30º on the Benchmade 940?

Sulaco

Sulaco

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Nov 15, 2003
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I just got my 940 back from Benchmade. They replaced the pivot pin and some other things to straighten out an off-centered blade. They also tightened the lockup to no play. I am very happy with the work, but they "sharpened" it for me.

So, yeah, I need to actually sharpen it now. Since the bevel is smaller than the thickness of a human hair, I am wide open here. What do you guys like doing with Benchmade's S30V?

Is 30º inclusive okay? Or should I go with a more obtuse, say, 40º? What about 30º with a 40º micro bevel?

I also have a 943 which actually has a fairly decent profile, although I am not sure what it's set at. How do I find out w/o messing it up?

Thanks!
 
Get a laser goniometer. The blade edge is clamped in the center (on the axis) of a shallow ring. The laser beam is shot through a hole in the ring toward the knife edge. The light reflected off the edge is projected on the inside of the ring which can be marked in degrees. It would make a good science project if you could bring a knife to school.
 
tiguy7 said:
Get a laser goniometer. The blade edge is clamped in the center (on the axis) of a shallow ring. The laser beam is shot through a hole in the ring toward the knife edge. The light reflected off the edge is projected on the inside of the ring which can be marked in degrees. It would make a good science project if you could bring a knife to school.
Click to expand...

What the heck are you talking about friend? :D
 
"I also have a 943 which actually has a fairly decent profile, although I am not sure what it's set at. How do I find out w/o messing it up?"

What tiguy7 said. Or you can mark the edge with a sharpie and lightly stroke the edge at different known angles to try and determine the angle they sharpened at. Spyderco had a gage to check the angles of blades for around $5. I said they had and don't know if it is available any longer.
 
I don't think they get what you are asking. I believe they think you are trying to figure out what the angle of the current edge is? My answer to your post is that I have my 940 in s30v at 30 inclusive and it holds an edge just fine, so go ahead and take it down to 30.
 
It's like shooting a bullet at the edge of an ax and splitting the bullet in two. Where the pieces land is determined by the angle of the edge. Buck Knives had some pictures of a goniometer in their advertising when they came up with the EDGE 2000 (a new steeper edge on their knives).
 
I go for a 30* with a 40* micro-bevel on my 930 and finish it off at 1000 grit. I'm not sure it helps with wear resistance very much ( might make it worse honestly ), but it it's good for impact/deformation resistance I think, I don't find as many dents after light use with the microbevel as I do with the straight V edge, but for the most part having the microbevel on top of the 30* still leaves it cutting like it was at 30*.

As for finding the angle of the blade profile... If you have some calipers or inch micrometers you can find it out with some rather simple math. Math is cheap.
 
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