Spyderco Forums

Greetings,

I have owned and used a Harpy for a couple of years now. As an artist, the hawkbill blade is unusually handy for cutting mats (thick paper frames for artwork and photos for the uninitiated), but after a while, I realized that the point of the blade has become blunted, probably beyond the point of repair short of grinding a new point and decreasing the length of the blade. It seems to me the steel should be a bit more durable than this. Any thoughts from more experienced Spyderco users? In addition, any thoughts on how to sharpen this rather unusual blade shape, particularly the serrated edge? I have a Spyderco sharpener, but the edge doesn't seem to hold. Also, is it a good idea to use oil to aid in sharpening? Thanks for your time.

when sharpening a hawkbill blade with the 204, make sure you keep your edge horizontal on the contact point. This means dropping the tip and raising your wrist at the back, and dropping the wrist/raising the tip at the front. One major thing that gets a few ppl.

As to the tip, try sandpaper around a pencil, and work the tip into a point again. should take about 5-10min.

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sandpaper around a pencil! how did you figure that out? your like a genious! i have been trying to find a way to sharpen tips for some time, and that is perfect. one of those things where i wonder why i didnt think of it.

What do you mean sandpaper around a pencil?

How does this work? Please describe.

Greg

Whatever you BELIEVE is real, IS real

delicrazy> figured that one out after I killed the tip on my tufram cricket. I had used the doublestuff for work touchups, and of course the flat stone doesn't do curves too well.

Used it again in the last month, when I hit a roll core with the BFC hawk. Lost my needle sharp tip and had to get it back.

Radioflyer> Much like using a file to reshape, but this method gives a wider contact area than a round file(usually a diamond file is a "needle file" size), and the ability to change grits. Chop off about a 2" by 3" section, wrap it around the eraser end of a #2, and hold it. Use it at whatever angle you want. Can take the hawkbill knives down to civ/mat tip fineness if you want to, just use a 80grit to start, and hold it flat to thin out, then work your way up grits to refine the scratch pattern.

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