How can I get my Benchmade 943 SHARP?

C

cordawg92

Joined
Jan 30, 2011
Messages
105
Hey guys,

I've had my Benchmade 943 for about 2 months now and it has never been that sharp. Right from the factory the edge wasn't even comparable to my Spyderco Sage 1 or my Delica. For the past couple of months I have been trying to sharpen it on my spyderco sharpmaker (Which has gotten all of my other knives super sharp), but it really hasn't helped it much at all. I finally received the spyderco diamond sharpmaker stones today and I still couldn't figure out how to sharpen the knife properly!

After trying the diamond stones at a 40 degree angle for about 30 minutes, I decided to switch to the 30 degree angle instead. After about an hour or so of constant sharpening, I still couldn't get the knife razor sharp. Am I doing it wrong? Maybe you guys could point me in the right direction. Also I might have left some details out, so please let me know if I did.

I am very close to sending the knife back to Benchmade because I've already scratched up my blade in a couple of spots and I'm getting pretty frustrated....However I live in Canada and it would take about a month to get the knife back.
 
Benchmade knives are notorious for wide factory bevel angles, typically around 45-50° inclusive in my experience. The edge will need to be reprofiled to under 40° inclusive for the sharpmaker to work as designed. Also, if the 40° setting wasn't reaching the edge, the 30° setting certainly wasn't going to either. My advice would be to mark the edge with sharpie and make a few passes on the 40° setting, the the marker is not removed from the very apex of the edge then the edge will need to be reprofiled. Reprofiling on the sharpmaker can be a time consuming and frustrating task, but the diamond rods help. If you're going to reprofile on the sharpmaker I recommend the 30° setting so that in the future touch ups are quick and easy on the 40° setting, but be prepared for a few hours of sharpening to get that edge reprofiled, even with the diamond rods.
 
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