hi everyone i am new to bladeforums and have a burning question that needs to answered! so i have a benchmade 551 and had a benchmade 527 and i realized that out of the box the edge on both the 551 and 527 were not as sharp compared to my spyderco knives from the factory. do you guys know what the angle is set from the factory from benchmade(inclusive please)? i also have a sharpmaker and was wondering how many passes i should go over it with my 551 and whether i need to use the coarse rods to get it to either a 30 or 40 degree angle. thanks!
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Benchmade edge angle
- Thread starter trbofrek
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- Mar 17, 2002
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Nothing new here. Spyderco's factory edge sharpness is legendary. Don't let the fact that a "lowly" Spydie came from the factory sharper than your nickel plated sissy knife (not an insult, that's a movie quote). I paid hundreds of dollars and waited YEARS for a custom Randall. When it finally came in the mail I laughed out loud at the edge. Well, I suppose you could have called it an edge. Anyhoo, I've also had quite a few examples of a certain high end production folder pass thru my hands, the maker shall remain nameless however his world famous folder is VERY popular around here. And even he, with all his experience and ridiculous price tags, can't come CLOSE to the savage factory bite Spyderco puts on their knives. Another American based company (on the lower pricepoint scale), after getting constant complaints about their factory edges, embarked on a campaign to improve. They did (and are still doing) an admirable job. But nowhere close to the high standards of Spyderco. Not even in the same league. So don't feel bad. You got a knife from "the other guys". It isn't supposed to be Spyderco sharp. Until YOU make it that way. Better get started! 
Welcome to the forum. It's difficult to tell what angle Benchmade put on your knives, but in my experience Benchmade usually has an angle larger than 40 degrees inclusive.
Your Sharpmaker is designed to sharpen either a 30- or 40-degree edge on your blade, or a combination (30-degree main bevel with a 40-degree secondary bevel).
You can paint your edge with a Sharpie and make one dry pass over the coarse stones set at 40 degrees. Then look at how much of the marker the stone took off. If it took off only a little marker up by the shoulder, then your edge is wider than 40 degrees and you'll probably want to reprofile it.
It would be easier to get a diamond stone to do the reprofiling because it will be much faster. Sharpmakers with the coarse stones it comes with are very slow at reprofiling.
To know how much metal to take off, look at the Sharpie marker. When the stone is taking off the marker the full width of the bevel, you're close to getting the edge sharp. Feel for a burr to form on the side opposite that your sharpening. Then get it to form on the other side. Then start taking it off by going to the finer stones and reducing pressure.
You cannot guess how many strokes on the stones all this will take, but try to keep your strokes equal on both sides.
Your Sharpmaker is designed to sharpen either a 30- or 40-degree edge on your blade, or a combination (30-degree main bevel with a 40-degree secondary bevel).
You can paint your edge with a Sharpie and make one dry pass over the coarse stones set at 40 degrees. Then look at how much of the marker the stone took off. If it took off only a little marker up by the shoulder, then your edge is wider than 40 degrees and you'll probably want to reprofile it.
It would be easier to get a diamond stone to do the reprofiling because it will be much faster. Sharpmakers with the coarse stones it comes with are very slow at reprofiling.
To know how much metal to take off, look at the Sharpie marker. When the stone is taking off the marker the full width of the bevel, you're close to getting the edge sharp. Feel for a burr to form on the side opposite that your sharpening. Then get it to form on the other side. Then start taking it off by going to the finer stones and reducing pressure.
You cannot guess how many strokes on the stones all this will take, but try to keep your strokes equal on both sides.
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- Feb 2, 2005
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- 4,270
Like Harry & Twindog said, Spyderco is the gold standard for a lot of us when comparing O-O-B factory edges. Al Mar is the only company I've ever seen that comes close with their factory edges.
I have several BMs & H&Ks and I will usually do the Sharpie trick to see how the angles are going to match up to my Sharpmaker and then use a DMT diamond benchstone to knock down the bevels that need it so they match up with my Sharpmaker's 40 deg setting.
I have several BMs & H&Ks and I will usually do the Sharpie trick to see how the angles are going to match up to my Sharpmaker and then use a DMT diamond benchstone to knock down the bevels that need it so they match up with my Sharpmaker's 40 deg setting.
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- Dec 15, 2003
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- 3,154
That's been my experience over the years too, and I actually like Benchmade knives. Not only will they be >40 inclusive, but often its its just one side that's >20, like about 15 on one side and 25 or more on the other. Same result--the Sharpmaker won't work.
I had that problem with my first Benchmde, a 710HS in M2. Great knife otherwise. I reprofiled it, using the black marker method Twindog described, using the dark stones on a Sharpmaker. It took many hours. Later, I got a DMT extra course diamond hone and did them freehand, and it goes much more quickly that way. A cheap extra course carborundum would do the sam thing. I now use an Edge Pro, and that's a fairly expensive system, but gives great results.
