I have been using the Spyderco Sharpmaker and it has been working well for me. I use the 15 degree slots almost exclusively for my knives. Even though I have been getting good results, it would be nice to get an even more acute angle on some knives. When someone says they have a 12 degree angle on their knife (24 degrees total), how is this obtained? If this was done free hand, it would be hard to measure the exact angle. What is the best way to do this? Also, should there be a big difference in cutting performance when comparing for example a knife with a 24 degree edge vs one with a 30 degree edge?
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How do you make a knife less than 15 degrees per side?
- Thread starter iamerror
- Start date
The height from benchstone surface to the centerline of the blade spine would be approx:
for 12 degrees = 1/5 of the blade width
for 15 degrees = 1/4 of the blade width
The difference for a blade that's one inch wide would be only 1/20 of an inch. So I don't know how you do this freehand. Maybe someone can respond to that.
There are ways it could be done with a Sharpmaker, but you would need something coarser than the SM-medium stones. Otherwise it would take forever.
for 12 degrees = 1/5 of the blade width
for 15 degrees = 1/4 of the blade width
The difference for a blade that's one inch wide would be only 1/20 of an inch. So I don't know how you do this freehand. Maybe someone can respond to that.
There are ways it could be done with a Sharpmaker, but you would need something coarser than the SM-medium stones. Otherwise it would take forever.
On a bench stone. Some people cut wooden wedges to rest their stones on and just hold the blade horizontally, others calculate spine height, others use one of those little magnetic inclinometers and stick it to a flat part of the blade and read the angle off the dial, and I just use a square headed machinist's protractor and lock my wrist as I remove it and lower the blade to the stone.
That is how I do it as well, only I use some wooden wedges or an angle gauge instead of the protractor. With some practice you can hold the angle to within 1 deg, not that it matters anyways, the point is really not to get 12 deg. precisely but to thin out the blade behind the edge.
The question is interesting in many aspects…
Scandinavian knifes are small, very sharp and the design is very old, the Vikings use them for more then 1000 years ago, and the design of the knife was old already then..
The normal total sharpening angle for a traditional Scandinavian knife is around 20 degrees. It is perfect for woodwork; hunting, skinning, fishing and what ever use we need a knife for – in Scandinavian nature, material and climate.
American knifes are often much bigger (in all aspects) then Scandinavian knifes and the sharpening angle is often much higher.
I have got a impression that it is normal with about 30 degrees total sharpening angle, sometimes even up to 40 degrees. You never see that in Scandinavia, not on any knife.
Why is this difference between Scandinavia and US knifes? I think we use them in the same way for the same type of work?
Thomas
Scandinavian knifes are small, very sharp and the design is very old, the Vikings use them for more then 1000 years ago, and the design of the knife was old already then..
The normal total sharpening angle for a traditional Scandinavian knife is around 20 degrees. It is perfect for woodwork; hunting, skinning, fishing and what ever use we need a knife for – in Scandinavian nature, material and climate.
American knifes are often much bigger (in all aspects) then Scandinavian knifes and the sharpening angle is often much higher.
I have got a impression that it is normal with about 30 degrees total sharpening angle, sometimes even up to 40 degrees. You never see that in Scandinavia, not on any knife.
Why is this difference between Scandinavia and US knifes? I think we use them in the same way for the same type of work?
Thomas
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2004
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- 1,477
I think it would without any problem. I know Cliff stamp and others have done reletively extensive experiments on this, if you do a few searches you should be able to fine some info on it.
It depends on the steel, but I know people have sharpened there knives down to 5-7 degrees per side and still had the edge hold up.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2006
- Messages
- 43,075
This sounds like a job for Cliff, db, or Thombrogan. But I'll have a go at it. (fools rush in...) They can correct my errors.
A lot of American knives have steel with a high carbide content. The carbides are large and require a broader angle so that they have enough matrix material around them to hold them in place. If too narrow an angle is used, there is not enough matrix to hold the carbides in place. They get ripped out of the edge during use and leave the edge jagged instead of smooth.
In general: the finer the grainsize and carbide size and the smaller the carbide volume the smaller the edgeangle that can be supported by a bladesteel. I am not sure if I would take D2 to 12 deg per side, but even S30V which is fairly finegrained and has relatively small carbides but large carbide volume will easily support 12 deg. per side (of course this is assuming that it is a knife in which you don't see problems already at factory angles, bad heattreat?). In most cases everything that is 10 deg per side is not pushing the limits of the steel. On the really fine grained steels even at 10 deg. per side you are ways away from the limit.
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- Apr 27, 1999
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- 6,117
It is easy on a Sharpmaker. You just put something about 3/16" diameter under the center of the plastic base and tip the Sharpmaker left and right as you work. I usually work at 10 degrees and for that I put one of the triangular rods under the base.
Who says that American knives are bigger? I have lots of knives much smaller than Scandinavian knives. I tend to bevel mine at angles much smaller than Scandinavian knives also. They tend to cut much better that way.
I either use an Edgepro or a bench stone. I have a protractor to estimate on the bench stone, then lock my wrist. This can take a while sometimes to change the bevel.
wow, you guys are getting a bit to geeky :O . come on, knives are to cut things,,
dont worry about the angle, its more important on what type of knife your putting it on, and the grind on the blade, and the size of the knife, and what youll use it for,
ive never used any of those sharpening gadgets, and to be honest i think theyer a huge waist of money, you can get mor eknives for the money you spend on them , im shure they work, but with a little practice anyone can learn to sharpen by hand on a stone,,
its very easy..
. the main problem i think is that most people start out with the wrong sort of stone,
and this can make begining to sharpen very frustrating,,
where as the kits have it all layed out for you, color coded........
thing is when sharpening with a stone, once you get used to it you can control the angle in minute degrees and adjust it to how you want,, convex it alittle if you wish,, ect.. make it thinner at tthe tip and such,,,
the trick to this is controling your wrist and co-ordinating your hands to keep a consistant angle when you sharpen..... , and changing stones when the next grit is needed, if you use a to fine stone when it isnt required you round the edge to much.....
well thats my opinion,, but if somebidy finds a sharpening kit works for them then ok.......
dont worry about the angle, its more important on what type of knife your putting it on, and the grind on the blade, and the size of the knife, and what youll use it for,
ive never used any of those sharpening gadgets, and to be honest i think theyer a huge waist of money, you can get mor eknives for the money you spend on them , im shure they work, but with a little practice anyone can learn to sharpen by hand on a stone,,
its very easy..
. the main problem i think is that most people start out with the wrong sort of stone,
and this can make begining to sharpen very frustrating,,
where as the kits have it all layed out for you, color coded........
thing is when sharpening with a stone, once you get used to it you can control the angle in minute degrees and adjust it to how you want,, convex it alittle if you wish,, ect.. make it thinner at tthe tip and such,,,
the trick to this is controling your wrist and co-ordinating your hands to keep a consistant angle when you sharpen..... , and changing stones when the next grit is needed, if you use a to fine stone when it isnt required you round the edge to much.....
well thats my opinion,, but if somebidy finds a sharpening kit works for them then ok.......