Buck 110 sharpening

I'm not sure the answer is simple and may depend upon vintage. I do remember this blurb on sharpening angles from the year 2000 catalog. I'm primarily a collector so I don't sharpen many except my users. I recall David Martin has posted in the past on sharpening and perhaps he or someone else with real experience will opinionate.

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Thanks Sky for finding this writing. Yes, a goniometer can get it more accurate than the angles above. What I've noticed is the 1970's knives were 20-21* (primary bevel) and the edge 2000 type knives are 17-18*. Gents who are concerned about angles normally have a sharpening devise with set angles and they want to know which setting to use.
Mark the bevel with a black marker prior and then try the 18* setting for a stroke or two and see if that is duplicating the original edge bevel. DM
 
Thank you gentlemen-I just sharpened my Bucklite to 18* and was getting ready to sharpen a friends 110 and was wondering what the factory starts with,I'll set his at 18 also,thanks again!
 
I've heard that Lansky sharpeners make lower angles than marked, I cannot conform or refute this. My Lansky thought that my brand new 110 was 17 degrees on one side and 20 degrees on the other side. I lowered the 20 degree side to 17 to match the other side. All this is assuming the Lansky produces accurate angles.

By the way lowering the side from 20 to 17 degrees was a chore.
 
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Mark, you're welcome.
Pond, yes rebeveling on a Lansky stone is a chore. If you use a Norton coarse crystalline it is not such a chore. But also cover the benefits. After rebeveling, did this help the knife to cut better/ quicker? DM
 
David Martin said:
Mark, you're welcome.
Pond, yes rebeveling on a Lansky stone is a chore. If you use a Norton coarse crystalline it is not such a chore. But also cover the benefits. After rebeveling, did this help the knife to cut better/ quicker? DM
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Rebeveling seemed to help (though the knife worked fine from the factory) but mainly the unmatched angles bugged me a bit. I'm not knocking Buck, the price of a 110 is so affordable. Yes you can spend 15 minutes to an hour and make the factory edge better, but I'd prefer this to the knife costing $20 more. And I've never bought a Buck with a bad edge, as in "it won't cut." A dead deer would never have noticed the uneven bevel.

Most of my kitchen knives have 20 degree bevels and they work just fine. The 17 degree bevels on the Buck do cut nicer. I often use my Bucks in the kitchen.
 
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DM, I gather you do a lot of hand sharpening. Do you have any experience with a Sharpmaker? Just curious if you, or anyone else for that matter, use or have used them for their Bucks....
 
Bear, I've not sharpened using devices. My sharpening is done freehand on mostly Norton crystalline and India stones. DM
 
Pond, I take my edges down to 15* and have notice much greater increase in performance. Cuts real quick. Most steels are not a problem to re-bevel. But when I did it on S30V I noticed it was slower going. DM
 
Wow! 15*!!!

I thought I was playing with fire by going down to 17* with my KO Worksharp. By the way, with 17* I have gotten good cutting performance without noticing any edge issues.
 
I just got a Wicked edge system,been doing a lot of practicing with it,just got done with an old Kabar hunting knife-did it at 15* man it will definitely shave ya now!!Haven't really did any cutting with it other than paper and some arm hair to see how it will hold up-I've used a lot of different sharpeners,just never was really sure with the angles until I bought this,still a lot of work re profiling,but once you get the angle or sharpen to the existing angle-its pretty much a breeze,never been able to get this degree of sharp before and I'm sure I'll only get better with more use,thank for all your comments guys!:thumbup:
 
19 & Mark, yes I take most of my user knives to 15* per side and haven't noticed edge issues during use. (Been doing this for about 6 years.) This includes cutting thru chicken leg bones & thighs, pruning thumb size oak limbs, cutting zip ties, sisal rope ect.. I'm not gentle on my knives. I expect them to cut stuff. But I don't mallet. Going to this angle has muchly improved the cutting performance. I've not noticed any difference among steels. They all take (Buck steels) it rather well and perform accordingly. I've also given this angle to meat cutters knives I sharpen. (I sharpen several of these each week) They didn't know it and at returning I ask them how did their knife cut. "Great', is usually the response. They didn't know the edge angle but noticed how it cut. These guys aren't known for being gentle on their knives. Dedicate one knife, to try and see what you think. If the primary edge bevel on say a 110 or kitchen knife is 1/16" chances are the edge is at 18*. If the bevel sides are any wider the angle is more acute. Just a rule of thumb. I think at the heart of sharpening is the question; where is the 'sweet spot' on a steel? Where you increase cutting performance and maintain edge durability. DM
 
Your Welcome Mark. Hope that helps.

I personally have never been able to maintain the same angle using flat stones. So went with the Lansky clamp system years ago and use the 25 degree angle. Works for my purposes.

One of the other clamp systems may have an angle closer to the Buck factory edge.

So when I start working on a new factory edge, I know it is going to take a little longer the first time out, to get "MY" edge on a new blade. After that it will touch up a lot faster.

I don't even let son in law sharpen my blades using his Lansky clamp. No two of us do it exactly the same and don't want to have to come behind him later and redo my edge.

Just a thought.

Oh yeah, after getting an edge on one, I then hit it with one of those wife beater leather strops to seriously tune it up.. :eek::D
 
Pack, thanks for taking the time to post this photo. 15-13* is a range that I've read gents do on their knives without any issues. I haven't wanted to go that acute but I read it can be done without damage to the edge. Perhaps I'll try it. DM
 
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