Spyderco Forums

Sage 5 Lightweight:
Love this knife, but would like a little thinner edge for better slicing. I don't use it for heavy work (pruning garden, cutting sisal twine, whittle soft pine etc. )
What edge angle do you suggest? (20 deg. 15deg)
Thanks!

I'd shoot for 12-14dps if you can. Completely reset the bevel, deburr, then do a few strokes per side at 15dps on the sharpmaker.

That's a little thicker than I run my larger folders, so unless you're using the k ife pretty hard I think you'll be ok.

10 DPS is more than enough if you're not chopping, I'd start there. You may need a microbevel at 15-30 DPS depending on what the steel is if you're going to run a high polished apex. What steel is the knife?

I go 15 DPS

Steel is S30V.
Thanks again.

gull wing wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:23 pm

Steel is S30V.
Thanks again.

I gave an S30V Manix XL a 10dps bevel with 15dps microbevel and it did fine doing light chopping and batoning. Cut through a soda can too. Still sliced paper without a hitch.

gull wing wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 10, 2023 4:28 pm

Sage 5 Lightweight:
Love this knife, but would like a little thinner edge for better slicing. I don't use it for heavy work (pruning garden, cutting sisal twine, whittle soft pine etc. )
What edge angle do you suggest? (20 deg. 15deg)
Thanks!

Well, it's going to depend on what you're using to sharpen. If you are using a fixed angle system, you should probably start with 20° dps

If your freehanding you should aim for around 15° dps

When you freehand there will be some hidden convexity near the apex so you're 15 dps will actually be closer to 17-20dps at the apex.

If you want to know what your angle actually is you need a laser goinometer If you want to quantify the reality of the actual angle you have.

I keep my sage 5 lw’s around 15 dps or a tad lower. They seem to do pretty well there. I would take em closer to 10-12 but I feel like the bevels would get a bit wide on me.

gull wing wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 10, 2023 8:23 pm

Steel is S30V.
Thanks again.

10 DPS would be fine, you could also go lower than 10 DPS in the range of maybe 6-7 DPS if you really want the highest cutting ability. In this case I would recommend adding a micro bevel to set the apex finish. If you're going to use a high polish on the apex, you'll want to use somewhere between 20-30 DPS micro-bevel in order to stabilize the apex enough to hold that polish.

If you also want to have the highest performance, adding a relief bevel would be ideal as well to reduce the behind the edge thicknes. Once you reprofile to low angles you'll end up with a very wide edge bevel and it will be quite thick where that bevel meets the primary grind. Adding a bevel at an angle between that 6-10 DPS and the 2-3 DPS primary reduces edge thickness.