Help for a Newbie

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Peruna1998

Joined
Sep 8, 2009
Messages
1,124
Okay, I have been lurking for a bit. Reading through these threads convinced me to supplement my collection with a few traditional knives. Now, I have some maintenance questions. I purchased a Queen City Copperhead with 1095 blades from a retailer. I plan on forcing a patina and think I have a handle on that. My question is on sharpening. I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker, but no strop. Do I need a strop, or are strops more for convex ground blades? In other words does a strop help with maintaining the edge of a flat ground high-carbon blade? Would I need any of the various compounds available to aid in using a strop?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
 
I'm probably in the minority but the only knives I strop are those with convex grinds. What ever you decide you will find 1095 very easy to maintain, and yes the SM M-204 will do just fine unless you need some re-profiling.
 
I like to strop a lot to sharpen less.

I don't get too fancy, just the back of my belt if I'm out someplace. If I'm home I have part of a 5 gallon paint stir stick that has some leather glued down on it. No compounds of any kind, just plain leather. I'll give it a bit of stropping after dinner or first thing in the morning.

It works on the knives I carry, that for the most part are carbon steel Opinel's or Case CV soddies, an old Mercator K55, with an occasional sak tossed in the mix.

Don't over complicate it.:thumbup:
 
jackknife said:
I like to strop a lot to sharpen less.
Click to expand...

Bingo!. I dry strop nearly 100% of the time to save the steel. Especially if the knife already has a good profiled edge from the last time I had her on the hone/stone.

Good Luck and Welcome to the fold. :)


Best,
Anthony
 
jackknife said:
I like to strop a lot to sharpen less.
Click to expand...

This works for me too. I do use a strop with Chromium Oxide but most of my EDC knives have harder steel. When I lose the hair popping edge a few light passes on the strop bring the edge right back.
 
Yes for stropping, BUT, you need to put a really good edge on the blade first, then stropping helps keep up the sharpness. stropping alone will not create the good edge.
obvious to most of us but no harm in stating it.
roland
 
my 2 cents:
just use your sharpmaker with the grey rods on the 1095. if the edge is not getting very sharp then vary the angle you are holding the knife at. try to learn to listen for the sound of the edge meeting the ceramic. it can be done and will serve u well.
 
Thanks, guys. The Queen City Copperhead is a beautiful knife, but it came dull as a butter knife. I spent a little bit if time working on it tonight while sharpening some kitchen knives for the wife, but did not get very far. The blade stock along the edge came very thick. I think I will need a more acute angle than I am used to get a fine edge on it.
 
Since i got the diamond rods, a re-profiling job with my Sharpmaker is now enjoyable. with the grey rods i was getting frustrated after a couple of hours with still "miles to go".
roland
 
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