micron diamond. I had forgotten what a pleasure K390 is to sharpen. While I had the stones out I decided to finally reprofile a K390 Delica I've had for a few years now. Started on the Atoma 140 plate then the same progression as the Stretch. Forgot to measure it but this Delica is very thin behind the edge, roughly the same angle as the Stretch but a lot less bevel.



Took an action shot showing roughly my sharpening angle... actually went a touch thinner.

[JD Spydo]

Thanks Vivi!! As obsessed as I am with keeping my blades super sharp it's one subject I just can't get enough of. This is a case that we can all learn from each other.

And I do hope that David ( Evil D) continues to show us more in regards to sharpening Spyderedges and other serration patterns as he has in the past. And it's always interesting to hear everyone else's tips that they have learned over the years. If only most people knew what you can do with a high quality super sharp knife. Looking forward to Part 2.

[Brock O Lee]

I had forgotten what a pleasure K390 is to sharpen...

Looking good! I agree, K390 is a pleasure.

Not a Spydie, but a data point for Magnacut. Large Sebenza, reprofiled to 17 dps on Edge Pro Apex.



CKTG Diamonds @ 160, 400, 1000
Spyderco UF
Strop @ 1 micron diamond on balsawood, clean kangaroo leather.

Push cuts Rizla cigarette paper in both directions!

[vivi]

fresh edge for my recon xl user.

i usually put quick and dirty coarse edges on it with a folding dmt. it's not a knife I baby at all, so a quick coarse edge works well for how I use it.

I guess the apex got thickened over time, because this morning before work I had trouble getting a good edge on it.

Decided to completely reset things, which always helps in this situation.

Took it to my belt sander and thinned the edge compared to where I took it last reprofiling. It's a fairly thick blade BTE so I'm not worried about the mystery steel holding the thinner angle (aus8 id guess).

Took a clean apex right off the sander, besides a big ol bur at the belly.

The burr didn't get refined as much as I wanted off my next stone, a DMT X Coarse, so I ran the apex all the way up to ultrafine sharpmaker rods. I never do that with this knife. I was just sick of edges with no bite and a big nasty burr, so I wanted a nice clean apex.

It shaved very cleanly at that point and it was completely deburred.

From there I gave it a microbevel on a DMT Coarse, since I prefer a toothier edge for this knife.

Messed up the tip a bit on the sander and had to reprofile it to get a nice point, but otherwise the edge came out pretty good.

It's definitely thinner, I could feel a big difference carving my test piece of hard wood.

I think I'm going to be more careful when I maintain this knife. Don't feel like going through all that again to refresh the steel at the edge, even if the entire process was only 10 minutes.





I'd be so thrilled to see something like this with a harder steel and a spydie hole.

[JoviAl]

fresh edge for my recon xl user.

i usually put quick and dirty coarse edges on it with a folding dmt. it's not a knife I baby at all, so a quick coarse edge works well for how I use it.

I guess the apex got thickened over time, because this morning before work I had trouble getting a good edge on it.

Decided to completely reset things, which always helps in this situation.

Took it to my belt sander and thinned the edge compared to where I took it last reprofiling. It's a fairly thick blade BTE so I'm not worried about the mystery steel holding the thinner angle (aus8 id guess).

Took a clean apex right off the sander, besides a big ol bur at the belly.

The burr didn't get refined as much as I wanted off my next stone, a DMT X Coarse, so I ran the apex all the way up to ultrafine sharpmaker rods. I never do that with this knife. I was just sick of edges with no bite and a big nasty burr, so I wanted a nice clean apex.

It shaved very cleanly at that point and it was completely deburred.

From there I gave it a microbevel on a DMT Coarse, since I prefer a toothier edge for this knife.

Messed up the tip a bit on the sander and had to reprofile it to get a nice point, but otherwise the edge came out pretty good.

It's definitely thinner, I could feel a big difference carving my test piece of hard wood.

