Community Sharpening Journal, Part 2

[Paul Ardbeg]

Edit.

[weeping minora]

I see you've now edited your post, Paul, but you're probably spending too much time, or using far too much pressure. SuperGold2 is quite a breeze to sharpen, especially with diamond, or similarly hardened abrasives.

[Paul Ardbeg]

I see you've now edited your post, Paul, but you're probably spending too much time, or using far too much pressure. SuperGold2 is quite a breeze to sharpen, especially with diamond, or similarly hardened abrasives.

Yeah, went a bit to hard on that one. I did not use the more coarse stones this time. I did dropped the edge angle to 12-13 DPS after a post from Vivi. The measurements on the Edge Pro go from 10 to 15 degrees and i've put it in the middle. The first centimeter behind the recasso is not the prettiest, but happy with the result after that. Now to use it and see how it holds up. Of course some of the particles rubbed off on the softer SUS410 scratching it a bit, same happened with my Caly 3.5 in ZDP-189

Any advice is as always appreciated!

[8th_Note]

I see you've now edited your post, Paul, but you're probably spending too much time, or using far too much pressure. SuperGold2 is quite a breeze to sharpen, especially with diamond, or similarly hardened abrasives.

Yeah, went a bit to hard on that one. I did not use the more coarse stones this time. I did dropped the edge angle to 12-13 DPS after a post from Vivi. The measurements on the Edge Pro go from 10 to 15 degrees and i've put it in the middle. The first centimeter behind the recasso is not the prettiest, but happy with the result after that. Now to use it and see how it holds up. Of course some of the particles rubbed off on the softer SUS410 scratching it a bit, same happened with my Caly 3.5 in ZDP-189

Any advice is as always appreciated!

SUS410 scratches if you look at it too hard

[vivi]

Took my PD1 Police just a bit thinner, and got the full edge sharpened.

Used my 120 grit chef knives to go diamond plate to reset the edge, then polished it on a DMT Coarse. Followed up by one stroke per side on my medium sharpmaker rods I reground to be a bit coarser.

Very grabby edge.

Someday I'll take it a little thinner. I went thinner with my VG10 and K390 Police folders and had no issues, and I think PD1 is tougher than either of those steels.

[Brock O Lee]

...some of the particles rubbed off on the softer SUS410 scratching it a bit...

That edge looks pretty good. The primary grind must be quite thin, because that bevel is much narrower than expected at 13 DPS.

Do you use the EP water stones, or diamond stones? I used to get slurry scratches on all my blades while I still used the water stones, even though I tried to prevent it. Diamond stones mostly solved that problem.

[Paul Ardbeg]

...some of the particles rubbed off on the softer SUS410 scratching it a bit...

That edge looks pretty good. The primary grind must be quite thin, because that bevel is much narrower than expected at 13 DPS.

Do you use the EP water stones, or diamond stones? I used to get slurry scratches on all my blades while I still used the water stones, even though I tried to prevent it. Diamond stones mostly solved that problem.

Thanks Hans! It's diamond stones on the Edge Pro. I only get it on the soft outer layer steel on these "San Mai" wrapped blades.

[vivi]

did a little more work on my street beat.



Very thin and sharp now. Excited to put it to some use.

[Midnightrider]

I'm having a problem with my Sharpmaker that I didn't notice before. I have a few sets, the one I used mostly is in another country. Today it seemed to me that the flat edges are not square to the base, they behave like when you have one of the corners pointed in. To get the blade to make full contact on the flat side I had to move the base for each side. Red flag city.

My P4 in K390 is much worse shape than I thought, some time on the brown and white stones did nothing. I just got the new CBN rods last week and they helped a lot. The blade now catches on the edge of paper, but is still a far cry from where it needs to be. So I'm thinking of going back to a bench stone like I used decades ago, only a modern one now.

Can anybody recommend a good diamond bench stone with a stand and are 2 grits enough or do I need 3? What grits are recommended for our Spydercos? Thank you.

[vivi]

I'm having a problem with my Sharpmaker that I didn't notice before. I have a few sets, the one I used mostly is in another country. Today it seemed to me that the flat edges are not square to the base, they behave like when you have one of the corners pointed in. To get the blade to make full contact on the flat side I had to move the base for each side. Red flag city.

My P4 in K390 is much worse shape than I thought, some time on the brown and white stones did nothing. I just got the new CBN rods last week and they helped a lot. The blade now catches on the edge of paper, but is still a far cry from where it needs to be. So I'm thinking of going back to a bench stone like I used decades ago, only a modern one now.

Can anybody recommend a good diamond bench stone with a stand and are 2 grits enough or do I need 3? What grits are recommended for our Spydercos? Thank you.

I basically use this stone and a sharpmaker / the ceramic bench stones.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/140grdistflp.html

set a bevel with that, set an edge with the sharpmaker.

round it out with a belt sander.

[Brock O Lee]

SPY27, 15 dps, no micro. Such an easy steel to sharpen.

[Midnightrider]

mistake :D

[Midnightrider]

SPY27, 15 dps, no micro. Such an easy steel to sharpen.

Very handsome edge!

[Brock O Lee]

Very handsome edge!

Thank you! The Edge Pro makes it easy.

[8th_Note]

Had a slow day at work today, so I decided to free-hand reprofile the HAP40 Endura. I took it down to about 14 or 15 degrees per side. Turned out great. Its super sharp and super slicey now. This is the first time I've tried free hand reprofiling on one of my "good" knives. Before, I did my factory 2nd PM2, and a second hand Native 5 that was kind of beat up. But the more I free hand, the easier it gets. And my confidence and skill are growing.

