Has anybody tried using a Lansky clamp on a ZT 0301 or 0302?

S

stanton2

Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
29
While deliberating over whether to buy this fantastic knife, it occurred to me that the clamp from my Lansky sharpening kit may not find enought flat surface on the 0300 blade to grab securely. (By flat surface, I mean the small part on each side of the blade that is not ground at an angle, i.e., the area where "ZT" is printed. On this particular knife, the flat area is quite small.) If I were to put the clamp where there is a flat "clampable" surface, it looks like the sharpening guide would be too far from the center of the blade.

Does anybody have any experience using a clamp-style sharpening guide on one of the 0300 series knives?
 
Have you tried a small thick piece of leather (or two) wrapped around the back of the blade? I've used pieces of leather used to wrap around flints in a flintlock successfully. I use them on all my blades to prevent accidental clamp marks and scratches. It may allow you to take a bigger bite with the clamp to hold it. I've heard cardboard strips work well also.
 
Hey this is my first post hope it works. I just bought a ZT 0200 and 0302 and have put a 20 degree hair shaving edge on both of them with my trusty diamond lansky set. With all my knives I have always taken a small piece of paper towel and wrapped it around the back of the blade to prevent marring. I placed the tip of the clamp near the thumb stud on the widest flat part and clamped it real tight. I have found that I really don't need to have the clamp centered if the blade isn't too long to reach the tip with the stone.

My fear was doing the recurve portion of the blade but it worked perfect. I took a black sharpie and coated the edge and just worked the stone back and forth from back to front over and over until the black had been removed all the way to the very edge of the edge. Don't make the mistake of working on one part of the blade at a time. You will notice that the edge of the black is reached faster at the recurve portion than the front half of the blade. You must still continue working from back to front on each pass or you will risk changing the shape of the blade, don't give in to this temptation and you will be rewarded with a perfect even edge. My friend thinks it looks factory. I think the fact that the Lansky stones are a little narrower helps with the recurve portion because mine will shave from end to end.

I have to say that I love both of these knives. I am a truck driver and took them to work with me after I put my edge on them. I tested them by slicing card board over and over until the blades were too hot to touch. I mean I really cut alot of card board. When I was done they wouldn't shave but didn't feel real dull either. All it took was a few kisses from the fine stone and they were shaving again. I am blown away buy the quality of steels today ( I haven't bought a knife in at least 15 years).

Sorry if I wrote too much, I have never talked on the internet and don't know what's good manners. By the way I have an all black ZT 0300 being delivered on Monday from LA Police gear. They don't show them on thier web site yet but if you call and talk to a live person you can get one. Five left after I orderd mine:)
 
Hello, netdude65. I thought about using cardboard strips on each side of the blade to get a better grip when there's only a little flat surface to clamp onto. I was afraid, though, that the cardboard may compress a little more on one side of the blade than the other, and then the blade would lean ever so slightly to one side or the other. Then I may end up with edge angles of, say, 17 and 23 degrees instead of 20 degrees on each side. Have you heard of this happening or experienced it yourself?

Hi, trucker1964. Welcome to BladeForums. I'm fairly new here, myself. I've found it's a great place to learn about knives and related stuff. I wanted to ask you about what you said.

Even when I place my Lansky guide clamp in the middle of a blade, I get more grind (freshly exposed steel) at the tip of the blade than anywhere else along the blade---noticeably more exposed steel than the original factory grind. (This is especially obvious on black blades.) I would think that this would only get worse if I placed the clamp near the thumb stud end of the knife like you said you do. Have you noticed this happening with your 0200 or 0302?

By the way, although I really like knives, I've never been one to buy $100+ knives. But I'm seriously thinking about ordering one of the new all-black 0300 from ZT. (A $200+ knife, no less!) I don't know if it'll turn out to be too big and heavy to carry on a regular basis, but I really like the way it looks and feels. I finally got to hold a 0302 last week and was very impressed.
 
Hi Stanton2, nice to meet you. First I have to say that I am certainly no blade sharpening expert so you have to take what I say with a grain of salt. I just know what works for me. I have been using my Lansky for about 10 years now and know how to get the most I can out of it.

You are correct in your fear of ending up with the blade canted in the clamp, that's why I use paper towel which is very thin. I learned over time that the blade could be canted when in the clamp. Even though it is canted you will still be able to sharpen it but you will find that when you go to re-sharpen it unless you repeat that same angle of cant in the blade you will have to take alot of metal off one side or the other. You can tell if your blade is in the clamp straight, or at least this works for me. Once you have your blade tightly clamped in the clamp hold the knife by the handle and place the feet of the clamp (the parts with the degree holes in them) on the table. They should both be sitting flat on the table. If one leg or the other lifts from the table it is canted. It is a good idea to check your clamp empty now that I think about it. Take both clamp screws out of the clamp and hold both faces of the empty clamp together and place it on the table. Both feet of the clamp should lay flat on the table. I tell you to go all this trouble because if you duplicate everything perfectly when you clamp your blade resharpening will be quick and easy.

