Finishing Touches On RC3 Sharpening?

De4thStr1ke

De4thStr1ke

Joined
Oct 20, 2008
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I recently got my hands on a Spyderco Sharpmaker, and I've been doing some touch up work on a few knives that have been neglected lately. It has restored a razor edge to just about all of them, except the RC3 (and a Benchmade come to think of it). I can get it to where it will shave some hair and slice paper, but it doesn't have that "scary sharp" feeling it had when I first got it. I don't really know how to explain it, but it's that type of feeling where the blade seems like it will cut you just looking at it, and it practically melts paper when you test the edge. The Sharpmaker did that to my Izula without a bit of trouble, but doesn't seem to want to do the same to the RC3. I've used both of the included rods, and on both the flat and angled sides. Like I said, it's plenty sharp, but not like it was when I first got it. I'm perplexed as to why I'm having trouble with this particular knife. I've used the marker method to make sure I'm hitting the bevel properly, and it appears to me that I am.

So my question is this, what do you guys use to put the finishing touches on your RAT? Strop, ceramic rods, or something else?

Thanks guys! :)
 
Did you complete the 4 steps?
 
rycen said:
Did you complete the 4 steps?
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If your referring to the 30 degree angle steps, then no, I hadn't done that yet. Since the magic marker lines got removed I assumed that it was already set at the proper angle, and I didn't need to re-profile the edge. I was probably wrong, huh?
 
You RAT should be closest to the 40 degree setting.The 4 steps are brown conners,brown flats,white conners,white flats.
 
rycen said:
You RAT should be closest to the 40 degree setting.The 4 steps are brown conners,brown flats,white conners,white flats.
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Oh, I misunderstood you. Yeah, I did that, at first with the recommended 40 strokes each. When that didn't get me the angle I wanted I tried it again, 60 strokes each this time. As I type this I'm starting to wonder if I need to clean off the stones. I've done about 7 knives, a few of them twice, since I got it and haven't done anything more than wipe them off with a rag. Could that be the issue? Sorry to ask so many questions, but I don't know that much about the Sharpmaker yet.....
 
Well cleaning the stones cant hurt.How sharp was it before?
 
rycen said:
Well cleaning the stones cant hurt.How sharp was it before?
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When I first got it, it was like a razor. Then I let my father borrow it, and it became dull as a butter knife. I got it back to almost razor edge again, took it camping, someone else borrowed it, and now I'm trying to get it back to where it needs to be. Like I said, it's still really sharp, but not razor sharp yet. Of course, I could be obsessing over nothing, I have been known to do that before.... :p

EDIT: Well, I was right, it was nothing. I asked a coworker to see if they thought it was sharp, and it shaved skin off their thumb when they tested it. So it was all in my head. He did figure out why it didn't feel sharp to me though. Apparently I've developed a rather tough callus on my thump. He poked it with my RC3, held a lighter over it, and poked it with his box cutter, and I felt nothing. Don't know how it got that tough, but that explains why I was thinking it wasn't sharp.

Thanks for the help anyway! I'll probably lock this thread, now that it's rather pointless.....
 
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Try stopping after the brown flats.If you dont like that edge stop after the white conners.Your edge is probly lacking a little bite when you start to cut?
 
no matter if I use the Diamond stones,sharp maker,Gatco,I always finish it with a piece of leather and it will be wicked Sharp !
 
So my question is this, what do you guys use to put the finishing touches on your RAT? Strop, ceramic rods, or something else?
Click to expand...

Did you try going from a firm to VERY light touch on the Sharpmaker? I had the same problem with my Becker Necker and the Sharpmaker, I did not get that razor edge until I started going very very lightly on the ceramic rods, just letting the weight of the blade do the work instead of pressing down on the blade firmly against the stones. This requires more strokes per side, its more work overall, but keep at it, checking your blade periodically until you get desired effect. It worked for me, got my Necker blade razor sharp. Good luck!
 
rycen said:
Try stopping after the brown flats.If you dont like that edge stop after the white conners.Your edge is probly lacking a little bite when you start to cut?
Click to expand...

texastonydobbs said:
no matter if I use the Diamond stones,sharp maker,Gatco,I always finish it with a piece of leather and it will be wicked Sharp !
Click to expand...