I think I'm going to be more careful when I maintain this knife. Don't feel like going through all that again to refresh the steel at the edge, even if the entire process was only 10 minutes.





I'd be so thrilled to see something like this with a harder steel and a spydie hole.

I’d be all over a Spyderco one of those with a dash of SE cruwear or a soupçon Magnacut.

[vivi]

Yeah I'm usually not much of a steel snob but the steel used in those is pretty soft. Not very good edge holding or sharpening response.

Been carrying my C95 lately as it's the most comparable spidey I own, but an XXL version would certainly catch my attention.

Here's another CS. Their commercial series chef knife. $20-26 on CKW, so I bought one as a beater to loan to coworkers.

It had gotten thick behind the edge too so I did some aggressive thinning with my sander, and ended up with a convex bevel about twice as wide as the previous bevel on the show side.

Then I did 20 strokes per side on my diamond sharpmaker rods at 10-12 degrees. Used the 15 degree slots and angled the blade a bit towards the stone. Then 20 strokes per side on my refreshed medium rods from the first post of this thread. Followed up by a few extra light strokes on each side to give it a really keen apex.






Tested it out on an apple and it bites much better. It takes somewhere around 30-40% of the effort it did previously to halve an apple, chop a carrot, etc. Geometry makes a big difference on food.

Front end sharpness is also better, so less slipping around. It had been maintained on one of those harbor freight 4 sided stones and a steel honing rod for the past year.

Pretty nice budget chefs overall. I like the handle a little more than Victorinox fibrox line. But it came way too thick BTE. Dicing onions with it felt pretty awful compared to my 1mm stock Kiwi knives. Hopefully 4116 holds the thinner edge well.

Might regrind the heel too. Lacking a proper point there always bugged me.

[u.w.]

I've taken my 4116 Cold Steel Roach Belly down to ~.010" BTE and finish it at ~300 grit. In my home kitchen on a cutting board - I have no complaints with it. Especially for the money.

u.w.

[eldiablojoe]

I just finished sharpening the scissors and kitchen knife block knives in the house with my Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. It is all original, I bought it sometime around 1992 for 29.95 (price tag still on the container). Anyone else still using a 30 some odd year old sharpening kit? I can't believe they cost 4x as much these days! Mine works great! Original everything, including the manual with its typo error :)

[cabfrank]

I am, but the problem with it is the lack of a 30 degree slot.
Mine may not be quite that old, but it's up there.

[vivi]

My oldest sharpmaker is around 15-20 years old.

Oldest stone I still actively used is my first diamond stone, a 6" DMT Fine. It's from the late 90's. Feels a lot smoother than it did when it was new but still leaves a great edge on any knife each time I use it.

[vivi]

Touched up my Manix XL in M4 with a two step progression.








Chef knives to go 140 grit diamond flattening plate to reset the bevel and remove the microbevel. Roughly 12 degrees per side.

DMT Coarse to set a new apex at roughly 15 degrees per side.

I like the edge the DMT Coarse leaves. It'll shave fairly cleanly with no stropping afterwards, and has nice slicing aggression.

[Scotty63]

Used my new Kme on my Para 2's, s30v and s45vn. I had a little trouble getting them in the clamp securely, just had to play with it. I set the Kme at 20 degrees and went for it. Used the 140,300,600, 1500 grit diamond stones followed by the kangaroo strop with 9 micron Gunny Juice. I used water and Dawn to lube the stones. They turned out great. Shaves smooth with little pressure. The Kme is a great step up from the Lansky I have used for years.

[ncrockclimb]

The K390 Dragonfly was getting a little dull, so I got out the KME and the Venev stones.

While I have a full set of stones up to f1500 + strops, these days I usually only use the f80. The toothy edge lasts a LONG time especially on "super steels". This edge will quietly cut phone book paper, shave arm hair and pull-cut through rope like it is butter. For a few years, I was really enamored with polished edges and the super high grit stones. But after going to the, I find the effort is not worth the performance gain and the short duration of the edge.

