Having a Hard Time Sharpening Rough Riders!!!

[LaughingBones]

I've got a Rough Rider Tuxedo Whittler and a Regular RR Whittler and I cannot for the life of me sharpen these knives. The edges are atleast 60 degrees or more inclusive and all I have is a Sharpmaker and a Smiths diamond sharpener (one side course and the other fine). I've been been working on these edges for 5 hours and I'm about to throw them out in the woods. Love the walk and talk and the fit and finish, but jeez. What gives? I'm trying to sharpen them to 40 degrees inclusive. Has anyone else had any similar issues. I like the SM, but for reprofiling with the fine/course stones it is almost impossible. I broke out the smiths sharpener because the course diamond side is very course. I screwed up and scraped up the blades pretty bad trying to sharpen. Anyone have any recomendations? Maybe something else I can buy for cheap that would speed this up a little?

Hope you all are having a good Saturday.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I've got a Rough Rider Tuxedo Whittler and a Regular RR Whittler and I cannot for the life of me sharpen these knives. The edges are atleast 60 degrees or more inclusive and all I have is a Sharpmaker and a Smiths diamond sharpener (one side course and the other fine). I've been been working on these edges for 5 hours and I'm about to throw them out in the woods. Love the walk and talk and the fit and finish, but jeez. What gives? I'm trying to sharpen them to 40 degrees inclusive. Has anyone else had any similar issues. I like the SM, but for reprofiling with the fine/course stones it is almost impossible. I broke out the smiths sharpener because the course diamond side is very course. I screwed up and scraped up the blades pretty bad trying to sharpen. Anyone have any recomendations? Maybe something else I can buy for cheap that would speed this up a little?

Hope you all are having a good Saturday.

Use the 'Fine' side of your Smith's diamond sharpener. As you've noticed, a Coarse diamond is very aggressive, and it's somewhat overkill on that steel; very rough on the finish as well. A Fine diamond hone is often what I've used for re-bevelling steels like these (simple stainless like 440A/8Cr variety, and others). If the grind is as thick as you mention, it'll still take some time. Just relax, and don't rush it. The Fine diamond will handle re-setting the bevels, and finishing up on your SM should be much easier after that.


David

 

[LaughingBones]

Awesome thanks for the tips! i will try that now.

 

[Spey]

Too much pressure, when using diamond stones, can dislodge the diamonds from the backing plàtes they are attached to. It is easy to fall into the trap of using excessive pressure when the job seems to be taking too long (been there, done that).

"Diamonds are forever" is not cross-applicable to our hobby, Diamond stones don't last forever, and can be trashed quickly like any misuse of a tool.

Sharpie the edge & a loop-inspection (or simple magnifying lens) and you should be able to see a distinct grit pattern on the edge that should be directly relative to the grit of the stone. To see how effective (condition of) the stone is cutting, change direction of the pattern and see how many strokes it takes to over-right the previous stoke pattern.

Regards,

 

[LaughingBones]

Spey and OWE,
Thanks for the encouragement. I took a breather and went back at it. I finally got the edges I was looking for. The main clip blade on the regular whittler is the one I'm still having issues with, but got it pretty sharp. It seems the grinds of these RR are pretty infrequent. The clip blade I speak of was about 30 degrees inclusive toward the tip and the closer you get to the tang the wider the bevel gets. I hope I'm explaining this right. So I was a able to get the knife very sharp from the tip to about the middle of the blade and then it starts getting dull towards the back and I cannot think of any way to resolve this. RR's are definitely descent knives for the price, but I've only gotten one of out four that the grind wasn't uneneven and that was a butter bean.

 

[Squashfan]

Spey and OWE,
Thanks for the encouragement. I took a breather and went back at it. I finally got the edges I was looking for. The main clip blade on the regular whittler is the one I'm still having issues with, but got it pretty sharp. It seems the grinds of these RR are pretty infrequent. The clip blade I speak of was about 30 degrees inclusive toward the tip and the closer you get to the tang the wider the bevel gets. I hope I'm explaining this right. So I was a able to get the knife very sharp from the tip to about the middle of the blade and then it starts getting dull towards the back and I cannot think of any way to resolve this. RR's are definitely descent knives for the price, but I've only gotten one of out four that the grind wasn't uneneven and that was a butter bean.

I have a whittler and I can say that factory grinds left a lot to be desired. Don't think you were the only one to struggle with bad grinds.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Spey and OWE,
Thanks for the encouragement. I took a breather and went back at it. I finally got the edges I was looking for. The main clip blade on the regular whittler is the one I'm still having issues with, but got it pretty sharp. It seems the grinds of these RR are pretty infrequent. The clip blade I speak of was about 30 degrees inclusive toward the tip and the closer you get to the tang the wider the bevel gets. I hope I'm explaining this right. So I was a able to get the knife very sharp from the tip to about the middle of the blade and then it starts getting dull towards the back and I cannot think of any way to resolve this. RR's are definitely descent knives for the price, but I've only gotten one of out four that the grind wasn't uneneven and that was a butter bean.

By 'the wider the bevel gets', I'm assuming you mean the edge angle seems to be getting thicker, i.e. more obtuse? I'm inferring this, based on your description that the edge in that portion isn't yet fully sharp.

No worries, these things happen. If the edge near the rear (tang) of the blade is more obtuse, my usual plan is to just keep thinning it until apexed. Place the tip/pad of your index finger over the portion of the blade that needs work, near the edge, and focus a little more pressure there as you grind. That helps to ensure the bevels there are making full & flush contact in the portion that needs it. To make sure you're making contact in the necessary portion, it may be a good idea to darken the bevels there with a Sharpie, to monitor that the ink is coming off in the right place.


David