How do the factories sharpen their blades?

J

Joe Dirt

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Does anyone know how companies like Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, Al Mar, sharpen their blades?

Do they do it on a machine? Do they hand sharpen?

I've just always been curious. I think I'm the most curious about Spyderco because I have never seen anyone have a sharper edge than them from the factory.
 
I can't personally vouch for all of the brands you listed, but a lot of knife manufacturers use belt sanders to get their edges. They must have some skilled techs to do it. I'm not sure if they use anything after the belt sander to give it a more refined edge, but I'm sure that quality blade steels account for the better edge they take.
 
it would have to be a real fine sand belt. also i wonder it they use cooling liquid like some saws and cnc machines do. if your not careful couldnt a belt heat the knife enough to ruin the heat treatment?

Lee
 
A fairly coarse sanding belt gives it the rough edge then the edge is buffed out. It gives it a toothy polished edge.
 
Bark River does it by belt. The workers aren't permitted gloves so that they can feel if the blade is beginning to heat up.
 
i've done this with bare hands and you can tell when the blade warms up. I have gotten some practice knives and gottem them pretty hot, but never really more than 150 degrees or so. I did not have to take my fingers off the blade. This system works well. and with a 300 grit belt you get a very nice edge. Then polishing it finishes it. It's hard to do this with thin kitchen style knives, they are too thin to roll edges with, so v-grinds seem to be better IMO.
 
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