As to removing more metal on the tip, I used to experience this to some degree myself. Like I said I am no expert but I don't think it was due to not having the clamp centered. I actually center the clamp when I can but with these two knives it is not possible without canting the blade. What I used to do was spend more time in one spot than another. I have sharpened blades so long with my lansky that I had to work in sections and move the clamp down the length of the blade as one section was finished. I had to reach out from the clamp in both directions on blades this long. For me the secret of of making my edge the same width from end to end is to always work the blade or blade section as a whole from end to end until the entire blade or section had the angle I wanted. Out of the box both these knives angles seemed to vary from front to back, at least according to my lansky. I had to remove more metal from the front half of the blade to get a uniform angle from end to end. Thats why I said avoid the temptation to work on one spot more than another. Treat the blade as a whole and even though one section is "done" you must continue to grind it until the whole is "done". This gives me a very even sweet edge. If you do it right you will only have to do it once, after that you will resharpen it easily usually with the fine stone only. I always use a sharpie when I sharpen a blade. If I am re-sharpening my stone should start removing the sharpie at the very edge right away on both sides of the blade or I know my blade is canted.

I think on some of my blades when I am done the edge looks wider at the tip but I think it is due to me sharpening the edge farther up the tip than the manufacturer. I never notice this on my knives with tanto tips as all edges are straight but if the tip is curved and you sharpen it way up it gets a little wider. I like the way it looks actually and on both my ZT's I can take the very extreme tip of the blade a nip individual hairs from my arm.

Hope I make sense. Remember to take what I say with a grain of salt as I am no expert but this works for me.
 
Thanks for the input. I use a Sharpie when sharpening a blade for the first time, so I can see what Lansky angle to use to get a close match with the blade's factory edge. Now that you mentioned it, I may start using a Sharpie marker every time I sharpen a blade so I can clearly see what part of the blade has been worked and what hasn't. That may help me be more consistent along the whole length of the blade.

One more thing, trucker1964 (or anybody else who has a ZT 0300 series knife)... What angle are you using with your Lansky rod guide when you sharpen your ZT 0302? I assume whatever angle you use is as close as you could get to the original factory edge. Is that correct?
 
Well I called ZT to ask them what angle to use before I touched it, as you said this is a high dollar knife:) they told me they ship with a 18-23 degree angle so they said I should choose 20 degrees. I think Lanskys 20 degree is steeper than others 20 degree but it seems to be a good angle very sharp! seems to hold up well at work. As I said the factory angle seemed to vary at different parts of the blade but I think it matched on both sides of the blade which explains how sharp the knife came.

Once I have put my edge on a blade I am very careful to make sure when I re-sharpen that the blade is perfectly straight in the clamp and the rods are straight and level with the surface of the stones. when the rod is attached to the stone you should be able to lay the stone on a flat table and the rod should lay flat against the table as well. This is just like marksmanship, you must do everything exactly the same every time to have perfect accuracy. As an example to test my angle I re-installed my 302 in the clamp and marked the blade last night. It only took 2 swipes with the fine stone to remove all the sharpie from the whole length of the blade on both sides. So I know I am doing everything perfect! This is why I always use a sharpie, that way I know right away if there is a problem. By the way I have a lot of practice because I carry my lansky with me and everyone at work begs me to sharpen their knives.

I am six foot three and I find these knives fit me perfect. I don't care if they take up a little more room in my pocket I cant bare to be with out them. I have two of each now so that I don't feel bad using them at work. They are that nice. The 0200 is really nice and well worth the money. I say get that knife at least, you won't be sorry!!!
 
Hey Stanton2, I just decided to put an edge on my new ZT 300 it has an all black blade with black g-10 scales. It is so sweet!!! I decided to use 25 degree setting this time and it pretty much matched the factory grind perfect. I guess lanskys 25 degree matches ZT's 18-23 degree. I placed the clamp right up against the thumb stud and my edge came out perfectly even and no extra grind off the tip. I compared it to my ZT 301 which still has the factory edge and they looked pretty much identical but the new edge is much smoother and much sharper. The factory edge looks like they stopped at my medium stone. I took my edge all the way to the blue sapphire stone. Wow I'm long winded, sorry. Basically if you want to match the factory edge use the 25 degree setting on the Lansky.
 
trucker1964, thanks for sharing the info, always good to know.

And by the way, welcome to the Kershaw forum!
 
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