Do You Sharpen Your SAK?

Tracker2, you are not alone.

I have a sak Camper thats at least 20 yrs old. It's spent most of it's life to Medicine cabinet duty. It's not an easy life. My wife uses the toothpick, tweezers and especially the scissors.
It actually see's quite a bit of use by both of us. The blade has never been sharpened, still sharp.
On the other hand my sak Farmer is my edc and all I have to do from time to time is hit on the Sharmaker's white stones at the 40 degree angle and it's razor sharp.

Maybe it's time to sharpen the sak Camper!!!
 
I actually sharpened mine for the first time the other day in probably 7 or 8 years. I doesn't get too much use, well it's get's used - but not like others. They are such great knives!
 
I keep my Explorer shaving sharp. I use it 40 times more than any knife I own. I have gone through three of them in about 35 years. I use 30 degrees on my Sharp Maker. Usually a couple pulls through the Yellow edgemaker keeps it sharp.
 
Tracker2 said:
It just occurred to me as I was opening a package with my SAK that I haven't sharpened it during the entire 15+ years that I have owned it. Although I sharpen my other knives the moment they start to dull, I've never touched my Super Tinker.

Am I alone in this neglect? Also, what angle would you use on the Sharpmaker for a SAK - a 30 or 40 degree?
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I have not read the other posts yet but I'll just say from my own experiences that no my friend. You are not alone at all.

It has been very hard not to notice that the vast majority of knives in the hands of the typical end line user do not recieve any real maintenance. I did an experiement a few years ago where I made four small frame locks each equipped with a rather obtuse but adequate all titanium frame and blade. These were sharpened up to cut thicker card paper but not so thin to be able to slice news print readily.

The four I picked to get those still carry them and find them to be perfectly fine for their needs. I had read many times that plain ole knifemaker grade titanium was simply not adequate as a blade material. But when you stop to look at the condition of the vast number of edges already in the hands of the typical user what you see is that only a small percentage of them actually have what most folks around here would call an acceptable edge. All the rest of them have what I would term the 'semblance' of an edge. Once you realize this you start to also realize why the vast number of people can be perfectly happy with a bottom of the barrel low grade low carbon stainless blade or even a titanium one because all it need do is maintain the semblance of a cutting edge and most people won't notice the difference.

Doing the kind of work I do I get to see a fair number of users knives not just from forum members but from many that don't even own computers. I see a fair weekly amount of work from people that have called one of several manufacturers and are handed my contact info. and I am often times amazed that many do not have even an email contact to reach them. In that time I've come to realize that many need only have a knife that can be forced through something with a rather rounded off apex at the edge and seem to get by with it just fine. Some, in my first days of doing this have even gone so far as to complain when I (thinking I was doing them a favor) touched up an edge on what 'obviously' did not need touched up yet! Go figure.

STR
 
My father in law showed me his little SAK (forget which model) the other day. I couldn't tell by feeling which side of the blade was supposed to be sharp.

He has always been a working man, I don't know how he put up with such a dull blade. Said he'd never sharpened it, had it for 10 years.

I had to put it on my belt sander to start feeling an edge again, but then a few passes on my ceramic rod had it shaving again.

When I gave it back to him I showed him it was sharp, and warned him to remember that or he would cut the hell out of himself with it.

Andy
 
I keep my SAK just as sharp as any of my knives, if not a bit sharper. With the thin, sleek blades on SAKs, it's impossible for me to not keep them as sharp as my abilities will allow.
 
My SAKs are all at least good and sharp, but my two Soldiers go to another level. Both convexed thinly, run to 2000 grit, and stropped. Each can shave like a razor.
 
DainBramage said:
I'm guessing that SAKs use softer steel than the VG-10 of the D4... does it make sense that one is harder to sharpen than the other?
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The steel in Victorinox SAKs is definitely softer than the steel in your Delica 4 (which is softer than the same steel in a Ryusen VG-10 kitchen knife). Your Delica 4 has a higher potential for sharpness than your SAK, but you have to be extra careful when sharpening and slightly more careful when cutting. If you're using the corners of your Sharpmaker and if you're using too much pressure on the corners or flats, you could easily be chipping the edge as you're sharpening it.

