First time Sebenza sharpening tips (the video)

So-Lo

So-Lo

Joined
Jun 12, 2006
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Just thought a video like this may help with your first Sebenza/Umnumzaan sharpening. :) (CRK pros can probably skip the video :cool:)

[YouTube]6Wco3XmAB5M[/YouTube]
 
Nice vid !!! One more point to touch on would be that the edge has a different geometry towards the tip where the blade thickens.. This has always been the toughest part to get sharp on the sharpmaker for me! Spydercos distal taper on their blades makes sharpening much easier as they maintain the same geometry from tip to choil.
 
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Put that sucker on a belt sander and the geometry is forced to be the same all the way through :D.... plus it will go from being completely blunt to hair whittling in 5 minutes. And it only cost me $30 for my garage sale 1 x 42" belt grinder... very happy :D
 
Incahiker said:
Put that sucker on a belt sander and the geometry is forced to be the same all the way through :D.... plus it will go from being completely blunt to hair whittling in 5 minutes. And it only cost me $30 for my garage sale 1 x 42" belt grinder... very happy :D
Click to expand...

What grit belt do you use?
 
For the sebenza I just use 1,000 then a felt belt loaded with the green stuff. Just a quick touch up is all I need on there. Take about 4 swipes on each. I had to regrind the edge of a busse one day (THICK) and I started on 80 grit, then doubled it till I got to 1,000 grit. Only took about 10 minutes to have that thing shaving hair, but this was a complete regrind. Same with an SMF, that had a fatter edge then the busse..

But I had a ton of practice before I would even touch a sebenza. I screwed up plenty flea market knives learning. Burnt the hell out of some tips. Gotta be careful, one small mistake will wreck a knife. But now I can do it with my eyes closed. Matter of fact it is kind of hard to mess up now because my muscle memory has everything down pretty good, it is not natural to not do it right.
 
That was interesting. I did'nt know the Sebenza was convex. I'm going to check out your other videos on you-tube. :thumbup:
 
I use bark river stropping solution on a strop I made. you can lay a 1000 git sand paper on the strop and then use the strop with solution to polish the edge. it is important when stropping do not apply a lot of pressure, just a light touch on the leather. to find the edge lay the blade straight then raise up till you feel the edge hitting the leather. when you apply the solution to the leather just a light amount is needed. I have seen people pack the strop with solution. in most cases, you don't even need the sand paper just the strop solution. the sand paper is only needed on super dull knives.
hope this helps.
 
I would not have said that sebenza blades are convex but after listening to your video it occurred to me that possibly I had that very problem the first few times I tried to sharpen my own sebbie. I tried many times to get it right on the Spyderco sharpmaker but never got it to the level that I wanted.

I then got an Edge Pro and basically re profiled the edge on both sides. That baby cuts like a laser now and with the polished edges stays sharp with only minor stropping on leather at regular intervals.

Thanks for the video :thumbup:
 
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