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Best Sharpening for Benchmade 940
- Thread starter Neverlost
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2017
- Messages
- 1
I'm in my 60s. I got my first straight razor when I was 18 in 1973. I worked in food service for twenty two years using various garden variety 'bench' stones and an increasingly large collection of kitchen gadgets and knives. I have 'can-openered' 55 gallon steel barrels of olive oil with one of them. Another is for tomatoes only. Yet another I call my sharp whisker - that one is for parting out meats, removing silver-skin, and other activities where bone is not touched and speed is of the essence. My retired 'work' knives have bevel angles that range from 60º inclusive to about 5º inclusive - depending on my purpose. There seems to be much discussion/comments regarding sharpening difficulties and challenges, here and elsewhere on the web... what tool...what steel... what stone...
I have been sharpening free hand since I was a Cub-Scout at 7. Generally I sit and work with both hands moving. I take my time. This is meditative for me. Patience is essential. To be honest, most of my 'EDC' knives have seen little to no use. I just fuss with them. I seem to prefer flat grinds with highly polished cheeks and minimal secondary or micro bevels. The only steel I have had any difficulty with is CPM-110v - but that just needs a very light touch with well worn-in diamond hones. I prefer free-hand methods because the EDC knives I do have in use are profiled with different intentions at different areas of the blade. I do not recall ever chipping a blade, though I have rolled many edges.
These days and for several decades, I sharpen with a bright single source of light - one at least 6 feet away. Do not use oil to sharpen anything. Anything. Really! Water and perhaps a bit of dish soap are best. Clean the surface of your choice of abrasive frequently when removing substantial amounts of metal. Note the sound of the tool on the abrasive closely. Position the cutting edge - OR - the wetted abrasive so that a reflection of the single point source light strikes your best eye... notice that - if wet - the meniscus of fluid at the line of contact between edge and abrasive will pinch out at the angle of best contact when working to conserve the bevel at the current state. If working with dry abrasives use the reflections off the various surfaces to confirm the desired angles throughout the stroke to reduce errors that will need to be corrected later. Go slow! Use your arms and hands in such a way as to pivot from one joint only unless compound angles and radius-ed edges are desired.
I have found sharpening chisels and wood planes to be the most challenging. Yes - I freehand sharpen these, too. After a while, freehand sharpening chain-saws isn't too hard either - though I have found that you tend to spend as much time sharpening the chain as you do felling the tree - there is an 'amaaaaazing' amount of dirt and other 'grawdoo' to be found in tree bark.
Recently I bought a toolpouch-style leather belt as a strop for use with FlexCut polishing compound - this stuff cuts MUCH faster than garden variety jeweler's rouge on all steels, even on CPM-110v. Sometimes I use this on a bench, sometimes I stand on one end and pull it tight - depending on what I want to do to the edge in question.
There are famous folks seen in videos online that do some very backward things to achieve a sharp edge, in my opinion...
This just illustrates what I have been saying for many years: "The hand that uses the blade, should sharpen the blade."
I have been sharpening free hand since I was a Cub-Scout at 7. Generally I sit and work with both hands moving. I take my time. This is meditative for me. Patience is essential. To be honest, most of my 'EDC' knives have seen little to no use. I just fuss with them. I seem to prefer flat grinds with highly polished cheeks and minimal secondary or micro bevels. The only steel I have had any difficulty with is CPM-110v - but that just needs a very light touch with well worn-in diamond hones. I prefer free-hand methods because the EDC knives I do have in use are profiled with different intentions at different areas of the blade. I do not recall ever chipping a blade, though I have rolled many edges.
These days and for several decades, I sharpen with a bright single source of light - one at least 6 feet away. Do not use oil to sharpen anything. Anything. Really! Water and perhaps a bit of dish soap are best. Clean the surface of your choice of abrasive frequently when removing substantial amounts of metal. Note the sound of the tool on the abrasive closely. Position the cutting edge - OR - the wetted abrasive so that a reflection of the single point source light strikes your best eye... notice that - if wet - the meniscus of fluid at the line of contact between edge and abrasive will pinch out at the angle of best contact when working to conserve the bevel at the current state. If working with dry abrasives use the reflections off the various surfaces to confirm the desired angles throughout the stroke to reduce errors that will need to be corrected later. Go slow! Use your arms and hands in such a way as to pivot from one joint only unless compound angles and radius-ed edges are desired.
I have found sharpening chisels and wood planes to be the most challenging. Yes - I freehand sharpen these, too. After a while, freehand sharpening chain-saws isn't too hard either - though I have found that you tend to spend as much time sharpening the chain as you do felling the tree - there is an 'amaaaaazing' amount of dirt and other 'grawdoo' to be found in tree bark.
Recently I bought a toolpouch-style leather belt as a strop for use with FlexCut polishing compound - this stuff cuts MUCH faster than garden variety jeweler's rouge on all steels, even on CPM-110v. Sometimes I use this on a bench, sometimes I stand on one end and pull it tight - depending on what I want to do to the edge in question.
There are famous folks seen in videos online that do some very backward things to achieve a sharp edge, in my opinion...
This just illustrates what I have been saying for many years: "The hand that uses the blade, should sharpen the blade."
The tricky thing that I have found is that knives, especially Benchmades, don’t often come with the most even edge angles from the factory. This can make sharpening an exercise in frustration and futility. Every new knife I get gets put on the Edge Pro Apex to set the angle where I want it, and then I maintain with the Sharpmaker. I would suggest, if you really want to get the most out of your new knife (a spectacular knife, by the way) send it to a pro. The Apostle P charges $20 plus shipping and will send you back the sharpest knife you’ve ever handled, with a very easy to maintain angle on a Sharpmaker (which you should definitely buy!). Congrats on your new blade, and hope this helps.
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2002
- Messages
- 2,008
@PhilBoydStudge: What stones do you use and what grit finish do you favor (in general)?