Sharpening the Enuff

[glbpro]

Greetings all :)

I've had my Enuff leaf/drop point fixed blade for about six months now, and up until yesterday have never really been satisfied with the edge I've been able to put on it using the standard sharpmaker sequence of medium + fine rods plus stropping. The belly of the blade was ok but the part nearest the handle was always lacking, and tended to slide off rather than bite into the material being cut. I can only assume that this was due to the thickness behind the edge in this part of the blade, before the distal taper begins.

Last night I thought I'd give it another go and used just the flat side of the medium stones, doing about 20 passes per side, finishing off with a couple of very light passes. The result was a much improved cutting performance, with greater consistency from the heel to the tip of the edge, and a reduced tendency for the heel to slip off the material being cut.

This experience mirrors others that I have had with relatively thick knives, ie that they often seem to respond better to a toothy, aggressive edge than to a more refined razor edge. My Serrata, with its massive 6mm thick blade, springs to mind. Any idea why this is?

Let me know what your experience has been sharpening this little guy!

Regards,
Bruno

[twinboysdad]

Is it the leaf or drop point?

[glbpro]

It's the leaf, which is essentially a drop point. The other two models are the clip point and sheepfoot.

Bruno

[JD Spydo]

From what I'm gathering I'm guessing that it's a plain edge? If so I don't know why the 204 Sharpmaker can't do a superior job on that VG-10 blade.

I've yet to own any of the Enuff models although I've been tempted to snag a sheepsfoot, Spyderedged version.

For me this is a prime example why I feel that Spyderco needs to bring back their 701 Profile kit to the main line up. I always found that the 701 Profile kit was truly the bestsharpe for serrated edges as well as recurves, Hawkbills and short blades.

I'm wondering if you've tried any of the Benchstones like Spyderco's 302 benchstone? I've had some short blades in the past be just a bit tricky to sharpen because of short strokes on the Sharpmaker rods>> which is why I tend to like benchstones and the 701 Profile stones ( They MUST Be Brought Back Immediately!). The Enuff models remind me of when I sharpened my Spyderco LIL TEMPERANCE models>> they had short but stocky blades like the Enuff models and they also had blade steels that were a bit difficult to get sharp as well.

I would try the "Sharpie" trick and go from there.

[Cliff Stamp]

[...]

This experience mirrors others that I have had with relatively thick knives, ie that they often seem to respond better to a toothy, aggressive edge than to a more refined razor edge. My Serrata, with its massive 6mm thick blade, springs to mind. Any idea why this is?

As the cross section of knives gets fairly heavy it requires a lot of force to push them through material. This means that in order to cut material you can often end up doing an exaggerated slicing motion. Slices or draw cuts tend to work better with a lower grit edge as you are using the knife as a saw. How low you go to get optimal performance depends on the material being cut. Just like with saws, softer material can be cut well with a much larger tooth pattern.

[glbpro]

As the cross section of knives gets fairly heavy it requires a lot of force to push them through material. This means that in order to cut material you can often end up doing an exaggerated slicing motion. Slices or draw cuts tend to work better with a lower grit edge as you are using the knife as a saw. How low you go to get optimal performance depends on the material being cut. Just like with saws, softer material can be cut well with a much larger tooth pattern.

Makes good sense to me! This is something that I noticed immediately when using the enuff compared to using something like a Delica 4 - both are FFG but the Delica is a much better slicer. Of course, the Enuff can do things that would break the Delica in half, so once again it's a case of using the right tool for the job.

Bruno