I Give Up :(

N

njb242

Joined
Oct 29, 2013
Messages
28
After spending countless hours trying to thin the edge on my DPx HEST/F Mil-spec, I am finally throwing in the towel. I have completely abused and destroyed the appearance of the blade through the use of Sandpaper, Diamond stones, and hours on the Sharpmaker trying to sharpen this knife. Lesson learned for next time? When I decide to spend $200 for a knife, I should leave it to the pros to sharpen :( Looking for recommendations now, who can I send this blade to for a re-bevel and sharpening? Is there a chance that my efforts caused any "permanent" damage to the blade (other than appearance)?
 
Look up RichardJ on here. He will sharpen it for you if you don't want to fix it yourself. At this point I'd try a convex edge with some medium grit sand paper and a thin mouse pad. Strop it with light pressure, go slow and monitor your progress. Or let somebody fix it!
 
njb242 said:
After spending countless hours trying to thin the edge on my DPx HEST/F Mil-spec, I am finally throwing in the towel. I have completely abused and destroyed the appearance of the blade through the use of Sandpaper, Diamond stones, and hours on the Sharpmaker trying to sharpen this knife. Lesson learned for next time? When I decide to spend $200 for a knife, I should leave it to the pros to sharpen :( Looking for recommendations now, who can I send this blade to for a re-bevel and sharpening? Is there a chance that my efforts caused any "permanent" damage to the blade (other than appearance)?
Click to expand...
I've ruined a few blades from either impatience or lack of skill when I was still learning freehand. I still make mistakes now if I really don't take my time and be careful. If you're looking for someone to send your knife to, knifenut1013 on this forum does professional sharpening and a great job while at it.
 
crom said:
Look up RichardJ on here. He will sharpen it for you if you don't want to fix it yourself. At this point I'd try a convex edge with some medium grit sand paper and a thin mouse pad. Strop it with light pressure, go slow and monitor your progress. Or let somebody fix it!
Click to expand...

Over my head, think i need an apprenticeship somewhere, lol.
 
njb242 said:
After spending countless hours trying to thin the edge on my DPx HEST/F Mil-spec, I am finally throwing in the towel. I have completely abused and destroyed the appearance of the blade through the use of Sandpaper, Diamond stones, and hours on the Sharpmaker trying to sharpen this knife. Lesson learned for next time? When I decide to spend $200 for a knife, I should leave it to the pros to sharpen :( Looking for recommendations now, who can I send this blade to for a re-bevel and sharpening? Is there a chance that my efforts caused any "permanent" damage to the blade (other than appearance)?
Click to expand...

Get used stuff at a thrift store or new junker knives at the dollar store to practice on.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Get used stuff at a thrift store or new junker knives at the dollar store to practice on.
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What's that they say, Hindsight is 20/20? On a related note though, I was able to successfully re-bevel my Kershaw Blur 1670 and Dimension using sandpaper, and was happy with the final edges I obtained with the sharpmaker. I think the thickness of this blade is what hampered my efforts.
 
pics?

Sleiper steel is about similar to D2 but lower Chromium, so sharpen accordingly.

Scratches add character! ruined? no way. 200 or coarser sand paper / Stone can lead to very scratchy area above the bevel. With steady wrist and a coarse (XX,X,C,..) diamond plate lower (no such thing as eliminate) the chance of scratching up.

Most of the time, ppl too timid to actually raise burr on both side of the initial factory edge. Use a loupe & sharpie and do it with confidence. It's very hard & time consuming to remove too much metal to actually reduce the height of the blade.
 
I specifically struggle with the blade tip. Is it supposed to get narrower as I reduce the shoulder?
Pics later today, it's bad.
Always hear to use a sharpie, how do you guys remove it after? Haha.
 
njb242 said:
I specifically struggle with the blade tip. Is it supposed to get narrower as I reduce the shoulder?
Pics later today, it's bad.
Always hear to use a sharpie, how do you guys remove it after? Haha.
Click to expand...

That's great!

Here's a few pics that might be helpful for the tip/belly region. Have to imagine a line going straight back through the center of the cutting edge, what you would have to do in terms of keeping it at a steady angle to the abrasive surface - where the handle has to be.

Martin

0612021230a.jpg


0612021231a.jpg


0612021231.jpg
 
Good visual aid Heavy Handed. To the O.P.: notice in the photos how as the blade is drawn across the stone, the handle must be lifted to maintain the proper angle at the tip? You were probably not getting this just right. The above advice to practice on some cheap knives is worth its weight in gold.
 
Beat to sh%#. I basically got to the point where I was just trying to get the blade as close to parallel to the stone as possible to ensure I would have less than a 30 degree inclusive so that I could then use the sharpmaker (note the scratches across the entire blade). After hours, I'm still not there. As you can see, I approached the tip way wrong as well. If I ever get this knife sharp, I can at least make up some awesome war stories for its scars.



 
Note: what looks like a secondary bevel is when Right before i gave up, I gave the edge a couple passes on a SharpNEasy sharpner...
 
If your aim is to get it ready for a sharpmaker, I have a hint for getting your angle correct.
Start off on the sharpmaker for a few strokes. Mentally note the distance from the rod to the blade spine (this is equivalent to the height from the stone in heavyhanded's excellent pics.) This distance is proportional to the angle you are sharpening, but is much easier to judge. Just concentrate on that distance, you can see it directly, rather than judging an angle.
If you want to take some steel off the shoulder, decrease the distance.

Also, get rid of the sandpaper & buy a stone. Far less fiddly, less variables to think about, less loose grit rolling around.
 
Just a thought, to me it looks like you need a more coarse stone to get to your goal, at least to get there cleanly. Rougher stone will not only remove material faster, it will have better feedback. You were really outgunned on this job. The coarse side of a silicon carbide stone might help quite a bit, or one of the XC DMT plates.
 
njb242 said:
Thanks, that helped, or so I thought. Hit it on the diamond stone for the nth time then back to sharpmaker. Sharpie is worn down up to a micron from the blade edge. I can't even fathom how it's possible.
http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/...2-D0D6-4BB9-AD72-10F9FA5E5F32_zpsv5wbbpjl.jpg
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That is completely typical of factory grinds, you'll get used to it.
Keep going with a coarse stone, HH suggested. There is still a lot of work to do towards the tip. Remember to lift the handle as you progress around the blade's curve.
 
Doesn't look nearly as bad as I expected. The flats of the blade will get scratched up with use anyway. Send it in to Richard (or whoever you decide on), have a good clean edge put on it that you'll be able to maintain on the SM (I'd say 30* included so you can use the 40* slots for a microbevel), and go out and use it. :thumbup: As was said, gets some uber cheap knives to practice on, and save knives like this for when you have more experience and feel more confident.
 
I'd be more than happy to sharpen this for you, though I don't freehand. I'm lazy. Use an edge pro with all the goodies. Taboo here I know. Just a suggestion.
 
Doesn't look nearly as bad as I expected either. Nothing is taboo here, people just have their preferences. If you are in the minority or your "opponent" is in a "vocal" minority it can often feel as if things are taboo however. I would suggest the O.P. consider what he wants from his ability and go from there. If he wishes to learn to sharpen he should continue to work on his own blade or preferably some less valuable knives for practice first. If not, or if he should need it sharp immediately for work or similar, then he ought to go ahead and send it to someone.
 
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