Spyderco is the gold standard not only for out of box sharpness but also edges <20 degrees per side. It makes sense they'd put edges on their knives that will work with their best known sharpening product.
These gentlemen have it right. Spyderco knives are the sharpest out of the box. I have not had any luck in the last few years with Benchmade out of the box. The last benchmade had a tiny bevel dubbed on as an afterthought. Benchmade make excellent knives with that great Axis lock but the edges they put on there knives suck! And it really anger me that a 100 dollar plus knife has a bad edge that needs reprofiling out of the box. Thinning the edges on S30v and ZDP189 and some of the newer steels like M4 and M390 would be no fun unless you have a grinder and the skills and time to do it. Good luck.
RKH
RKH
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- Oct 20, 2004
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- 4,704
Nothing new here. Spyderco's factory edge sharpness is legendary. Don't let the fact that a "lowly" Spydie came from the factory sharper than your nickel plated sissy knife (not an insult, that's a movie quote). I paid hundreds of dollars and waited YEARS for a custom Randall. When it finally came in the mail I laughed out loud at the edge. Well, I suppose you could have called it an edge. Anyhoo, I've also had quite a few examples of a certain high end production folder pass thru my hands, the maker shall remain nameless however his world famous folder is VERY popular around here. And even he, with all his experience and ridiculous price tags, can't come CLOSE to the savage factory bite Spyderco puts on their knives. Another American based company (on the lower pricepoint scale), after getting constant complaints about their factory edges, embarked on a campaign to improve. They did (and are still doing) an admirable job. But nowhere close to the high standards of Spyderco. Not even in the same league. So don't feel bad. You got a knife from "the other guys". It isn't supposed to be Spyderco sharp. Until YOU make it that way. Better get started!
I just went through my knife box and pulled out all the knives that I have bought that are brand new and have never cut anything. They are mostly all Spyderco and Benchmade. Out of 6 Benchmade knives 3 were hair popping, and 3 were a little less and just shaving sharp. Out of 8 Spyderco knives, 4 were hair popping, 3 were just shaving, and 1 wouldn't shave at all. These are completely random knives that have been bought over the last couple years from various knife stores. None of them were hand picked, just whatever the store happened to send. They both had some really sharp knives and both had some average edges. I really like both companies but I can't say that one is any better than the other from my experiences. Spyderco can produce some sharp knives, but they aren't perfect and Benchmade is capable of doing the same.
As far as the edge angle I'm not really sure. When I sharpen a knife I usually reprofile the edge and get it how I want it instead of trying to follow the factory angles.
I would like to add that I bought a few Benchmades about 3 to 4 years ago and they had excellent edges. One of those is a 707 Sequel model and it has kept one the best edge I have had on a knife. I have touched it up a few times on my Sharpmaker and I find this knife quite amazing. This knife is 154CM and does just about anything I could ask of a folder. I hope Benchmade improves the edges on there current knives as Benchmade is a quality product and has an excellent customer service.
RKH
RKH
thanks for all the replies! yeah i wish my benchmade was sharp like my spydercos, out of five all have been razor sharp and never let me down. i also realized that the relief edge on my benchmade is pretty shallow compared to my other knives. do you guys also see this?
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- Sep 9, 2010
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- 120
this might be a dumb question but what if you get some black magic marker on the primary grind of the blade? does this come off easily or? some special markers that wipe off? water based maybe?
i'm a little scared to "write" on my blade with a magic "permanent" marker
thanks!
i'm a little scared to "write" on my blade with a magic "permanent" marker
thanks!
Just use some rubbing alcohol. If it's a really thick coating acetone will clear it up too. If you don't have anything like that around, some hair spray or nail polish remover, or basically any kind of solvent will taker marker off easily.
Actually, if you have a dry-erase marker, they come with their own solvent in the ink that evaporates. So you can mark over a permanent marking with dry-erase marker, and then wipe it away as if it were just dry-erase marker. I think I first learned about this when someone's kid drew over their HDTV. Neat little trick to remember though.
But, yeah, "permanent" marker is surprisingly not very permanent. A strong wash in soapy water would probably get the job done, but not as well as any mild house-hold solvent.
Benchmade as of late has had the worst factory edges that I have ever seen, I work for a large sporting goods chain and every one of the BM that I have handled in the last yr or so have had iffy edges, some were (two 940's) were non existent while others were just unevenly ground and others were passable for a non nut, but most have been so useless that I have had to either reject them and send em back or sharpen them prior to sale as most that shop us have no interest in sharpening knives.
KS
KS