Chinook sharpening......help

B

Bushman5

Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
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I love, i mean LOVE my new Spyderco Chinook!, its BEEFY and comfortable to carry.

but i'm having issues with sharpening it....

for the record, i'm used to getting extremely sharp, limb severing sharp on carbon steel knives (machetes, khukuris, hunters, fighters etc etc), and some SS knives like the swiss Army.

my sharpening kit is a Coarse DMT, a Fine DMT, meduim ceramic and a fine ceramic flat stones, and two ceramic rod sharpeners. As well i have silicone papers ranging from 100 grit to 6000 grit. For finishing i have a 150 year old Barbers strop, as well as three stages of buffing wheels, ranging from green tripoli to ultra hi sheen buffing compounds. I have never had an issue with putting a hair popping, thumb removing edge on ANY of my blades.

I sharpened the CHINOOK on the Fine DMT , then moved tot he medium ceramic and then the fine ceramic. I could'nt get a sharp hair popping edge, much less anything that would slice cardboard/paper let alone put a dent in it when sliced across the material. A light shone on the edge of the blade revealed a flat edge, so i tried tightening up the angle a bit to remove that flat spot. had "some" success, but its still not scary sharp.

is it possible i'm just used to very flat balde angles, and not the obtuse edges like the Chinook has?

tips?

:confused:
 
A few. Use the Sharpie marker trick to see where you are grinding. You may be trying to change the edge angle instead of sharpening at the existing angle. Also be advised that S30V is fairly abrasion resistant, so unless you are used to sharpening D2, it will likely take longer. Don't be afraid to use that coarse DMT if you need to thin the edge, it will speed things up quite a bit.
 
I was real nervous to try the Coarse DMT on the Chinook, but since you mentioned the steel type as being abrasion resistant, i will give it a go.

thanks.

EDIT: just found a Sharpie, i'll tyr that too!
 
I had the same problem when I got into tool and crucible steels, I find that taking the extra time on every stone makes a big difference for final finish. A new trick I have been trying is after I am finished on my UF ceramic I will give the edge a few lite strop's with some .25 micron diamond paste. This gives the edge a slight shine making it easyer to see if you have missed the proper angle on either side, precision is key with these type of steels. Good luck
 
Make sure you are sharpening the actual edge with the magic marker trick. On the super hard stainless steels like S30V, it will take a lot more passes on the stones to take off the amount of metal you would on a softer, carbon steel knife. It is very easy (I've done it many times) to sharpen the top of the edge on a super steel, and never touch the actual edge. Good luck, I remember my introduction to sharpening S30V (Spyderco Manix).
 
update

would you believe a venerable oil bench stone soaked in diesel put a wicked edge on this knife?

i'm happy now, me Chinook cuts with that classic Spyderco edge!
 
DMT X-coarse works well on S30V and should take care of the problem. I ordered the DMT magna-guide sharpener and would highly suggest it,(unless ya got the $$ for a edgepro) it arrived today and I re-sharpened 4 knives today in the time it use to take for one. They were also all very hard steels: millie S90V, BM m-rukus S30V, mule team 52100, and a delica VG-10 now they all have nearly perfect edges and are much sharper than I could ever get by hand plus the stright bevel looks much nicer. Don't be woried about sharpening this steel its really not that hard its just a "learning curve"
 
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