How to sharpen the tip?

Sїromanta · #1

Ok, so Ive recently got back endura4 from Spyderco, where they did awesome job at resharpening and "re-tiping" it. But somehow it got dulled again, how can I fix it without bothering Spyderco again? I have LTB sharpener, I had to sell Tri-angle, also diamond pads, of 300, and 400 grit. Oh, the tip is not completely dull, its, well, rounded :) . Any tips?

cckw · #2

Start at the tip end with your stroke. treat the knife as sorta like two things, the tip and the rest of the knife, when you work on the tip run it down the stone and rotate out of the tip before you hit the end of the stone so you have a proper transition to the rest of the blade. make sense?

Sїromanta · #3

Im not sure if I understood. I should sharpen it in regular way but only the tip?

BAL · #4

I use the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker and simply pull the knife the entire length of the blade and go on past. However, with the way that you are sharpening, I will leave the advice to some of the other guys who always have some very nice tips.

jackknifeh · #5

This may sound dumb or like the old joke but what you want to do is picture the blade and tip as you want it, then remove the steel that isn't in your mental picture. If you could post a picture of the blade with a close up of the tip that would help. The blade should bradually curve until the edge meets the spine at a sharp tip. If the tip has been rounded you need to remove the steel that is below the imaginary line you picture of the edge from the belly to the new tip location.

So, just sharpen the tip but stroke from the tip onto the rest of the blade at different distances so the fact that you are focusing on the tip isn't obvious when you are finished. Go slow in the tip area so you don't accidentally drop the tip off the side of the stone. Stop the stroke while the tip is still on the stone. Maintain as consistant angle as you can. Beyond that a picture would help. Good luck.

Jack

Sїromanta · #6

Thanks for replies, heres the picture. Knife is held edge up, pardon the quality-phone camera :) .

jackknifeh · #7

From what I can see (even WITH my glasses :) ) it looks like the edge just below the tip needs to be straightened or flattened or how ever you want to say it. Just sharpen that part of the edge. Keep the angle the same as the rest of the edge but I wouldn't really worry about how sharp it is until you get it to the shape you want, then concentrate on the level of sharpenss. The knife looks like it is still in good shape and you should be able to take care of it without sending it to Spyderco. Good luck.

Jack

chuck_roxas45 · #8

Dang! That pic hurts to look at.

Sїromanta · #9

Yeah, well, I hope these pictures will be better. JackKnifeh, yup, its like, hmm, excess metal there, too upswept, if its correct to say. Should I file it down with a lansky-stick? I tried a bit now but im not sure if I do it right. Heres how it look.

avoidspam · #10

I was rounding the tip of my Spydie's when sharpening on the Sharpmaker then Edd Scvhempp hit the nail on the head in one of his posts where he said "don't let the tip of the blade run off of the stone (be that a Sharpmaker etc). Simple but effective, I now slow my stroke as I reach the tip and, hey presto! Sharp tip!

avoidspam · #11

I'd also add that if the tip is really blunted you may need to re-profile it. Settle down with a coarser stone and remove enough material to get back to a workable bevel then move to finer stones/sandpaper etc :)

Sїromanta · #12

Thanks for the tip (no pun intended) :) . I filed down material from below the tip, and then created a new edge and tip. Now the tip is sharper, but also more fragile. Not to mention it was very time consuming. Is VG-10 a "hard" steel to work on?

jackknifeh · #13

S&#1111 wrote:Thanks for the tip (no pun intended) :) . I filed down material from below the tip, and then created a new edge and tip. Now the tip is sharper, but also more fragile. Not to mention it was very time consuming. Is VG-10 a "hard" steel to work on?

In my opinion VG-10 is one of the easiest steels to work with and sharpen within the group of great steels. The other side of the coin will be ZDP-189, S90V and a few others I've never seen. With the steels available today VG-10 is on of the best IMO. It's amazing to me how a steel will be liked or disliked by different people (including me). I like S30V. Some would rather have something else that I may not care for. I think it has to do with how we use/maintain our knives. One cudo to Spyderco is every steel they use is a very good steel or great steel.

Contrats on your new tip.

Jack