D2 and 440C Sharpening...

[4 Ranges]

Is it just me, or are these steels a pain in the ass to sharpen???

I have a cuda maxx that I just can't get to "hair-poppin" sharp.

I have a ontario hell's belle that has a decent edge but isn't "hair-poppin" sharp either.

I have a tri-stone system, and my other knives (afck 806d2, crkt kff pro, cs trailmaster), and I can get them hair-poppin sharp on the tri-stone. Heck, I can get them that way even with the firestone rotary sharpener that I have.

So what's the trick? Do I have to plunk down some cash for a sharpmaker with diamond sticks? Or is it a technique I'm missing?

HEELP!!!

 

[satin]

I just use a small flat diamond hone, an EZE-Lap I got at Wal-Mart for $5. Works great, especially on the D2 fighter I have.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

There are differences in how steels respond to sharpening, but in general issues like edge angle and thickness, blade length and curvature and steel hardness are much more critical to ease of sharpening.

If these blades are fairly new, you may be jsut seeing the effects of a poor initial edge. Many factory blades comes with sloppy edge bevels, uneven angles, hollows, burrs, burnt steel and the like. Unless this is all cleaned away, sharpening will continue to give less than perfect results.

Both of those steels are among the more difficult to machine, especially D2, but this usually isn't a problem unless you are doing rough shaping such as altering the edge profile significantly, or restoring a heavily damaged or worn edge.

The most simple way to make sharpening more efficient in general for v-bevels is to thin the primary edge angle. Apply the final edge with a more obtuse secondary bevel which will apply very fast. The initial shaping can be very rough and is easily done by hand.

Periodically you will want to reapply the primary edge bevel, but this is very infrequent.

-Cliff

 

[John Andrews]

Yep, sometimes it's the bevel that isn't user friendly for sharpening. I had a construction company owner hand me a fixed blade knife his ex-son-in-law had given him. His complaint was that the stainless blade was impossible to sharpen, and he thought it was just junk. It looked like a kit job,unsigned, but given to him as a custom knife. I took it home and completely re-ground the bevels, sharpened it, and returned it to him. The knife took a really good edge, was definitely not a junk steel. Ol' PB was happy as a hog in the corn, and ordered two knives from me and ended up being a real good pal of mine. I should add I take along an Edge Pro and put field edges on knives for folks at work, free of charge. This has been healthy for business, too. It takes just a minute or so with no real effort, and you have a happy knife owner.