At first, I use a scrubbing motion to create a burr on one side, then I flip and make sure to create a burr on the other side. This stage is crucial, because the blade must be apexed. After this, I drag a hardwood dowel perpendicular to the edge to make sure the burr is sticking up. I then use a few blade forward strokes to remove the bur. I then flip the knife, and use the same procedure on the other side. I will repeat this at least 20 time, using progressively lighter pressure on the stone and continually feeling for a bur. I will also test cut phonebook paper and look for any rough spots. After I am sure the bur has been removed, I slide the blade through both a cork and a felt block to remove any remaining micro-burr or garbage on the blade.

I am not saying this is the only way, but this allows me to get what i find to be an ideal mix between toothy and shaving sharp.

[weeping minora]

The K390 Dragonfly was getting a little dull, so I got out the KME and the Venev stones.

While I have a full set of stones up to f1500 + strops, these days I usually only use the f80. The toothy edge lasts a LONG time especially on "super steels". This edge will quietly cut phone book paper, shave arm hair and pull-cut through rope like it is butter. For a few years, I was really enamored with polished edges and the super high grit stones. But after going to the, I find the effort is not worth the performance gain and the short duration of the edge.

At first, I use a scrubbing motion to create a burr on one side, then I flip and make sure to create a burr on the other side. This stage is crucial, because the blade must be apexed. After this, I drag a hardwood dowel perpendicular to the edge to make sure the burr is sticking up. I then use a few blade forward strokes to remove the bur. I then flip the knife, and use the same procedure on the other side. I will repeat this at least 20 time, using progressively lighter pressure on the stone and continually feeling for a bur. I will also test cut phonebook paper and look for any rough spots. After I am sure the bur has been removed, I slide the blade through both a cork and a felt block to remove any remaining micro-burr or garbage on the blade.

I am not saying this is the only way, but this allows me to get what i find to be an ideal mix between toothy and shaving sharp.

High polished/mirror edges are appreciable on high hardness steels with a lower carbide volume, or "softer" carbide type, IMO. High carbide volume and harder carbide type steels at high hardness seem to burnish the carbide aggression at the edge when sharpening up the grits, if you take it too far. Obviously this isn't a fixed rule, but with the 10V class of steels that are ever-so popular these days, I find it to definitely be the case if you are over sharpening on the higher grits. In this case, it's not about the mirror polish/"pretty edge", it's all about the refinement. Nothing wrong with a very refined edge, but it takes much more finesse and much less time than many people think, to maximize the benefit. I find greater edge longevity when doing so, but as everything with edges is concerned, YMMV.

[WilliamMunny]

Wondering if I made a mistake… got a KME diamond system a bit ago but have not used it yet. I now see that Wicked Edge has a new “cheap” sharpening system coming out, the WE40 for only $185 preorder. If you preorder they will also throw in a set of 800/1000 diamond stones, kit comes standard with 200/600. They claim it will sharpen to 13° and up to 15” knives. Seems pretty nice.

I was always under the impression WE was better than KME but price kept me away.

Should I stick with the KME or sell it and try the new WE40????

[vivi]

free hand.

it's faster, you can sharpen at any angle, v or convex edges, you can get tremendously sharp edges with less than a $50 investment, and you'll be much better prepared for field sharpening.

I'd hate using a kitchen knife sharpened at 13dps.

[WilliamMunny]

free hand.

it's faster, you can sharpen at any angle, v or convex edges, you can get tremendously sharp edges with less than a $50 investment, and you'll be much better prepared for field sharpening.

I'd hate using a kitchen knife sharpened at 13dps.

I have been using a Sharpmaker for touch ups and free handing for chips, etc.

I wanted a fixed system to either reprofile accurately or bring back to an accurate factory edge. Free hand is fine but I can probably only bring it to about 3°-4° of accuracy. I could try for 15° but it might actually be 18°. It’s where I was hoping a fixed system would help.

KME seems tried and true but that WE40 system looks great for the money as they make a great product but it is untested.