Best way to oil/sharpen scrapyard knife (SR101 steel) with some dings in the edge?

D

Digiorno

Joined
Mar 5, 2015
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Hi all, got a new scrapyard knife and was using it today doing some heavy wood working (chopping/splitting wood) and it looks like the pictures seen here: http://imgur.com/a/tKnwJ

I'm not terribly worried about the coating or the marks, if anything I love the way it's starting to look used now. What I'm worried about is how un-smart I was.

I was chopping a branch near a rock and a glancing blow launched it into the side of said rock. The edge now looks like the pictures. I don't know if it's showing or not but it's definitely not smooth like the rest of the blade, it's quite jagged and very rough when touched. First off, is this a chipped edge or is it just "rolled" as I've heard it called before? How can I fix this, if at all?

Second, what is the best stone/method I should use in order to sharpen this SR-101 steel? I read the stickies and tried searching but I haven't found anything too definitive and I know that this kind of steel isn't probably what people have in mind when making a thread for new people. However I am quite new to this steel and sharpening in general so any information regarding this one specifically would be helpful.

Third, what oil/lubricant should I use on it, and how often? Before and after use or just after, only if it's wet? Will WD-40 work or do I need something less generic? Again, new to all of this so any help is appreciated

Thanks so much for your time!
 
It looks like the rock hit and rolled your edge, it's fixable but it may take time.
some members will fill you in with the details on how to fix the edge.

I use the lanksy system which SR101 steel is out of my league, I mainly deal with 420HC.
good luck!
 
That steel doesn't look difficult to sharpen. I'd get a Norton India combination stone and using mineral oil work it some on the coarse side to remove the rolled metal. Then on to the fine side, holding it at the proper angle. You'll need to learn free-hand sharpening first on some kitchen knives. Then move to your Busse. Angle hold is very important. DM
 
I've run the edge on my stones to remove a troubling chip...gently and carefully until the chip is gone and the edge is smooth and even then I sharpen and/or reprofile as needed until it is at the sharpness I want for that particular knife. I don't sharpen all my knives to the same level of sharpness.
I also have my "hard use", "abuse" knives that I don't care about if I chip them, etc...that is what I bought them for.
 
Digiorno said:
Hi all, got a new scrapyard knife and was using it today doing some heavy wood working (chopping/splitting wood) and it looks like the pictures seen here: http://imgur.com/a/tKnwJ

I'm not terribly worried about the coating or the marks, if anything I love the way it's starting to look used now. What I'm worried about is how un-smart I was.

I was chopping a branch near a rock and a glancing blow launched it into the side of said rock. The edge now looks like the pictures. I don't know if it's showing or not but it's definitely not smooth like the rest of the blade, it's quite jagged and very rough when touched. First off, is this a chipped edge or is it just "rolled" as I've heard it called before? How can I fix this, if at all?

Second, what is the best stone/method I should use in order to sharpen this SR-101 steel? I read the stickies and tried searching but I haven't found anything too definitive and I know that this kind of steel isn't probably what people have in mind when making a thread for new people. However I am quite new to this steel and sharpening in general so any information regarding this one specifically would be helpful.

Third, what oil/lubricant should I use on it, and how often? Before and after use or just after, only if it's wet? Will WD-40 work or do I need something less generic? Again, new to all of this so any help is appreciated

Thanks so much for your time!
Click to expand...

Looks to me like you put some good chips in your blade. Awesome! That means you're using it. I don't believe the steel in that knife is any more problematic than any other quality steel that gets chipped. I don't know if the Busse crew normally convex grinds their scrapyard knives but that one looks like a normal V grind. You shouldn't have a problem getting those chips out, it'll take some time but you can do it. If you want to stick with your lansky then you'll need to find which angle is closest to what you want, either what's already on the blade or if you want to change it up. If you want it to be at about 20 degrees per side, then choose 20 degrees per side and start grinding away. Grind on one side then grind on the other. Once you're hitting the apex at the 20 degrees, you'll start feeling the burr. Flip sides and do it again. All those burrs are metal being removed. That's what you want in this case. You're bringing the apex down to meet the chips. Keep doing it until you run your fingernail down the edge and don't feel them catching on the chips anymore. Then proceed to sharpen like normal.

There's nothing about that that a lansky and their provided stones can't do. You only have to bring the edge to one of their preset angles. That's all. No biggie. Like I said, it may take awhile but the chips don't look that big, there's just a lot of them. The deeper the gouges into the edge bevel the more metal that needs to be removed to even the edge out again.

You could use this as a reason to buy something like an edge pro or other system that has better stones available. If you use cubic boron nitride stones or good diamond stones they should make quick work of these kinds of issues. Removing large amounts of metal from a knife is really the only thing about sharpening that should take awhile. Take some time on some afternoon, pop Braveheart into the DVD player, and grind away until those chips are gone. You don't need anything fancy. You could probably remove those chips with any normal brick if you wanted to. It's all about keeping a consistent angle and spending enough time to fully even out the apex and then it's just refining the apex to where you want it and removing the wire edge. The same thing goes for sharpening any knife or using any sharpening system (or none at all).
 
Oh, and as far as protecting the blade, where the coating has come off shouldn't be cause for concern if you use it regularly. Any light corrosion on the primary bevel near the cutting edge will come off pretty easily in use. If you're going to store it then you can use a couple of things. You can melt some wax on it and it will easily flake off the next time you use it, use some rubbing alcohol to remove the oils on it first.

You can use some eezox since you don't need to be worried about the lubrication properties.

You can use mineral oil but it evaporates fairly quickly so every couple of weeks you need to wipe it down and reapply fresh oil.

You can get some froglube which works well if used according to the directions.

The main thing is to ensure you remove the acidic oils prior to applying the corrosion preventative.
 
Thanks to all, especially bodog for actually answering all of my questions. I'll start grinding away soon.
 
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