First "High Quality" Knife purchase and Sharpening advice...

S

systemamfry

Joined
Jul 15, 2004
Messages
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Hi all, I have taken the plunge and bought my first high quality folder. I ordered a Benchmade Mini Ritter Grip today and am seeking opinions on sharpening advice. The only experience I have with sharpening knives is with an Accusharp and sub $20 knives with mixed results. What approach would you all recommend for keeping an edge on my new blade? Ship it back to Benchmade now and again, buy a sharp maker? I would hate to foul up the edge on this knife. Any input is appreciated.
 
As long as you start right away you can keep it sharp with a Sharpmaker. If you wait a couple years it might get so dull that you'd never have the patience to restore the edge using a ceramic sharpener like a Sharpmaker.
 
Jeff is right, get the sharpmaker, it's a great investment as I'm sure you'll be getting other knives in the future. :) It might be worth your time to read up on steeling and stropping, both low cost ways to keep a sharp edge sharp longer.
 
Hi, I also have a RitterGrip (great knife!) and, since the edge angle is 30 degrees you can keep it sharp with the rods set to the "30 degree back bevel" position on the Sharpmaker.
 
If you like, go with stones. At least they are much cheaper and you can take that edge angle you personally prefer. Your knife gets something like a human touch which helps you to cut easier.

But the main reason to go on stones is you can take the angles you personally prefer on particular knifes. And stones are much faster than the SM rods. On the SM you get a two step system, with good stones you can get a four step system for much finer edges for less the costs.

I sold my SM and settled back to stones. Now i got a five step sharpening way, which is at least finer than the white rods and took 60% of the SM price.

I can sharpen everything from serrations to razor blades (the SM can´t really sharpen razors) and all i do is the very same as on the SM. I just turned the whole thing 90° to the side.
 
congrats on your new knife, nice one too. about the sharpening, that depends. if you're somewhat of a klutz, you might get a Sharpmaker or similar 'contraption', but don't forget the fun of freehand-sharpening on stones. specialized sharpening-devices are nice and handy, but it may take awhile to sharpen a rather dull high-grade steel on it. with freehand on the other hand, you can get a perfect razor-sharp edge on cpms30v steel within 5 minutes on a $5 benchstone from the hardware store. you might want to take up a seminar in freehand-sharpening if you can't do it yet, it's real fun and satisfying to do.

dennis
 
Like anything else, that depends on what's average for you and what your sharpness standards are. As long as you aren't cutting anything especially hard or abrasive on a regular basis, you'll probably only want to touch it up every month or so. If you're a perfectionist like many here, maybe every two weeks.
 
Perhaps I am in the minority, but I can't WAIT for a knife to get dull. I love to sharpen knives.

The melodic swish-swoosh-swish-shoosh of steel reluctantly surrenduring tiny bits of itself, making a sacrifice to grant me the ultimate gratification of a scary sharp blade.

I use a variety of tools to sharpen blades. The heart of my system has always been diamond bench stones from DMT. Once I have taken a blade as far as I can with the extra fine (1200 mesh), I move to 3M wet/dry paper in 15, 5 and .05 Micron. I think the .5 micron works out to about 8000 grit. The 15 and 5 micron paper is adhered to a block of maple and used just like a whet stone. The .5 micron is used with a pulled stropping action.

By this time, I have a mirror polish on the blade edge with little or no burr. The final step is a few swipes on a leather strop with olive oil and green compound. don't ask me the grit equivilent here. I'd only be lying if I said it was 40,000 grit.

The pure, warm sense of satisfaction is complete when I drop 3 x 5 index card on the edge of the blade and it virtually melts in half from the sweet, caressing embrace of the "scary sharp blade".
 
if you've never freehand sharpened before, i recommend the Sharpmaker. it will teach you pretty quick about edge angles, and uniformity. once you're confident and proficient with it, you're always free to move on to freehand, and come back when you need it.

having said that, i can sharpen freehand just fine, (i learned the memory and control from using a Sharpmaker), but i prefer to use the Sharpmaker, because it works so well. i generally only need to freehand when i'm reprofiling a knife, or reinstating an edge on a very dull one. i use a $1.99 stone that i bought from Harbor Freight. after i take the edge in on the rough stone, i move over to my Sharpmaker.

oh, and btw, with a Sharpmaker and strop, you can sharpen a razor beautifully everytime. for knives, you don't need a strop; you can put a shaving edge on with just the SM, but a strop will really take it to the next level. good luck!

abe
 
jemelby said:
The pure, warm sense of satisfaction is complete when I drop 3 x 5 index card on the edge of the blade and it virtually melts in half from the sweet, caressing embrace of the "scary sharp blade".
Click to expand...
alright, alright. show me.


abe
 
seminar? Dennis75 said "seminar"? I guess I've never looked around for a seminar in how to sharpen freehand - probably because I never suspected they existed, at least where I live (one of those northeast blue states :barf: ). Where would anyone suggest I look to find one?
 
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