Chisel Ground blade

[beluga]

How do you sharpen a chisel ground blade ? Not a big fan of it, but have a couple of knives with it.

Thanks !

 

[Josh Feltman]

Generally you sharpen the side that is ground and strop the flat side to remove the wire edge.
--Josh

 

[Crayola]

It kinda depends on the knife, and how much you care for the finish. My Emerson CQC-7 had a chisel ground blade with a seconday edge bevel. I just sharpen the secondary edge bevel like normal on a 4000 grit waterstone, raising a very tiny burr. To remove the burr, I will lay the flat side of the blade on the stone and rub it on the stone for a few strokes, and then alternate 3 or 4 times bevel/back. After a while a chisel ground blade (all non-full ground blades need this really) needs its primary grind fixed up. To use my knife as an example, I'd switch to a coarse hone, lay the primary bevel on the stone, and scrub for a while, thinning out the bevel. Then I'd switch to a medium and fine stone just to clean up the work, or I could use sandpaper. Then re-do the edge as said above.

If you don't want to ruin the finish on the back of your chisel ground blade, you can try stropping the burr or removing the burr with the blade raised 1 or 2 degrees off the stone, just kissing the burr. I don't liek to do this, as eventually folks get mini-bevels on the backs of their knives. To get the best performance from the blade, never mind about the finish. A properly sharpened chisel should have a flat back with the section just behind the edge being polished, ditto for chisel ground knives.

 

[fishbulb]

If you sharpen a chisel ground knife the same way you sharpen a conventional blade, eventually the edge will migrate back towards the center and fix that pesky chisel ground problem.