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I have no experience sharpening 8Cr13MoV; my Persistence is the first knife I've owned made from the stuff--have any of you encountered problems with edges folding over, pitting along the edge, and generally tiresome behaviour from this steel?

I like the Persistence very much. It is a really useful knife in a good size, and its lock-up action is impressively tight, considering how affordable the knife is, but I've had a devil of a time getting any kind of usable edge on the thing with my Lansky sharpener, which, as you know, is a pretty straightforward device that pretty much guarantees uniform results (the Lansky does a swell job on all of my blades, from H-1 to CPM-S30V)--any of you gents experience similar "results" or am I just uniquely clueless?

I don't think you're cluless Highlander :) 8Cr13 should be pretty easy to sharpen though. Are you having a bad day, or are you frustrated? I have days when I can't make anything sharp :o Are you looking at the edge with magnification and seeing what's going on? Did the blade hold an edge well before you started to sharpen?

Sorry for all of the questions but these are the ones I would ask myself when I have trouble getting a blade sharp now It's always been operator difficulty on my part :o Maybe give it a day or 2 and see how it feels then :)

I would say that it is a "softer" steel so keep your pressure very light. And maybe you are trying to give it too narrow an angle? I forget what the angles are on a Lansky but maybe you should raise it up one?

Could be you have a wire edge too...

Just some thoughts, hope they help, good luck!

8Cr is one of the easiest steels to bring to a very fine edge IMO. It also takes a nice polish and responds well to stropping.

Kind of you to state, dbcad--and it is clearly "operator difficulty" that's got me sawing away pathetically...; I'm taking your sage advice: tomorrow's another day.

Good point, DBSS: I'm going to open up the angle first thing tomorrow.

Just take your time and experiment a bit. Use the Sharpie trick if you have trouble. I reckon I sharpen my Tenacious to 40 degrees inclusive and it sharpens up easily to a very nice edge.

I have had tremendous frustrations sharpening VG-10, but have gotten better with experience. 8Cr13MoV is much easier, IME. I do recommend the Sharpie trick on the bevel ... best way to be sure what part of the edge you're taking off.

defenestrate wrote:Just take your time and experiment a bit. Use the Sharpie trick if you have trouble. I reckon I sharpen my Tenacious to 40 degrees inclusive and it sharpens up easily to a very nice edge.

I took your advice--thank you, D!

Angle on the little thing is probably closer to 35 degrees, but its blade is now stupid-sharp. I can't imagine what in Heaven I was doing to blow this process so completely.... One thing is sure, however, my earlier angle was meaningfully too tight, as DBSS suggested in his helpful response.

I own a couple dozen knives, none of which has so resisted my sharpening efforts; but then soldiers are, above all, practical, which is one way of stating that I ain't exactly a technician, but rather the sort of fellow who simply uses stuff until it doesn't work any longer, and then does the minimum needed to make it work again, the seven-percent solution as applied to tools. Grateful thanks to the 93 percenters who kindly replied to my post!

I've been touching up my Persistence at ~40°. I used the sharpie, on the blade, and saw that only the very tip of the edge that sharpened up, but it worked as a nice micro bevel. I haven't used it enough to need a good sharpening, yet, but it seems very sharp.

Highlander8 wrote:I took your advice--thank you, D!

Angle on the little thing is probably closer to 35 degrees, but its blade is now stupid-sharp. I can't imagine what in Heaven I was doing to blow this process so completely.... One thing is sure, however, my earlier angle was meaningfully too tight, as DBSS suggested in his helpful response.

I own a couple dozen knives, none of which has so resisted my sharpening efforts; but then soldiers are, above all, practical, which is one way of stating that I ain't exactly a technician, but rather the sort of fellow who simply uses stuff until it doesn't work any longer, and then does the minimum needed to make it work again, the seven-percent solution as applied to tools. Grateful thanks to the 93 percenters who kindly replied to my post!

Glad that it all worked out. Sometimes with a system with set angles you have to back it off a bit to get a good stable edge.