E2K and Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker - best angle ?

K

Klaus

Joined
Dec 3, 2001
Messages
219
Hi guys & Buckaroos,

anyone having experience with this combo ?

Just got my new 204 sharpmaker and thinking about how to best sharpen the Buck BG42 blades with E2K (guess so - the blades are new) on my 110 and 560 - any hints ? Maybe best to use the 30° angles as the E2K is supposed to be around 30° too ? Any advice highly appreciated. (Sharpening newbie)

On a sidenote - my two BG42 blades (which are crazy sharp - Thanks Joe) have a different stamping - just for interest - does someone know how Buck handles these "custom" blades ? The 110 one is stamped Buck Custom USA in three lines where for Buck they use a nice old font - and two descending lines after Buck looking like two backslashes (like this \\). The opposite site is stamped Designer´s choice. The 560 carries the same Buck Custom USA - same old font for Buck - no slashes or anything behind it - no Designers choice on the other side too - if someone knows anything about and could post some information on these markings I´ll appreciate.

Am I right that Paul Bos mentioned once that the RC on the BG-42 blades is 60 +2-0 - is this only for the Buck Strider blades or for all the BG42 blades Buck is using - regarding the Heat Treat - Paul Bos "overseas" and I guess also defines the heat-treating at Buck AFAIK - regarding the BG42 blades there were mixed messages/reports regarding "overseeing" and doing it himself (which I guess would mean in his own equipment/ovens which is close to Bucks facility anyway) - does someone know the details on the Buck 110/560 BG42 blades ?

And to end this question stampede - was there an answer (I might have missed) to the question of how hard the Titanium scales on the newer crystaline 560 are ?

TIA

Klaus
 
Klaus,
I have used Lansky type sharpening devices and if yours is anything like them, the same advice applies. The best way to go is to color the edge of your blade with black felt pen. Then, put set the angle to where it looks like it is matching the factory edge. Make a few passes and take a look. If the felt pen ink has been evenly removed, that is the angle you want to use. If you see a bevel, change the setting until you find one that removes all of the ink. On the sharpeners that i have used, those settings are really only a guide. If you change the size of the knife blade, you change the geometry and therefor the angle achieved.
I hope this helps,
 
Did you ever get an answer to your heat treating questions on the BG-42?

Paul worked with us at the very beginning to establish the proper procedures or recipe to get the 60-62rc we wanted from the BG-42. Paul had been heat treating this steel for the Strider boys for quite some time. It was on Paul's recommendation we began using BG-42 in the first place.

Paul's ovens can not produce the numbers we need so Paul oversees our specifications. Once the process is established we then only go to Paul when there is a variation in result. We are very good at following procedures to the letter.

Heat treat has been a focus of ours since the beginning. After all, the knife is only as good as the blade and the blade is a mix of workmanship, material and heat treat.

Hope this answered your BG-42 questions.
 
Klaus,

You can get your knives really, really sharp with your 204. I pretty much follow the directions with one small change. Before I start sharpening, I check the angles of both stones and adjust the base to get the same angles on each. I'm just somewhat fanatical about things like that.

The only problem I've had is removing the points from every clip point knife I've ever sharpened on the 204. Be careful.

BTW, if anyone has the answer to the point removal problem, please help? I'm afraid to use my 110's and 112's cause I can't sharpen them without destroying the points.

Mike
 
Dear Mr. Buck,

thank you for answering my BG-42 question - I really appreciate your and Mr. Joe Housers appearance on this forum as much as the great products your fine company does produce.

@Old Coastie

I did a search on the Sharpmaker on BF and the spoiled points seem to be the only problem this product has - the solution seems to be to stop sharpening just befor the point slides off the stone on every stroke - this way you prevent the point from getting round. Just use the search-function on Sharpmeker / 204 or something like that as the original posters did explain it much better than I ever could - sharpening newbie so to say - luckily my crazy sharp Buck BG42 blades will stay sharp at least until I learned to use that 204 sharpmaker I guess.

Thx for all help

Klaus
 
Umpf - and yes - still not too shure about that original question on the angle to use on the shapmaker 204 and the E2K blades.

The sharpmaker is one of those rod-style gizmos where you can set the rods to either 30 or 40 ° total angle - normally the sharpmeker documantation states to use the 40° angles for pretty much all purposes - but as the E2K as far as I know is around 30° I thought that mmaybe for those blades the 30° setting might be more appropiate.

While regarding the E2K I´m not shure if the 30° angle is true for the BG42 blades as well but I think so. I understand Joe´s recommendation on using the marker to see how things go but even better I would like someone using the BG42 / E2K / Sharpmaker combo and commenting on his experiences.

Thanks

Klaus
 
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