The corners concentrate the downward pressure of your blade much harder than it actually feels (even the half inch wide flat area is kind of narrow for a thin, hard, high-carbide steel edge like that of a Delica 4), so if you try again without using the corners and make sure to go lighter and take longer than would be needed to sharpen a SAK, your Delica 4 can get sharper.
 
thombrogan said:
The steel in Victorinox SAKs is definitely softer than the steel in your Delica 4 (which is softer than the same steel in a Ryusen VG-10 kitchen knife). Your Delica 4 has a higher potential for sharpness than your SAK, but you have to be extra careful when sharpening and slightly more careful when cutting. If you're using the corners of your Sharpmaker and if you're using too much pressure on the corners or flats, you could easily be chipping the edge as you're sharpening it.

The corners concentrate the downward pressure of your blade much harder than it actually feels (even the half inch wide flat area is kind of narrow for a thin, hard, high-carbide steel edge like that of a Delica 4), so if you try again without using the corners and make sure to go lighter and take longer than would be needed to sharpen a SAK, your Delica 4 can get sharper.
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Thanks thombrogan. I haven't used the corners on my Delica, but when I figured out that the edges were asymmetrical (15 on one side and 20 on the other), I rubberbanded an oval diamond steel to one of the rods to even them out. Once I had it at 30 inclusive (and symmetrical), I used the brown flats and then the white flats with pretty light pressure, but under strong light and magnification I could tell that still had a very slight burr that I could never get rid of at the 30 degree setting. I have been able to get rid of the burr using the 40 degree setting, and it is much sharper than I was getting it before, but I was hoping to try it out at 30 degrees... guess I just need more practice? :o How about stropping... can/should that be done to remove a burr, or is it better to only go to the strop once you've gotten the edge as good as you can get it on the rods? Thanks in advance!!!
 
I would use the 40 degree and that SAK should take well to that sharpener. Sal demonstates the Sharpmaker with a SAK

:jerkit:
 
There isn't a problem useing the 40 degrees to remove a burr. Heck Jeff Clark uses something like 80 degrees to remove the burr. If you want to make sure your edge is still at the 30 degrees after you remove the burr just do alternating strokes at the 30 degree settings. 1 stroke right side then 1 stroke left side and so on. Btw I think the steel on Vic, SAKs get just as sharp or sharper than most steels, and yes I sharpen my SAKs. In Fact it needs a sharpening fairly often.
 
DainBramage said:
How about stropping... can/should that be done to remove a burr, or is it better to only go to the strop once you've gotten the edge as good as you can get it on the rods? Thanks in advance!!!
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Hi Dain! Glad to read your results got better after you fixed the assymetric grind.

Stropping can help remove a burr and can also straighten a burr. Doesn't matter what the actual occurrence is so long as the knife gets sharp and doesn't dull instantly. The burr itself is made up of bent steel, weakened steel, and swarf (ground off steel and abrasive - the black/grey crud on your hands when you're done). You can remove much of that burr by carefully wiping your edge clean with a paper or terrycloth towel (or any other grabby fabric, such as felt) before going from the medium hones to the fine stones and after finishing with the white stones and/or right before finishing with them as well. From there, you can either enjoy your handywork or move on to an abrasive strop.
 
John would be soooooo proud of me for quoting him. Here it goes: If it has an edge then it needs to be sharpened.
 
i sharpened my explorer today for the first time ever. now it slices and dices .
because its a vgrind its now my sharpest knife
 
I just got a new Victorinox Tinker something. It's not the regular one because this one has a mini wrench and scissors. Anyways, its factory grind looked like someone put Tom Krein in the Alps. My last Tinker was much thicker. If everyone else's SAK was featuring such a nice full flat grind, I can understand why they'd think thinning the edge would be pointless.
 
ive stopped sharpening mine, i also noticed how quickly they dull, i jut use other knives to cut.
 
SAKs are one of those knives that don't need to be hair popping sharp to work well. Perhaps it's because they are already so thin, as someone else already mentioned. I tried an experiment a while back with my edc (Super Tinker), and let my main blade get dull with use, and then proceeded to use it that way. It cut the dickens out of rope and cardboard boxes, even when dull, and I even used it to cut steak and sharp cheddar cheese. It's performance was still top notch. Granted, and really sharp SAK would cut better, but the dull blade still handled all my chores as well as or better then many sharp knives I've owned over the years. I have since kept the small blade razor sharp, and the main blade sharp, but not hair popping. I give it a utility edge, and have left it at that. Remember, the thinner the edge, the more delicate it is. A utility edge and some stropping from time to time is all my main blade needs. I think sometimes we all get carried away with how sharp a blade needs to be to work well.
LOL. That or we all really REALLY enjoy sharpening our knives, and are always looking for opportunities or REASONS to do so.
 
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