i cant seem to give my griptilian a good edge...

I

ibanezplayer470

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Dec 21, 2009
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95
not sure why. I've spent plenty of time on the sharpmaker, with the back of a legal pad, on the cover of a magazine, and with a leather belt. I just cant get it to take a shaving edge. It'll cut paper well, but thats about as far as I can get it... Is it possible that I have a faulty heat treat? What are Benchmade's warranty conditions? Would they know if I've taken the knife apart?

Thanks
 
Mine is 154CM and takes a great edge. In fact, I have never really even resharpened it, only touched it up.

Is yours 440C?
 
I have a benchmade 940 in s30v and it's a pain to sharpen. 154cm is a bit easier so this will work. The only way I got it to shave was to reprofile it. The edge is too thick.(I'm also pretty sure the sharpmaker isn't obtuse enough to handle the factory edge.)So get some DMT's and grind away for a thinner angle.
 
i heard something about using sandpaper wrapped over the sharpmaker stones to reprofile... would this work? and if so, what type/grit would do the trick?
 
I've never wrapped sand paper around sharpmaker rods but I have heard of people doing that. I just got done putting a new edge on my grip and I used sandpaper stuck(with a glue stick) to plexi glass and use a stropping motion. If I'm completely redoing an edge Ill start at 220 grit and work it until I get a formidable burr on both sides and then progress to the next grit. After I am sure that I'm getting a burr on both sides I'll go 10 "strops" on one side then 10 on the other, then 9 on one side and 9 on the other and so on until I get down to 1. My grit progessing looks something like this usually: 220, 400, 800, 1000, 2000 then I will take it to the strop for usually atleast 80-100 swipes per side. Lately I've found that I get better results using legal pad style cardboard as a strop rather than leather however it may be the leather I used to make it. On the grip I used red rouge on the strop first and then finished up with white compound and this knife is now able to cut hairs without touching the skin. Don't get frustrated if you're not getting the results you want quickly. I find that the edge doesn't feel acceptable to me until I get up to atleast 1000 grit most of the time 2000. And the biggest rule of all that WILL screw up your edge if you do not abide by it. TAKE YOUR TIME! If you start getting tired at 800 grit don't get frustrated and move up through the grits as fast as you can just put it down for the night. Good luck.
 
I have reprofiled a bit with sandpaper. I justed wrapped it around the rods and taped it.(220 grit). It ruins the sanpaper and will take a while but much faster than the ceramic.
 
I've got a benchmade osbourne in s30v as well and when I first got it I was not happy with the working edge. The edge was too thick and could not even shave hair from the arm, so I reprofiled it and now it's much better (and shaves easily). I did notice that the s30v was harder to sharpen than my 440c bokers though (which should be harder due to the toughness the s30v has). But every knife has a purpose, and I love this knife and carry everyday.
 
ibanezplayer470 said:
not sure why. I've spent plenty of time on the sharpmaker, with the back of a legal pad, on the cover of a magazine, and with a leather belt. I just cant get it to take a shaving edge. It'll cut paper well, but thats about as far as I can get it... Is it possible that I have a faulty heat treat? What are Benchmade's warranty conditions? Would they know if I've taken the knife apart?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You could have a faulty heat treat, but that doesnt mean you wouldnt be able to sharpen the knife. Why on earth would you want to take the knife apart if your issue is a dull edge? Yes, they will know. The conditions can be found on their website. Before doing anything drastic, make sure you're actually honing the edge and not above it. My Grip came with a very sharp edge, but the 20 degree bevel on the Sharpmaker was less than the factory bevel angle, which I estimate was ~25 degrees. You probably need to rebevel the edge and get it to somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees. I am pleased to see that Benchmade is putting quite thin edges on their knives, but the bevel angles are higher than most people on BladeForums like. Rebeveling just takes some elbow grease and time on a coarse stone, followed by some time on a medium or fine stone to clean things up a little before going to the Sharpmaker. You can use sandpaper on the Sharpmaker, but use a stropping motion. I fastened it on the triangle with little binder clips. You can rebevel with the brown rod corners on the Sharpmaker, but it takes a looong time.

I'd say try a $5 hardware store coarse/fine double sided stone. Use a Sharpee marker to color the edge so you can tell where you're removing metal and grind a bevel less than 20 degrees, then polish it a little on the fine side. Now you're ready for the 20 degree slots on the Sharpmaker. This will make a micro-bevel, but it will be almost invisible for many resharpenings on the Sharpmaker. When it gets too big, just thin the bevel down again on the coarse/fine combo stone. If you have a way to cut accurate angles in wood, you can make all sorts of rebeveling jigs, or you can do it free hand. For what its worth, you could probably get a hair shaving edge off the $5 stone, but the Sharpmaker can do it with less practice.
 
Even if Benchmade does know you took the knife apart, it only matters if the problem with the knife is because of something you did to it. I think the main reason they state that the warranty is void if the knife is taken apart is so they don't constantly get back a bag full of parts because people couldn't put them back together.

I also think a bad heat treat is suggested way too often and that this actually happens very rarely. I would be willing to bet 99% of the time a person has a hard time sharpening is because of technique. I also think the main culprit is because people just aren't getting down to the very edge. The sharpie trick is very good but you need to use magnification to make sure the sharpie is being removed all the way at the very edge. Raising a burr is also the way to know that both edges have met. I would like to hear from someone who sharpens professionally how often they think they come across a knife with a bad heat treat.

Did you raise a burr?
 
Ive tried to raise a burr by using the flat edge of the brown stone on just one side of the knife, but I really dont know how to tell if Ive got one, because if I have its been small...
 
Start with the sharpie. Mark the entire bevel on the side of the edge that you are sharpening. When you have ground all of the sharpie away, you have ground to the edge. To check for a burr run the opposite side of the edge across your thumb nail. A burr will catch on your nail.
 
hlee said:
Start with the sharpie. Mark the entire bevel on the side of the edge that you are sharpening. When you have ground all of the sharpie away, you have ground to the edge. To check for a burr run the opposite side of the edge across your thumb nail. A burr will catch on your nail.
Click to expand...

do i run it spine first (like stropping) or edge first?
 
To check for a burr, take your finger and glide the finger down the bevel like you're stropping. Same idea with the finger nail, just feels different when it drags.

One thing I noticed about the Mini-Grip is how obtuse the edge angle is. I reprofile all my Grip/Mini-Grips to 30 degrees inclusive before 1st use. The 154CM takes a very nice edge.
 
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I have a Sharpmaker and I've used sandpaper to help reprofile several knives including a Queen D2. I'd start with 80 or 100 grit and then move up. I think 220 would take too long.

I cut a piece of sandpaper to the correct length and then wrap the rod and cut off the excess. I use rubberbands or twist ties to hold it on.
 
I think the problem may be in the technique. Re profile the blade and check your technique. Afterward, you should be splitting hairs in no time.

God Bless
 
I have a leatherman k502x which has 154cm steel. I liked the knife overall, but wasn't happy with the degree of sharpness I could get. I reprofiled the bevel and got it 'shaving sharp' - now I like it a lot more!
 
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