Camillus survival knife won't sharpen

T

That_Knife_Guy

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May 30, 2017
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So my dad has a Camillus pilots survival knife from 1984 and he wanted me to sharpen it on my KME. So I hooked it up and went at it with the 50 grit diamond, because I reprofiling it down to a 22' angle because it looked like it was at 45', after doing about 50 strokes i checked for a burr and nothing, I did another 50 and nothing. So I flipped the knife and did a 100 on the other side to even it up thinking the next time I did the same side I would indeed get the burr. To my demise I never got a burr after doing 200 strokes on the same side. Am I doing something wrong or did they screw up the heat treat and temper?
 
Have you tried the old sharpie trick or looked at the edge with some magnification? Sometimes it takes a hell of a lot of time and effort to reprofile thicker blades. I would take a very close look to see if you have reached the apex yet. I've had similar experiences with a few blades. I don't typically count strokes but I know that one knife I did had to be at around 500 strokes per side by the time
I got the darn thing r profiled.
 
Jbar is right. You have to see what is actually happening along the edge. Counting strokes is just arithmetic. Are the scratch marks reaching the apex? Either use the Sharpie trick or a 10X or stronger loupe to investigate.
 
The edge on those knives is really thick. I'd just keep at it. I mean, as long as you're not doing something completely and totally wrong. Reprofiling can take a long long time.
Personally I use a jewelry loop to look at the edge, it really helps me to find the burr and it tells me when to move to the next grit. Ymmv
 
I have used the sharpie trick and it seems to be removing material all the way down, when I get home today I will go at it again and see what happens.
 
I have seen with sharpie before that the slurry starts knocking sharpie off of the apex before the stone is actually scratching it. That's a great reason to invest ten bucks in a jewelers loupe!
 
That_Knife_Guy said:
...To my demise I never got a burr after doing 200 strokes on the same side. Am I doing something wrong or did they screw up the heat treat and temper?
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Just a side note... you can raise a burr, even on soft steel... so "no burr" doesn't equate to the heat treat and/or temper being bad.

My guess, like everyone else is, you're not there yet. Keep in mind also that... just because you've reached the edge, (as seen by the Sharpie), doesn't mean you've apexed the edge. If it's really dull, you still have to remove enough material to "reach the other side". (Imagine sharpening the spine of a blade... you could start right at the edge, but it's not apexed).

Also, even with a 50g stone... it's a small stone on a comparatively large knife... so it will take longer than you're probably used to.
 
jbarsquat said:
I have seen with sharpie before that the slurry starts knocking sharpie off of the apex before the stone is actually scratching it. That's a great reason to invest ten bucks in a jewelers loupe!
Click to expand...

^This.

The Sharpie often LIES. One or two light passes on most anything hard, but still not hard enough to abrade the steel, will be enough to take the ink off the edge, before any real steel has come off. If you trust only in that, it'll lead you astray. Sharpie ink doesn't cling very tightly to stainless steels in particular, and can be rubbed off easily, even on paper or wood, and even more so if water/oil are used for lubing the hones.

I've only relied on the Sharpie to give a 'quick and dirty' indication that I'm on the right track with my approach, in keeping the held angle consistent on both sides and such; the removed ink can tell a lot about that, after the first handful of passes. But, I don't trust it so much for telling me how much metal has been removed; in fact, I don't trust it at all for that. Use magnification under BRIGHT light and examine the scratch patterns to see where you're at.


David
 
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OK so I Finally got a burr and got the knife done. I ended up doing a 1000 strokes total, 500 on each side, with the 50 grit diamond stone. You guys were right I just hadn't reached it yet. However, it took double the time it took me to reprofile my Benchmade grip with 154cm steel. I just wasn't used to doing it that much. Thanks again for your help.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
The Sharpie often LIES.
David
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WreLaQU.jpg
 
For reprofiling I just dull the edge on something so I can see it reflecting light. You need good eyesight for this and this way you can see how straight of a line you got on the edge and decide which side you want to work. When the light is not reflecting you know you got to the apex. The knife starts cutting at this point also so you can tell you are there. Sharpie is good too for seeing where the steel is being removed to match the angles to get yourself started.
 
Here is one where a Sharpie is of absolutely no use in defining the apex:

IMG_20170825_214829_edit.jpg

Black ceramic (Kyocera Kyotop) and a Sharpie just dont mix well at all...
 
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The edge and grind is thick on this knife.I would take this knife to belt sander and make grind higher and thin the edge out.then this knife is easy to sharpen and cuts very well.I have Ontario version of this knife with plastic handle and after major regrind is very good and useful knife.
 
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