A rounded tip :(

dePaul

dePaul

Joined
Aug 8, 2000
Messages
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While sharpening my 705 the other day, I accidently drove the tip into the side of one of the stones on my Spydie 204. Now the tip is dull and I am not sure how to rectify this problem. Any suggestions?
There is another question I´d like to ask. How is one able to avoid the tip being rounded while sharpening? I know that some of you will say that I have to stop the motion before the tip slips of the stone. But on the other hand, how am I supposed to get the upper part of the blade sharp??
 
Outside of the sharpening issues. If you want to get the tip redone, you could send the knife and $5.00 to Benchmade for their Lifesharp service. Ask them to fix up the tip too. I did. They did it for me. Took about a month.

As far as how to sharpen without blunting the tip. Carefully. Go slow. Practice. Do it on a cheap knife if you don't want to ruin the tip on one of your better knives.
 
I use bench stones to to sharpen the tips, especially on blades with a lot of upsweep. Works great.
 
Ok. This means two things. For the first; I´m very poor in sharpening knives and second; if I am that poor, I should use another sharpening system to work on the upper parts of the blade, right? Hrrrm. And I thought that my Spydie would do it all for me
frown.gif

PS the rounded tip occured after several hours of rebeveling a new edge. One is almost bound to make a mistake during such a long session.
 
Unfortunatley, the 204 is notorious for rounding tips. I used one for many years (203 as well) and often my knives suffered this fate. With practice you can limit the amount of roundover. Another option is to use benchstones or another sharpening system. My preference is the EdgePro Apex http://www.gorge.net/business/edgepro/

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"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n"
John Milton
There are only two types of people; those who understand this, and those who think they do.
 
All you have to do, is slow down. I sharpen all of my knives on the 204 sharpmaker,even my Sebenza. Not once have I dulled a tip. I do see how it is possible, and once when I was sharpening too fast I did slip over the stone. Luckily it did not round off the tip, and it was the LAST time I made that mistake. As you get closer to the tip, just slow down and make it precise. When you move on to the flat side of the stone, you can just do a little extra at the tip(If you have to.)



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Louis Buccellato
http://www.themartialway.com
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"only the paranoid will survive"
 
Ok, I´ll try to do the motion a lot slower. However, I believe that I tried that before and had some difficulties in maintaining the proper angle. I tended to somewhat lean the blade to one side while doing that. That disapeared when I went faster. But you are most certainly right and I´ll have to adapt.
Thx for your help guys.
 
dePaul: Slowing down is the best recommendation, as was the one about worrying more about sharpening the tip when using the flat sides as there is less chance of rollover there. To backk up a point already made though, the best way to sharpen tips is freehand on stones. Having said that, the above points will definitely improve sharpening with the 204.

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"Come What May..."
 
Uhm, get an Edge Pro Apex!
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That is what I did. Make sure you get the coarse stone as well. That is my main stone. Just lightly go over the edges with the coarse stone to get burr, do the other side, and then you strop! I don't even need all the other stones.

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Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
I´d certainly like to own the Edge Pro system but they are so to speak playing in a different league when it comes to the price. And if I should go that far, spending that much bucks, what about throwing in some more and buy the Tormek Super Grind 2004? Must be even easier to use than the Edge Pro. But as I understand, no "knife dude" around here is actually using the Tormek. Why? Is there something wrong with it? Does it tear the edge apart
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?
 
You have to make sure that the edge at the tip never goes past a right angle to the stone. As your stroke comes down, it is natural for the tip to go lower than the handle. You don't want this. The tip can go a little lower than the pivot, but never past the point where the edge, right at the tip, is at a right angle to the direction of your sharpening stroke. I try to keep the tip trailing my cutting stroke just a little bit.
 
Slowing down will definitely help, but what you want to avoid at all costs, if you want to keep a sharp point, is not to draw the tip off of the stones. Nor go past a right angle like Steve mentioned. Either will keep rounding it down more and more.

What this means is that you don't use the corners on the very tip, just the flats, and you stop the stroke with the tip still on the flat. Do this and you will always have a sharp point without more equipment. If you have a benchstone, I'd use that to reform the tip. The 204 will do it, but it takes a while to re-profile a blade with it. I have a Razor's Edge kit and I simply take the benchstone, set it between the 204's stones so that I get the same exact angle, and go to town. RE's stones are great to re-profile with, but any stone could be used this way. If it's too wide to fit between the 204's stones, just remove one of them.

One thing you might try is to imagine your wrist and elbow being fused so that they will not turn. If you keep all of the turning in your shoulder, you will greatly reduce the variance. Just lock your elbow and wrist and I'd bet the variance goes down to almost none, no matter what speed you work at.

When I first starting using Sharpmakers, I went too fast and used too much pressure. I've since learned that you don't force a sharp edge onto a blade, you finesse it.

I've not used any of Apex's products, but I don't doubt the quality. I just can't bring myself to spend the money when my current equipment meets my needs quite well. The bottom line is that you can get the results you want with the equipment you have.

By the way - a 705BT is always in my pocket and it gets used constantly. So, it gets re-sharpened frequently. I've used the tip to remove splinters so I know not letting the tip slide off of the stone works

Credit for all of these tips belong to Joe Talmadge and Sal Glesser. Without them, and RES's book on sharpening, I would have never learned.

For sharpening, the 204 cannot be beat if used properly. For re-profiling, the 204 by itself is very slow going.

Anyway, good luck with it.

[This message has been edited by Codeman (edited 09-14-2000).]
 
Thx Codeman. Very interesting indeed. I´ll try acting accordingly to your advice as well
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Thx Codeman. Very interesting indeed. I´ll try acting accordingly to your advice as well
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My advice is to try and keep the portion of your knife edge that is in contact with the honing rod horizontal. For a straight edge like a Warncliffe or sheepsfoot, keep the knife horizontal for the whole stroke. For most knives with edges that curve back to the point you need to roll the point downwards at the end of your stroke.

The best way to make up your mind is to hold the knife against the hone in various positions and decide if you like what will happen if you were applying pressure in that position.
 
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