[vivi]

This is the Landi Bushcrafter.



It was a really, really nice knife except for one problem. The edge was way, way too thick. It felt terrible to cut with.

I tried thinning it out but he heat treats his A2 pretty hard, 61-62rc or so, and it felt like it'd just skate off the stones. It took a long to grind time for such a simple carbon steel, and I never finished the bevel.

At one point I took it to my belt sander and gave it a much thinner edge, but it was really uneven and I never got around to cleaning it up.





It was pretty ugly at this point. Handle was pretty grungy too. Clean micarta grips much better.



Last night I decided to try to make it work before buying anything new.

I gave it a full convex grind by hand with some 100 grit sandpaper.



Polished it up with 400 a bit then sharpened the edge free hand on my medium then fine ceramic bench stones. Got it cleanly shaving from heel to tip, and quite thin.





Cleaned the handle up a bit and scuffed it up with 80 grit sandpaper for better grip.



Eyeball estimate puts it around 18-20 degrees inclusive, with some light finishing strokes on the fine ceramic at about 15dps.


Tried carving some simple feather sticks and it cuts as well as anything else I own now.





This picture shows how thin it is better than others. convex edges are tough to photograph with phones.




Happy with how it turned out. This'll do nicely for my next backpacking trip.

[8th_Note]

I just finished a free-hand reprofile of my Manix 2 XL. I took it down to about 12 degrees per side using nothing but my Harbor Freight diamond plates and a leather strop with 1 micron diamond paste on the rough side and naked leather on the smooth side.

I'm very pleased with the results. I think I've really got the muscle memory down now, so it's easy to get a good even bevel on both sides of the blade.

This thing is laser beam sharp now. I think I may be becoming one of those edge-junkies that @sal talks about. I feel unprepared if my knife is just normal-sharp. It needs to be stupid-sharp. I feel like I could do even better if I had some higher quality stones. Does anyone have any recommendations that aren't too expensive?

[Scandi Grind]

I feel like I could do even better if I had some higher quality stones. Does anyone have any recommendations that aren't too expensive?

How much are you wanting to spend?

If you are looking for a coarse diamond plate, this one is good value. https://www.chefknivestogo.com/140grdistflp.html

I have a EZE-Lap diamond plate that was a good price, but it is 6 in. long rather than a full 8 in. like many bench stones. I prefer 8 in. to work with, but the price on the 6 in. plates is pretty good.

I also have a couple Japanese water stones, but those are a bit more expensive running in the $40-60 range for the ones I have.

[vivi]

I just finished a free-hand reprofile of my Manix 2 XL. I took it down to about 12 degrees per side using nothing but my Harbor Freight diamond plates and a leather strop with 1 micron diamond paste on the rough side and naked leather on the smooth side.

I'm very pleased with the results. I think I've really got the muscle memory down now, so it's easy to get a good even bevel on both sides of the blade.

This thing is laser beam sharp now. I think I may be becoming one of those edge-junkies that @sal talks about. I feel unprepared if my knife is just normal-sharp. It needs to be stupid-sharp. I feel like I could do even better if I had some higher quality stones. Does anyone have any recommendations that aren't too expensive?

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Keep in mind there are different types of sharp.

8,000 grit edge polished until it splits hairs on contact is a lot of fun to use. For a few cuts. Then once it loses its bite it'll start slipping on things like synthetic ropes.

I've sharpened hundreds of knives with your same stone. I've gotten shaving sharpness off every side, and can get hair popping sharpness on every side besides 200 grit.

BUT.

That doesn't always matter.

I can give a knife an edge off the 200 grit side and use it until it has zero shaving ability left.

Then keep using it. For months and months.

It will still outcut a lot of polished edges after a month.

The teeth on the edge, the microserrations, are a different kind of sharp.

Sometimes that sort of sharp works a lot better than the high polish sharpness.

The 300 grit side is my favorite. Use that until you can consistently get a clean shaving edge. Then use that edge until it no longer cuts.

That will teach you more about your knives, their steels and sharpening than stropping your EDC after every envelope you slice open, in my opinion.


For nicer stones that won't break the budget, DMT 6" continuous are quite cheap at chicago knife works. I also like the spyderco ceramic bench stones for high polished edges. The medium is a good all around finishing grit, and the fine is nice for a high polish finish on my chef knives.

[Scandi Grind]

What Vivi says is almost always very good advice. Sharpening technique is more important than sharpening tools, so there is probably no rush to get anything new, but having different tools around can be nice for certain things. I like large benchstones, particularly in a coarse grit, for setting edges on all my knives. I could get along without an 8 in. stone, but it is really nice to have for 8-10 in. chef knives.

If you are looking for good real world cutting performance, I personally would never consider a polished edge, which does help keep the cost of my sharpening equipment down too.The finest I go on utility knives is about Spyderco medium stone, but this doesn't typically cut as long as a coarse edge, I just like the feel sometimes. The only thing I will do a fine edge on is my custom Gyuto, but it has a 12 dps edge, that is very thin bte, and run at over 60 hrc. And it only cuts food. So for most knives, I would be very happy with nothing but a coarse diamond plate (preferably 8 in.) and a medium diamond plate or waterstone. When messing around with micro bevels, I do use a fine stone to remove as little material as possible, but I bet I could use the medium for that too.