How to sharpen single bevel carbidized titanium knife?

[DaKCbeast]

This thing came crazy dull. Paul Shroud Undertaker? I couldn't find anything about it anywhere. It's completely dull. Not quite sure how to go about it. Thanks!

 

[DaKCbeast]

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photos.app.goo.gl

 

[S_Canner]

I don't have a lot of experience with titanium blades, but generally you only sharpen the non-carbadized side. That thick, curved edge looks like it would take a lot of careful work to get it sharp. There are some good videos on YouTube explaining the process. Paul is on Instagram @ps_knife. You could ask him what he recommends. I would be interested in hearing his response.

 

[DaKCbeast]

I don't have a lot of experience with titanium blades, but generally you only sharpen the non-carbadized side. That thick, curved edge looks like it would take a lot of careful work to get it sharp. There are some good videos on YouTube explaining the process. Paul is on Instagram @ps_knife. You could ask him what he recommends. I would be interested in hearing his response.

Thanks. This thing isn't sharp at all. Not sure if it was or not, but I'm slightly disappointed. It's awesome, but I want something that cuts. You know, a knife!

 

[tiguy7]

Carbidized coatings come in two flavors, Tungsten Carbide at about 72HRC and Titanium Carbide which is 1/3 harder than WC (Tungsten Carbide). Ordinarily, WC ( the chemical symbol for Tungsten is W which stands for Wolfram) is applied to the non-beveled side of steel blades, and TiC is applied to the non beveled side of Titanium blades. The sputtering process leaves the hard Carbides on the non beveled side of the blade. Sharpening the beveled (soft) side of the blade exposes the hard Carbides on the micro edge. These Carbides besides being very hard are also lumpy creating a mini buzz saw on the edge. When I sharpen a Carbidized blade, I wipe the Carbidized burr back into the grinding plane (edge trailing) on the flat side of a ceramic blade.
Because Titanium blades often have Titanium Carbide inclusions, they cannot be sharpened easily on Al2O3 or SiC (Aluminum Oxide or Silicon Carbide) stones. Corundum and Carborundum stones don't cut it. You need Diamond or CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) abrasives.

 

[DaKCbeast]

Carbidized coatings come in two flavors, Tungsten Carbide at about 72HRC and Titanium Carbide which is 1/3 harder than WC (Tungsten Carbide). Ordinarily, WC ( the chemical symbol for Tungsten is W which stands for Wolfram) is applied to the non-beveled side of steel blades, and TiC is applied to the non beveled side of Titanium blades. The sputtering process leaves the hard Carbides on the non beveled side of the blade. Sharpening the beveled (soft) side of the blade exposes the hard Carbides on the micro edge. These Carbides besides being very hard are also lumpy creating a mini buzz saw on the edge. When I sharpen a Carbidized blade, I wipe the Carbidized burr back into the grinding plane (edge trailing) on the flat side of a ceramic blade.
Because Titanium blades often have Titanium Carbide inclusions, they cannot be sharpened easily on Al2O3 or SiC (Aluminum Oxide or Silicon Carbide) stones. Corundum and Carborundum stones don't cut it. You need Diamond or CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride) abrasives.

Thank you for the response. What would be the best way to get this crazy thing at least sharp enough to cut? A ceramic rod? It's a crazy shape. Sharpen in the carbidized side and then strop back to the soft?

 

[bucketstove]

Hi. What stones do you have? See http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/reviews/shikra.html for tips.
Cutting the edge off lightly to deburr is also known as jointing

In regards to sharpening, this is definitely one of the aspects of this knife which is likely to be troublesome to most because of one central problem the knife can not be deburred on the carbided side and using burr based sharpening is extremely common and this tends to burr really easy due to the very high ductility of the material and how it tends to be abraded by ploughing which deforms the material.

Ideally the apex is just reached and not formed to a burr, however that isn't nearly as easy as it is with steels because again the grinding can only be done on one side so a lot of the techniques used with steels to minimize a burr can't be done (alternate passes, cross scratch patterns, etc.). This difficulty in fact is so high that it has lead some to conclude it can be be sharpened to a high sharpness at all. However it can be done, it just requires a different technique.

With standard water stones, the following was used :

• apex the edge at 180 grit, lightly cut the edge into the stone
• repeat at 1000 grit
• repeat at 3000 grit
• repeat at 8000 grit

The exact grits to use depend on the desired edge finish but the main point is that once the edge is apexed it needs to be lightly cut into the stone to remove any burr that is formed and remove the coarse scratches at the very edge as there is no ability to polish them off from the other side. Using this method it is possible to achieve a sharpness of 70-90 grams on the Esprit thread which easily easily shaves, slices newsprint readily and can push cut at a small angle off of a true 90.

However with some more experimenting, a much more optimal technique was used which was to use a fairly muddy stone or combination of them which inherently minimize burr formation due to the fact the mud will plough into the apex and grind off burrs. These stones can be problematic to set the final apex so that is done with a harder and slurry free stone. The current method is similar to :

• remove damage with a Naniwa Superstone 400
• finish with a micro-bevel with a Norton Economy fine

If a higher polish is needed for extended push cutting, then it can be achieved by adding in a Naniwa Aotoshi 2000 and finishing with a MXF DMT or similar. However the carbidized edge really isn't design to hold that kind of high push cutting sharpness so it defeats the purpose of the carbidizing.

​

 

[DaKCbeast]

I'm trying to let that soak in. This thing is basically one giant recurve, so a flat stone won't work very well. I just have a basic set of water stones from one of one of the online sites. I'm thinking sandpaper around a dowel?