A few more sharpening questions

[sixfoot7]

Hello all!

I have been lurking for a few months now, and have picked up a variety of knives based on reading these forums. I also picked up a Spyderco Sharpmaker because I am unwilling to risk the edges put on by the factories, I merely want to enhance them.
I have been able to make all my knives extremely sharp to where I can push cut newsprint with the exception of 1- my ZT 0200. It is a coated blade made of 154CM. I have no problem with my S30V, AUS-8, VG-10, or the 8Cr13MoV steels, but the 154 seems to drag when I try the push cut. So here are my questions:

-Is it the coating on the blade that causes it to drag? I don't think so, because my ZT 0400 has the same coating but is a different steel (S30V).

-Is 154CM an inherently tougher steel to sharpen, or do I just suck at it?

-Should I be using different angles for my different knives? I have been using the 40 degree side of the Sharpmaker for all my knives. I read the Steel FAQ sticky in this forum too late that recommends 30 degrees for S30V and am hesitant to reprofile the edge at this point, and I have already gotten it very sharp. I will do or have reprofiling done if it is deemed necessary, but I would prefer not to.

There are no decent sharpening services where I live (Vancouver, BC) that I know of, and I think shipping them back and forth across the border to the manufacturer would be my last resort.
I know there will be people wanting to say that I should either invest in an EdgePro or learn to sharpen by hand, and I will agree with you, but I want to take this one step at a time, eventually I hope to learn how to do that.

Thank you all for your time.

 

[dalefuller]

154CM is actually one of the easier steels to sharpen. and it gets *very* sharp. I carry an H&K14210 in 154CM for my EDC and I have no trouble keeping it sharp enough to push cut newsprint w/o me holding the paper. And it will easily pop arm hairs, so it's fairly sharp, even at the 40 degree setting that I use on this knife.

It may be the angle of the bevel on one side of the blade that is causing your problem. If the microbevel on your blade is not a 30 or 40 degree microbevel, then the Sharpmaker is not going to mate up with it when you drag the blade down the rod. The quickest way to determine whether the Sharpmaker is mating up with the bevel on your knife is to take a magic marker and "paint" the bevel (mind you, do just the bevel) on each side of the blade. Then lightly run the blade down the Sharpmaker rods a couple of times to take off the magic marker where the blade touched the rods. That will show you whether the angle you're using is matching up with the angle of the bevels.

If necessary, you can work on rebeveling your blade to match the Sharpmaker angles. Or, if you're more adventurous, you can try adjusting the angle of the Sharpmaker base with a wedge of sorts to change the angle at which it sharpens.

 

[desmobob]

Good advice from Dale.

There must be some reason you're not getting the same edge on the 154CM blade. I also use a Sharpmaker and have several blades of 154CM that sharpen up nicely. The only obvious reason is the bevels on the blade don't match the angles of the Sharpmaker. That's where the magic marker trick comes in; it will show you exactly where your Sharpmaker rods are contacting the blade.

I ended up purchasing the diamond rods for my Sharpmaker right away (look around and you can find them for under $60, I think) and they are invaluable for reprofiling blades so they match the Sharpmaker's angles.

If your blade bevel isn't matching up, and you don't want to spend the dough on the diamond rods, you have another option with the Sharpmaker: turn the base upside down and lay the rods in the grooves to make yourself a flat "stone." Then, you can sharpen the blade freehand at the angle that matches the blade's bevel.

Stay sharp,
desmobob

 

[sixfoot7]

Dale, thanks for the advice. I took a sharpie and found out that the angles were a little off after trying to remove the mark. If it's possible, I think one side actually might be a narrower angle than the other, so I'll just tilt it slightly from vertical on that side when I'm sharpening it.

Bob, thank you for your info as well. I'll try to find the diamond rods and carefully try to reprofile eventually. I've already used the flat stone trick for a few plane blades, I might give that a shot too but it's not a straight blade, so that would probably be something to work towards.

Thanks again to the two of you for the quick replies. If there was a feedback system on this forum, you'd have some from me.

Rik