154cm

J

jvan

Joined
Apr 19, 2006
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I recently purchased a Benchmade 556 Mini-Griptilian with the 154 CM steel. Out of the box it was what is refered to as "scary sharp", I have a Sharpmaker but have never had a 154 CM blade before so I am looking for some advice on how to keep it this sharp. I don't have a lot of experience sharpening knives unless I get credit for using a Chef's Choice electric sharpener so any help is greatly qappreciated.

John
 
When you feel the need, just use that sharpmaker as usual till it is shaving sharp. Then you might work a bit on a leather strop to finish it off. I have several 154 CM Benchmades and they are very easy to sharpen on the sharpmaker. You might get 12 - 18 inches of leather belt stock and glue it to a little piece of wood the same size. Might even put one piece of leather on one side, smooth side out and on the other side put another piece rough side out. Put some oil on the smooth side and some jewelers rouge on the rough side. After the sharpmaker, hit a few licks on the rough side of the strop and then a few licks on the smooth side. Should get it scary sharp again.

Nolan
 
For me, one of the easiest steels to sharpen. As long as i sharpen mine about twice a week and dont let it get dull. its easy to maintain the shaving edge almost as sharp as facotory.
 
nolan raborn said:
When you feel the need, just use that sharpmaker as usual till it is shaving sharp. Then you might work a bit on a leather strop to finish it off. I have several 154 CM Benchmades and they are very easy to sharpen on the sharpmaker. You might get 12 - 18 inches of leather belt stock and glue it to a little piece of wood the same size. Might even put one piece of leather on one side, smooth side out and on the other side put another piece rough side out. Put some oil on the smooth side and some jewelers rouge on the rough side. After the sharpmaker, hit a few licks on the rough side of the strop and then a few licks on the smooth side. Should get it scary sharp again.

Nolan
Click to expand...

He basically said it all. I read that Jewelers rouge isnt enough but instead find metal polish that is 2-5 microns (IE go to home depot and its the white one that comes in a stick that looks like a big crayon.) Other than that, you can go ahead and sharpen the bad boy on the 40 degree setting. Just do what the video says 20 each side for each corners,flats, switch stones, corners, flats, and finish her off on the strop. I would highly suggest to pick up the Ultra Fine stones as I see a huge difference. I myself also picked up the Diamond rods, but you should beable to get by if you get a plain old diamond benchstone. The diamond rods work and all, but to me it wasnt worth the 60$ I paid for them since it cost more than the sharpmaker itself.


Personally, I thought that my 556 and 558 were "scary sharp" out of the box, but I wanted to see how sharp I could get my brand new delica. So, after about 5 minutes of owning it, I sharpend it on the Sharpmaker. I can say that I got it way sharper than the factory.

Forgot to mention that once you get it scary sharp, its easy to maintain by doing a few strokes on the strop.
 
I love that 154CM steel.... easy to get VERY sharp on the Sharpmaker. If only I could get my D2 steels even close to as sharp as my 154CMs......
 
Should a Benchmade 154cm be sharpened at the 40 degree angle or can it handle the 30 degree slots?
 
I do all of my BM & Spyderco touchups (154CM, S30V, VG-10, ZDP-189, even D2) at the 30 degree Sharpmaker setting. I've always found that these blades can handle that angle easily for touching up and for cutting.

I usually use the standard white rods for weekly touchups and then finish with a few light strokes on the UF white rods. If something needs a bit more serious touchup, I'll use the grey rods first.

If I really need to sharpen or reprofile a blade, I'll set up the Edge Pro and get the blade back to where the Sharpmaker can handle the weekly touchups again.
 
I also use the 30 degree on the sharpmaker. No need for the 40 degree for much of anything. The only knife I had the 40 degree on was my old native (retired), I find that CPM440v chipped too easily on the 30, but since no one use that steel anymore, I don't think it's a problem.
 
Is there suppose to be a huge difference between the 30 and 40 marks? I usually sharpen at 40 but from seeing everyones reply here as well as the spyderco forums as well as theBM forums, I tried out the 30. I cant really see a huge difference.
 
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