A question about SOG blade steel....

New Pig Hunter said:
I'll jump into this one to simply offer a personal experience observation......

I'm sharpening-challenged. But a couple of years ago I figured out a method to put razor-sharp on my most all of my SOG's. Specifically the ones with SK-5 and AUS-x steel.

The SOG's which I cannot put sharp upon are my Recondo and (former) Field Knife. That rock-hard BG-42 steel just laughs at me when I try to sharpen it.

SO: rather than go exotic, I'm staying with a steel which I can sharpen both at home and in the field. It's not the subtleties and subjectivities of edge retention, chrome content, or other technical aspects of composition. I've decided my own # 1 top-of-the-list spec is my own ability to sharpen the knife.

The SOG's I have with SK-5 and AUS 6 and/or AUS 8 are perfect for me. I recognize my sharpening limitation, am perfectly content to live with it, and am quite happy with the steels of the SOG knives I have.

Cheers,

Carl
Click to expand...


Carl...what did you use? and ummm method? please elaborate :)
 
Carl, I agree 110%. The edge holding abilities of the super steels is many times offset by its difficulty in sharpening, especially in the field. I have severl friends that are still on Active duty in the Marines and the knives they prefer are those that can be easily sharpened in the field with a simple stone implement. They seem to prefer the AUSx, 440C, and some 154CM. Most everything superior to these is too difficult to maintain in the field. My personal experience with some of the super steels, ie., S30V, BG42, D2 and M2 is that they hold an edge amazingly well, stand up to a lot of abuse, but when it comes time to sharpen, stand by for a lot of elbow grease. So, I guess, from the direction this thread has gone, is for those of us who actually use our knives, ease of maintenance is right at the top of the list. As an aside, I have been extremely pleased with every SOG knife I have. Don't have a lot (as some of you who have been collecting SOGs a lot longer than I), but I'm working on it.
 
the whole point of the super steels is that you don`t have to sharpen them anywhere near as often as the lesser steels.
 
Greetings to all,
Speaking of Super Steels, has anyone investigated the PMT steels? Recently, I purchased some endmills for the machine shop where I work and they were made of powdered metal technology steel. Needless to say they are extremely tough and have stayed sharp about twice as long as conventional high speed steel and even longer than M-42 cobalt. This may be a type of the Swedish super steel used in Paul Chen samurai folded steel swords and certain SOG competitors from Sweden (of which I own a folder made of their 3G laminate). The endmills were called TANK which is probably an acronym. If cutting 4140 does not dull them quickly imagine trying to sharpen a knife blade made out of the stuff. It would be a nightmare! But then it wouldn't need it very often, would it? Food for thought.
Best regards,
Denny
300WSM
 
My opinion. I have owned and sharpened knives for 45 years. I used to hate to have to sharpen my easily sharpened knife three times to finish a deer. I now have a SOG X-42 in BG-42. I have used it for six months to baton and carve walking poles out of alder (also use a RAT-3 in D2). Also made lots of fires and chopped up branches. I wish had another X-42. I'll let you know how hard it is to sharpen in a year or two. NO signs of wear yet. Still shaves my arm clean. I have sharpened D2, A2, and S30V with out problems. I'll take a knife I can use for an entire trip and then sharpen at home any day. Just my opinion.
Ron
 
Ron,

I have a SOG Recondo with the BG-42 steel and being sharpening-challenged, I cannot get it sharp.

With that said, I used to have a SOG Field Knife with BG-42. My pal Tim, who knows what he's doing, sharpened it so sharp he said he could slice off the fingerprint whorls of his fingertips. He said he'd never seen anything like it and was amazed at the edge he could put on BG-42.

If you'd like to share your secret(s) of sharpening BG-42 I'm all ears and eyes !!

Cheers,

Carl

p.s. maybe I should just sell you mine and end my frustration........
 
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