How Much Material Is Removed When Re-profiling A CRK Edge? And Back Again?

Vaporstang

Vaporstang

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I know this is a question without a definitive answer but here it goes:

How much material is removed (i.e., a significant amount) from a CRK edge when it is re-profiled with a Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, etc.? AND, how much material is removed if sent in to CRK to have it re-profiled back to the "original" edge?

Does this get into an area where the heat treat (hardness) of the edge is affected? Is the blade's overall profile significantly changed?

This isn't meant to be an argument on the pros and cons of the different edge profiles - I'm just wondering about the effects of returning an edge to the original CRK profile. This will help when considering purchases on the Exchange.


Thanks!
 
I can't really speak for a reprofile/sharpen done by CRK but I do own a WE and know what it can do to a knife. I ground a lot of metal off of practice knives until I felt proficient enough to go for it on more expensive knives. I've only done one CRK on it and would do it again if I had no intention of selling as it hammers the value. I went with a convex edge and tried to match CRK's angles as best I could. It turned out well.

So, for me, the simple answer is it depends on the one doing the sharpening. If someone with experience was paying attention and being careful, just enough metal can be removed to get to the edge. If someone who is not terribly proficient, a lot of metal can unnecessarily be removed.

I don't think it really changes the profile as far as the belly and the shape of the blade goes (if that's what you were asking). I also think (I don't really know) that the whole blade is heat treated. If it isn't, I would think that by the time it was sharpened into the area that wasn't, it would be very noticeable. The blade would look butchered.

I'll add that it should be rare to need a reprofile. If kept sharp at 20 degrees on a sharpmaker, at some point you'll just end up with a 20 degree V bevel. A reprofile should only be necessary to change angles, fix damage, etc...

Of course all of what I posted above is nothing more than my opinion and I don't know what I am taking about 90% of the time.
 
The blades are through hardened so should be the same hardness through the entire piece of material. It doesn't matter if you sharpen the blade down to a tooth pick, it's still going to be the same HRC.
The obvious goal is to take as little material away while as possible while still actually sharpening the edge. A reprofiling from factory will generally see the meat of the removed material being from the shoulders of the original bevel. Taking a thinner edge and increasing the edge angle will start to eat into the profile of the blade though, no matter who does the sharpening. :)

I am not a fan at all of any sort of sharpening system and this is one reason why. I have seen knives with years happily sharpened off their lives all just to have a shiney, polished bevel the lasts for all of two minutes anyway....

Vaporstang said:
I know this is a question without a definitive answer but here it goes:

How much material is removed (i.e., a significant amount) from a CRK edge when it is re-profiled with a Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, etc.? AND, how much material is removed if sent in to CRK to have it re-profiled back to the "original" edge?

Does this get into an area where the heat treat (hardness) of the edge is affected? Is the blade's overall profile significantly changed?

This isn't meant to be an argument on the pros and cons of the different edge profiles - I'm just wondering about the effects of returning an edge to the original CRK profile. This will help when considering purchases on the Exchange.


Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
I had a crk where the previous owner had no idea what he was doing with the wicked edge, set the angle wrong and knocked the shoulders off the edge on one side. It didn't reduce overall height of the blade but the sharpening angle was more acute than the normal 40 degrees included that ppl keep it around. So it looked a little funny. Long story short if you keep it at the stock sharpenening angle you're good!
 
I remove the shoulders off all my knives.... height remains the same though. But I typically only use a polish stone.
 
Thanks for the information. Kinda what I figured but I've never really re-profiled an edge and was curious. I have some I am considering sending in to CRK to be sharpened and didn't know if I should. (I also have some I am going to send in for other work and will request that they don't sharpen the blade.)
 
I agree that CRK is the preferred route if a reprofile is needed since it really isn't needed very often at all.

A good piece of advice that I read on here is if you send a knife in and don't want CRK to sharpen your blade, tape the blade off with green painters tape and write "please do not sharpen" on it.
 
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