1st GEC

C

Christopher W

Joined
Aug 18, 2006
Messages
174
While buying a new tactical I decided to also purchase a traditional. I got out of traditionals a while back but the urge struck to get back into them and I purchased a GEC Northfield UN-X-LD 13 Speaker Jack with Gabon Ebony scales. The fit and finish is pretty good, although the bolsters could have been polished more. The thing that is bothersome is the fact that both blades are dull as a butter knife. It does not appear that there was any attempt to put a sharpened edge on this knife.

I usually use a Sharpmaker on my knives but as proper bevels will have to be set on this knife I don't think this can be accomplished without either diamond rods on the Sharpmaker or some other method. I was thinking about a DMT Aligner ( is blade tall enough to use this?) diamond rods for the Sharpmaker, or let me know if you have any other suggestions for putting a proper edge on this knife that won't cost me a fortune.
 
If you don't want to reprofile it, your Sharpmaker is probably fine. Lansky is fine, diamond hones on that straight edge are easy, although the clamp is a little finicky with such a small blade that doesn't have much of a straight run on the spine, I don't know about the DMT but they're similar.

BUT, you could go super cool and just sharpen the edge convex on sandpaper and a mousepad. I like doing that, I've done a few GEC blades that way. Makes for a very durable edge, and you can still get it whittling sharp if you go up fine enough and then strop. A rather inexpensive option. Or just freehand on DMT stones.
 
Nice choice! I have found, as you discovered, that GEC does a pretty nice job finishing their knives but never seems to put a decent edge on them. I would use a Diamond plate or sandpaper to reprofile the edge, but you might have to have some patience depending on how much metal you want to remove. If you simply do not feel comfortable taking that task on yet, I will be happy to give your edges an initial bevil that you can just maintain on your sharpmaker. If you are interested just let me know- all I ask is that you pay shipping:)
 
I use the key chain size dmt stones and free hand sharpen. I do have a work sharp field sharpener and works good. It has angle guides. It has course and fine diamond stones, ceramic rods and a strop all in one and helps you learn to sharpen free hand. I can get my knives shaving sharp pretty fast.
 
So, the edge wasn't as bad as originally thought and I was able to bring it up to snuff with just the Sharpmaker gray and white stones. Thanks for all the suggestions and I see more GEC knives in my future.
 
The DMT aligner doesn't work all that well with narrow, thin blades unless your okay with really steep bevels.
However, I used mine to reprofile the factory edge on my #35 which has a thicker blade. The angle is still steeper than I prefer, but serviceable and still better than the factory edge.

With the aligner kit you can use shims of varying thickness (I use aluminum bar stock) between the stones and the holder to give a more acute edge.
 
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The sheepfoot on the speaker jack should be easy to hand sharpen with bench stones. A straight edge on bench stones is not really any more complicated than using a Sharpmaker. You just need to hold it at the correct angle. The pen blade is a little trickier. If you are more comfortable with the sharpmaker, you can prop a bench stone up against one of the rods of the sharpmaker.

You can get some nice continuous surface DMT stones for around $12-15. I prefer the continuous surface diamond stones over the ones with the holes.

The DMT aligner is okay but the the plastic clamp isn't as good as Lansky's metal clamp. I have a brand new aligner clamp that I would give away for free. Lansky has two different versions. Both have their pluses and minuses but some prefer one over the other. As others have mentioned, the problem is that clamps work best on larger knives.

On small blades, you might not have enough clearance to use the desired angle. That's a common problem with all clamp systems. I think the Edge Pro has a special base that is a separate purchase for small knives.

Tormek also makes an interesting small knife adapter. It clamps on the handle rather than the blade. It's intended for the Tormek sharpeners but it could also be used with the Lansky clamp and other clamping systems. You'd just need to measure the angles.

If you sharpen by hand, that would be cheapest and most versatile. You can practice with a cheapo.


Here's a photo of the Tormek jig
svm00.jpg
 
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