How do you sharpen your sebenzas???

Bladenoobie1

Bladenoobie1

Joined
Jul 20, 2012
Messages
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I just received my CRK starbenza as of today, but I'd like to give the edge more bite and a bit sharper too. I know that sebenza's have a convex edge so I was wondering how people sharpen it. I want to keep the convex too and not reprofile to a V-grind edge.


- Bladenoobie1
 
i Freehand most of the time. but the Sharpmaker is pretty decent if you want to sharpen a convex edge, did you get the knife new btw? becouse all of my CRKs have been razors
 
I freehand it. I can get it hair popping with a DMT extra fine, an Arkansas stone and strop.
 
I use the Wicked Edge ,18 degree main bevel 19,20,21 degree micro for convex. Shaving sharp and developing a nice mirror polish edge. I touch the blade up as needed starting with 5K and 10k Chosera water stones and very light strop with leather .5 Microne paste and finish on Roo with .125 Cubic Boron.
 
I use my edge pro to replicate the facory edge using the sharpie method. Then I strop with a strop I got from kniveshipfree. One side black and the other green. I can keep my Insingo crazy sharp by stropping about once a week or so. Once I get a good angle with my edgepro stropping is about all you need. The factory edge can be maintained for long periods if you strop regularly.
 
I freehand with Spyderco stones from med.,fine and the 306UF. Then I'll usually strop with .5u Diamond spray on Kangaroo leather made for the edge pro:thumbup: a truly nasty bitey edge:D
 
Despite the edge being convex, I just took it to my glass/sandpaper rig up to 2000 grit and finished with stropping on the white compound and the edge is fantastic! Plenty of bite, shaves, and good enough for my purposes.
 
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I keep the factory edge going as long as I can with regular stropping, which is usually months of use. Eventually I switch to the Sharpmaker. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort to get the initial edge where I want it, but after that it's very easy to maintain. The UF rods are a plus.
 
Greyish-brown medium sharpmaker rod is it for me. Occasionally I use a white fine sharpmaker rod if I get aggressive and wind up with a roil or lip on one side of the edge. I cut boxes and other junk with some frequency and going with a fine stone is usually a waste of time for me. My damascus likes it "toothy" anyway so that one almost never gets a fine stone.
 
I used the sharp maker for the first time today, to complete a knife. It made my large Sebenza 21 very sharp! I was going to sell my sharp maker, but no I think it will be on Sebenza duty!
 
I don't always have as much luck with my sharpmaker :( The issue is, is that on my 40 degrees setting one of the rods are NOT at 40 degrees. This means I need to tilt my knife a bit to compromise and its leaving me with sub par edges. If I have a really thin edge though with an inclusive degrees lower than that setting then it will give me great edges. Right now its all about stropping and freehand

If any one is curious, here's how I sharpened the convex edge on sandpaper and glass: (pics to come later)

Because the edge was convex, using a hard flat surface would only contact one point of the bevel at the time. I didn't want to solely focus on the very edge, because that would make my edge more obtuse. Because of this I didn't sharpen the very edge, rather the majority of the bevel face. I kept doing this to sort of thin out the convex edge and give it a nice finish. Then I would do about 5-10 leading strokes on 2000 grit sandpaper at the very edge to make it sharp. After that it was just a bunch of stropping with white compound.
 
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Most of mine I just touch up on a Sharpmaker but both my Mnandi and small Insingo needed a reprofile since at the 40 degree setting it was not touching the apex of the edge. For those two I used my Edge Pro down to ~35 degrees, inclusive and then touch up with a 40 degree microbevel.

IMG_0192.jpg

DSC_0870.jpg
 
Wicked edge. 17degrees per side up to 1000 on stones and then 1200, 1500 sandpaper. No need for microbevel for my purposes which is slicing open packages and cardboard. Cuts like a laser. I strop with a stropman soon after using it for any cutting.


IMG_0877 by GermoneGold, on Flickr
 
Set the bevels to 20° per side on a clamped system like the wicked edge. Than when touch ups are needed a few strokes on a sharpmaker or crox sharpener and your good to go.
 
I ought to save funds for a WE sharpener. They're just wayyy to pricey for me at the moment. As long as I'm careful and don't overly damage my edge, sandpaper and strops will work for me. With the convex edge though, I can't get my sebenza sharper than slicing phone book paper. Really though, there's no need for an edge to whittle hair and push cut phonebook paper. Its just nice to have :(
 
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