Help with SOG Trident and Sharpmaker

Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
46
Hey guys Im new to the forum and I think Im hooked already. Been playin butterfly knives since I got stabbed back in April (only at home dont carry it on me) and I found this forum and been looking for a while and I like it.

I picked up a SOG Trident
sogknife.jpg


Nothing fancy not to strong metals but I got it off ebay cheap and I want to learn to sharpen and better on this then an expensive knife and mess it up. Im looking at the Sharpmaker because I searched and read some great stuff about it and how its easy to use. My biggest thing is I read that sometimes you need to completely reshape before you use it and I have zero experience with that. Any advise on reshaping. Im pretty sure Ill go with the sharpmaker cant beat the price. Any comments advise on what to do Im not sure what the degree the edge is from the factory and if I will need to reshape or what not.
 
I may be talking about needing to do a reprofile, Im not sure the exact terms Im trying to search and learn.
 
Reprofiling or reshaping is when you want to change edge angle.
Basically it means you will be sharpening for long time (e.g. an hour)
Don't worry about it, especially if you pick up Sharpmaker (very intuitive and easy to use).
 
Many knives have more obtuse angles than the Sharpmaker settings so it is usually best to buy a cheap x-coarse stone as well and you use this to get the edge to the right shape which just means lower than the Sharpmake angles.

You can buy these x-coarse hones in hardware stores, they are called garden or axes hones usually, or even the large x-coarse/fine dual benchstones work well on most of the softer and low alloy steels. For the harder and high alloy ones they tend to bog down and I prefer a silicon carbide waterstone.

-Cliff
 
Does the sharpmaker get the whole blade in a pass or do you have to more the knife to get all parts of the curve up to the point. Very noob question sorry
 
huugh said:
Reprofiling or reshaping is when you want to change edge angle.
Basically it means you will be sharpening for long time (e.g. an hour)
Don't worry about it, especially if you pick up Sharpmaker (very intuitive and easy to use).



I hope that isnt made of ats-34 if it is, reprofiling will take you quite a bit longer than an hour!
 
Thanks alot for the help cliff. The link below is the knife. Its AUS8 steel. Doesnt say what angle the blade comes from the factory
 
Note even if you know the factory angle, don't count on this actually being the angle on your knife. They are usually hand sharpened and this will make them vary and even a little difference makes a huge influence. If you try to sharpen a knife at 20 degrees and the edge is at 18 then it sharpens instantly as in seconds, if it is at 22 degrees it could take an hour.

As a decent general starting point, unless you intend to cut a lot of hard metals. Sharpen the knife freehand at 15 degrees with a very coarse stone. Don't be too worked up about the exact angle, just estimate it. Now sharpen this edge on the 20 degree setting on the Sharpmaker. The 15 degree bevel you ground with the x-coarse stone is referred to as a relief grind on the forums, and was popularized by John Juranitch of Razor's Edge. This relief grind will not only increase the cutting ability but make the knife much easier to sharpen.

-Cliff
 
Thanks cliff you know alot. I email them and they told me that the knife comes from the factory with a 25-30 angle. I dont know if thats one or both sides.
So your saying that if the angle the edge now is is less then what you want it to be its very easy to sharpen and if its more then take it too a x-coarse stone and make it less then work off it. Never done this before so Im hoping to get 15* right and then take it too the sharpmaker. Thanks again for helping a noob
 
93redgsx said:
So your saying that if the angle the edge now is is less then what you want it to be its very easy to sharpen and if its more then take it too a x-coarse stone and make it less then work off it.

Yes, this is called using a relief grind and micro-bevel. Don't be too concerned about the exact angle of the relief grind. In time you will learn what works best for you in term of cutting ability and durability, but to start off with, just reduce it slightly below the final sharpening angle. It is pretty easy to eyeball twenty degrees as it is just half of half of 90, so go a little under that and you are done.

-Cliff
 
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