Coarse Stone and Crock sticks

9

93redgsx

Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
46
Ok I decided tonight that I couldnt deal with my sog trident being dull anymore. This thing was so dull fishing line was an issue to cut so when I was done fishing I went to sports authority and picked up some crock sticks and got a coarse bench stone from sears. Now its no sharpmaker but no place local had it and the budget was tight. I was able to get it sharper and it would kind of cut hair it pushed hard but its not scary sharp at all. How can I get it there guys. I have been trying for almost 2 hours. I dont know if the pics help at all. Any advise would be great. Thanks

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Make sure you're holding a consistent angle on each pass. If any of those scratches in the coating are from the stone, then you're dropping the blade far too low and not grinding at the edge. Get it sharp on the stone first, the crock sticks are much slower cutting.
 
Step 1 : Take the knife and cut lightly right into the coarse stone until it won't slice paper. This should only take 1-2 passes.

Step 2 : Use the coarse stone to grind the edge of the knife on one side to about 15 degrees. Thus is just less than half of half 90 so is easy to estimate by eye. Stop when the knife slices paper.

Repeat step 1.

Repeat step 2 for the other side of the bevel.

Step 3 : Alternate from side to side on the coarse stone about 10 passes per side, gradually reduce the force.

Step 4 : Move to the crock sticks and use about 5-10 passes per side alternating sides.

This will leave the knife very sharp, easily shaving. It may be sharper on one side than the other. If this is the case there are a number of things you can do to make the sharpness more even. But see where the above gets you first.

-Cliff
 
I just tried it that way and my edge is worse then when I started. Before I was trying the burr way but I cant feel the burr when using the crock sticks. Also the blade doesnt all touch the surface of the stone at once I guess the way its shaped wont allow it. Im sure these two should be able to get anything sharp enough to shave
 
I suspect you're not reprofiling the blade all the way.

Try the magic marker trick; i.e. running a marker over the edge area and then sharpening for a couple of repititions. Look to see where the marker is gone, that is the contact area.

The contact area should be along the whole edge, at the edge. If not, the reprofiling is incomplete.

Either adjust the angle or complete the reprofiling to achieve full contact.
 
I can not get the blade to fully contact the stone at any angle. I dont see why it wont but only small areas contact and you have to move the handle to get different areas to contact at the same angle. Are all knifes like this? I mite have to pick up a spyderco or buck for fishing but for now I need to get this sog decent. I tried that magic marker trick and it confirms that it all wont touch
 
That is an indication you don't have a complete reprofiling to a specific angle (bevel).

So, you'll have to bite the bullet and, using only the rough stone at one angle (say 15 degrees), sharpen until a full contact is achieved. It can take awhile, so I usually do it during a movie so I can take my time without getting antsy.

Once full contact is achieved, then go for a micro bevel at a slightly larger angle (say approx. 20 degrees) with the fine rods.

Or, if you have some sand (wet/dry metal type) paper around (the finer grit the better), you can try the mousepad trick. Put the paper on the pad, and strop with a light pressure. Sometimes this will bring an edge to life that isn't at a set bevel.
 
go with the magic marker to se where youre at, and kust keep swiping til you get down to the edge. also find out if you can get finer rods (white??) for that sharpener, could be fun, when you want extra sharp blades
 
Ok so the reason I can get full contact is because its not beveled right so I need to hold it in one position and angle and just go at it till the whole blade touchs. I think I got that and then Ill do what cliff said. Even though the blade is curved your saying the whole blade should touch all the way from the start after the serations up to the tip. Wanna make sure I have this right before I start grinding away Thanks
 
You have to rotate the blade as you move it down the stone to keep the edge perpendicular to the stone.

-Cliff
 
I think I know what your saying. Anyone have any good links with pictures or something like that. Im not sure how I will keep the same angle while rotating it. Probably make more sense when Im back and its infront of me
 
The coarse stone is mainly shaping, you don't need to be very precise. Better angle control will come with time which will reduce the number of passes you need signifiantly. Having less angle control just means you will end up with an edge which is convex and tapers from 13 to 17 degrees (in that range) vs a relatively flat angle close to 15. For use of the crock sticks it doesn't matter if the angle is 5 or 15, as long as it is signifiantly less than the angle of the crock sticks. I just suggest 15 because it is a decent starting angle and fairly robust. Odd are that unless you cut a lot of metals you would be better off with 10. But getting to that takes a lot of work unless you have a really fast cutting benchstone, like a coarse silicon carbide waterstone.

-Cliff
 
I have gotten the blade to cut hair on the arm but I have to push it hard and I just cant get it that much sharper. Does this mean I am just not getting that primary bevel to a low enough angle? This craftsman coarse stone just may not be course enough because I have done almost another hour and if the edge isnt beveled enough Im gonna need a better stone. Let me know what you think
 
Im reading too many books in school as it is. I am a noob but im trying to learn. I know my questions may be stupid but I hope to learn how to do this sometime.
 
You may be moving to the crock sticks too soon. You may need to apply more pressure on the coarse stone to remove the "shoulders" of your blades worn bevel to get to your new working bevel.

Don't be afraid to bear down on the blade when using the coarse stone. For the $6 the stone cost you, it can be easily replaced when your done if the stone surface is dished and uneven. Clean your blade and stone frequently as you progress, the grit that accumulates in front of the blade and on the stone will prevent the blade from getting as sharp as it should.

Use both hands if necessary to control the blade and the grind angle. Secure the stone to the surface your sharpening on (cabinet shelf liner that has a spongy surface that comes from the grocery store on a roll is great for this) and make sure that surface doesn't interfere with your hands while sharpening (I use a telephone book to get it up off my desk). Or hold the stone in your hand to control it while sharpening.

The AUS8A steel on your Trident should respond to this sharpening method very fast, probably less than 10 minutes, before you're able to go to the crock sticks and use Cliff's suggestions from there ...

I've had one so I now it can be done and quickly.

Hope I've helped ... :D
 
93redgsx said:
I have gotten the blade to cut hair on the arm but I have to push it hard and I just cant get it that much sharper. Does this mean I am just not getting that primary bevel to a low enough angle?
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The most likely reason is that not enough work was done using the coarse stone and the rods are only hitting partially on the edge bevel if at all. The above method I outlined will tell you this exactly. If you follow it and the knife cleanly slices newspaper from the coarse stone but doesn't improve significantly on the crocksticks then it is a burr issue but you have to get to that level first.

This craftsman coarse stone just may not be course enough because I have done almost another hour and if the edge isnt beveled enough
Click to expand...

You need to press really hard on the stones, as much as you can before it makes you too tired too fast. The cheaper stones won't cut as fast as the high quality ones, but it should not be that slow. I have used stones of that level ($2) to regrind the edge on that class and size of knife. It should only be 10-20 minutes.

-Cliff
 
Ok thanks alot for the help guys. Im gonna pick up an extra coarse stone probably anyway incase I have to do this again sometime soon on another knife. I thought I had to press easy on the coarse stone to not where it out so Im sure that did not help. Thanks again I will give this another shot tonight and let you know how it goes.
 
Hey I ended up picking up a lansky 3 stone standard kit which really helped because I could tell how much farther I had to keep grinding on the benchstone to get to that angle. I used the 17 for my edge and I have the crock sticks that I used last. I was able to cut hair from my arm but it felt like I had to push against my skin to hard to do it and it did not shave clean. Im so close and I want to get it that way. Ill be posting up some pics of what the blade looks like now.
 
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