Yeah, I think I need to start stropping my knives. I've hear a lot of people say they really like the edge that a strop produces, hones a razor edge.

onado2000 said:
Did you try going from a firm to VERY light touch on the Sharpmaker? I had the same problem with my Becker Necker and the Sharpmaker, I did not get that razor edge until I started going very very lightly on the ceramic rods, just letting the weight of the blade do the work instead of pressing down on the blade firmly against the stones. This requires more strokes per side, its more work overall, but keep at it, checking your blade periodically until you get desired effect. It worked for me, got my Necker blade razor sharp. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Hmm, I hadn't really thought of trying that. I'll give it a shot. Thanks for all the help guys! :thumbup:
 
I also use a Spyderco Sharpmaker and have been for years and I just started to use a strop as my last step. Man, you can really get a sharp edge with a leather strop and some compound!!

I really don't know if it makes a difference since most likely with a hard use knife such as a RAT the stropped edge quickly goes away but I guess it's just piece of mind knowing you got your RAT as sharp as you possibly could
 
I'm thinking that if it goes away feeling sharp then returns after some light normal use blunt as... it just might be a wire edge/burr
I would really recomend using a strop. Either leather with a polishing compound or even toothpaste on some of that card board on the back of notepads ( if you want to trial the concept with minimum outlay). What can feel like a very fine edge is often an aligned burr ( or sometimes refered to as a wire edge) the first thing you cut with any force will roll that edge over and it appears blunt. Strop that little Bu@@er back and forth till your blue in the face. It may not feel as scarey sharp but it will keep cutting and cutting.
You can use progressivly lighter stroke on the 204 but that isn't something I would recommend if you not intmately familar with the 204.

A wire edge is not a job for the Diamond rod covers but more for the ultra fine rods if you must throw money at it.

I have sometimes counted 100 strokes EITHER side on each of the FOUR faces of the standed 204, for knives I wanted just right. And then cleaned the rods in the middle of the count so it was a super clean abrasive surface.
The only thing I have seen stuff up the 204's performance is dirty stones.

One last thing have a think about what your gunna be cutting. A super smooth edge is great for carving but won't cut fibrous materials as readily.
On broadheads ( hunting arrows) it is comon in this country to polish them super sharp then give one stroke one side on a coarse stone to make the edge almost mini-serrated. They then rip their way through) So go through the four sides of the stones then ONE heavy stroke ONE side of the corner of a Brown/Grey stone then strop.
In "Bushcraft" Korchanaski speaks of stropping soem knives 200 times.
Carl
 
warrigal said:
I'm thinking that if it goes away feeling sharp then returns after some light normal use blunt as... it just might be a wire edge/burr
I would really recomend using a strop. Either leather with a polishing compound or even toothpaste on some of that card board on the back of notepads ( if you want to trial the concept with minimum outlay). What can feel like a very fine edge is often an aligned burr ( or sometimes refered to as a wire edge) the first thing you cut with any force will roll that edge over and it appears blunt. Strop that little Bu@@er back and forth till your blue in the face. It may not feel as scarey sharp but it will keep cutting and cutting.
You can use progressivly lighter stroke on the 204 but that isn't something I would recommend if you not intmately familar with the 204.

A wire edge is not a job for the Diamond rod covers but more for the ultra fine rods if you must throw money at it.

I have sometimes counted 100 strokes EITHER side on each of the FOUR faces of the standed 204, for knives I wanted just right. And then cleaned the rods in the middle of the count so it was a super clean abrasive surface.
The only thing I have seen stuff up the 204's performance is dirty stones.

One last thing have a think about what your gunna be cutting. A super smooth edge is great for carving but won't cut fibrous materials as readily.
On broadheads ( hunting arrows) it is comon in this country to polish them super sharp then give one stroke one side on a coarse stone to make the edge almost mini-serrated. They then rip their way through) So go through the four sides of the stones then ONE heavy stroke ONE side of the corner of a Brown/Grey stone then strop.
In "Bushcraft" Korchanaski speaks of stropping soem knives 200 times.
Carl
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Yeah, I think it's the burr that's making me think its sharp. This morning before work I tried using the Sharpmaker again, and removed the burr, but then it ended up feeling more dull than before. :confused: I must have used both stones at least 100 strokes on each side, and it still feels dull.... I'm really getting confused now, since I took the Izula and did the same thing, and that little bugger is scary sharp and holds that edge for a good while.

I've got a friend who used to be a jeweler, and I think I'm going to look at the edge with his loop, just to see if theres something on the edge I'm missing. I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but when I let my dad borrow it everything got AFU. This has happened before with other knives, I don't know what he does with them, but they always come back damaged, dull, or a bit of both. So there might be some small dents in the blade that I'm not seeing that may need to be worked out before I can get a good edge out of it again. But I'll try stropping it for sure. Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it! :thumbup:
 
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