I have a 91mm Swiss Army Knife Hiker with a long and short blade. Suppose I want to roughen the short blade, or perhaps half of the long blade, to enable rapid cutting of rope and line like a serrated blade. Rather than risking me cutting serrations with a file, I've read elsewhere that I might use 60-grit stone or sandpaper held at about 40 degrees to yield a similar cutting effect. Has anyone tried this with any success?
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Create rough edge on SAK Hiker
- Thread starter Redmon
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I don't think you have to go to the extreme to get that effect. Just sharpen the blade with a normal coarse stone and it'll leave a plenty toothy edge for rope or other fibrous material. 60 grit @45 degrees is just going to take chunks out of the apex.
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Since you're sharpening a SAK, just get the cheapest dual sided Crystolon (120/320) or India (150/400) and you're set.
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Victorinox's stainless responds very well to a decent diamond hone as well. A 325 (Coarse) or 600 (Fine) DMT are among my favorites for putting a biting edge on Victorinox blades of mine. Keep the touch very, very light - don't need much pressure to cut this steel with diamond. For the rated grit, a diamond hone will cut these steels more deeply and leave a much more toothy finish as compared to other stone types in similar grit ratings.
Personally, I wouldn't use anything coarser than maybe 220 grit on a thinly ground, pocketknife-sized blade in relatively soft stainless like this. It'll leave the edge ragged and heavily burred, and will remove too much steel for the sake of the blade's longevity.
Personally, I wouldn't use anything coarser than maybe 220 grit on a thinly ground, pocketknife-sized blade in relatively soft stainless like this. It'll leave the edge ragged and heavily burred, and will remove too much steel for the sake of the blade's longevity.
Last edited:
Maximumbob54
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I'm not sure how much rope you're going to cut with a SAK no matter the edge you put on it. They make them easy to sharpen which unfortunately means they tend to go dull pretty quick if you cut anything high wear. Just make sure if you use any course stones not to eat too much steel off. You might want to look into a good pocket sharpener (NOT ONE OF THOSE AWFUL PULL THROUGH) like from Work Sharp or Fallkniven.
BJE
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Too large of “teeth” on a steel that soft will be more likely to fold and crumble than on a proper saw or serrated edge. I would be willing to bet that there is a point of diminishing returns on a blade like this and you might just have to experiment with different grit finishes to find it.