I have yet another question: What angle should I put on a bowie?

MyLegsAreOk

MyLegsAreOk

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Aug 31, 2017
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I'm going to use my Bowie knife for both personal defense and a tool such I did with my big folder I carried. I have a Wicked Edge with all the diamond stones so I can put any angle I want. Can we have a discussion as to which angle would be best? I am leaning towards 40 degrees.
 
25 to 30 degrees inclusive is my vote/suggestion.
The more acute the edge the better it cuts/slices, and while it sounds wrong, the better it holds a working edge.
 
What steel? Some steels are more prone to chipping / rolling than others when sharpened at more acute angles. If you know what the steel type is you can poke around and get some idea as to ideal sharpening angles.
 
Even if a high quality steel, I’d suggest going no shallower than 20deg each side - otherwise possible chipping may occur
 
Chui said:
Even if a high quality steel, I’d suggest going no shallower than 20deg each side - otherwise possible chipping may occur
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you must have weak/brittle/fragile steel.

1095, 420HC, 440A, and 440C at 57 to 59 Rockwell can take 10DPS with no chipping. On the rare instances an edge rolled, dry stropping usually fixed it.
Before the "tactical" craze of the 1990's the factory edge on most pocket knives that had 1095 or 420HC, 440A, and 440C (The "super steel" and high 60 plus Rockwell craze hadn't started yet), was 10 to 12 DPS.
After more than 60 years, I still sharpen my pocket knives with "obsolete" 1095, 420HC, 440A/7CR14MoV, 440C/9CR18MoV, and whatever it is Mora, MAM, and Victorinox uses to 8 to 10 DPS. I reprofiled and thinned the edge on my (Marbles) D2, (Buck) CPM154 and (Buck) S30V blades to 10 DPS. They have not chipped or rolled an edge, cut/slice/peel better, and hold a working edge longer.
My (carbone) Mora Number 1 is around 12 to 15 DPS. I've never chipped or rolled that edge, either.
Since the OP asked about a Bowie, not a pocketknife, I suggested the 12 to 15 DPS on the Mora. Had he asked about a folding pocket knife, I would have suggest 10 DPS.
I could have suggested 10 DPS, but it is a regal royal time consuming pain in the sitter to thin and reprofile even a 3.75 inch 42HC blade from 15 DPS to 10 DPS. A 6 ... 7 ... 10 inch Bowie? Nah. 15 DPS will work good enough.

An axe/hatchet/tomahawk/machete was/is traditionally sharpened to 15 - 17 DPS.

The harder the blade, the more brittle and likely to chip, regardless of the edge angle. I'll take a 57 - 59 Rockwell at 10 DPS over some "high edge retention super steel" at 61 - 63 Rockwell at 30 - 40 DPS or even more obtuse, any day. I like knives that can cut. I have other tools for chopping. An axe, and machete, for example.
 
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I did 40 (20per side) as that's what most said, came out crazy sharp after the stropping and I only go up to 2um. It's CPM 154. Did not leave a nice finish at all! The spine was too thick to clamp so I needed to improvise and must have nocked the blade back and forth for some passes or something. Despite it being very sharp and consistent the whole way through, there's like long streaks on the bezel.

Typical folders are 15 per side, and even less on kitchen knives. I was curious with a big thick fixed that will cut less delicate targets than the folders or kitchen knives what angle would keep it from (as most of you said) chipping, not so much folding.

Thanks for the input.
 
What are you going to cut and or chop with it ? I have slicers that are 10deg. but I'm surly not going to chop with it.
 
Airborne 1 said:
What are you going to cut and or chop with it ? I have slicers that are 10deg. but I'm surly not going to chop with it.
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Plastic, rubbers, leathers, food stuffs. The thickest thing I'll are sticks or the last bit of wood from a branch I'm sawing or axing so I can hold the branch with 1 hand and the knife the other. I'm not dumb enough to attack big trees with it, and I'll only do dead flora because (as hopefully users on this forum knows) that's what you want to burn as it gets hotter and doesn't smoke.
 
afishhunter said:
you must have weak/brittle/fragile steel.

1095, 420HC, 440A, and 440C at 57 to 59 Rockwell can take 10DPS with no chipping. On the rare instances an edge rolled, dry stropping usually fixed it.
Before the "tactical" craze of the 1990's the factory edge on most pocket knives that had 1095 or 420HC, 440A, and 440C (The "super steel" and high 60 plus Rockwell craze hadn't started yet), was 10 to 12 DPS.
After more than 60 years, I still sharpen my pocket knives with "obsolete" 1095, 420HC, 440A/7CR14MoV, 440C/9CR18MoV, and whatever it is Mora, MAM, and Victorinox uses to 8 to 10 DPS. I reprofiled and thinned the edge on my (Marbles) D2, (Buck) CPM154 and (Buck) S30V blades to 10 DPS. They have not chipped or rolled an edge, cut/slice/peel better, and hold a working edge longer.
My (carbone) Mora Number 1 is around 12 to 15 DPS. I've never chipped or rolled that edge, either.
Since the OP asked about a Bowie, not a pocketknife, I suggested the 12 to 15 DPS on the Mora. Had he asked about a folding pocket knife, I would have suggest 10 DPS.
I could have suggested 10 DPS, but it is a regal royal time consuming pain in the sitter to thin and reprofile even a 3.75 inch 42HC blade from 15 DPS to 10 DPS. A 6 ... 7 ... 10 inch Bowie? Nah. 15 DPS will work good enough.

An axe/hatchet/tomahawk/machete was/is traditionally sharpened to 15 - 17 DPS.

The harder the blade, the more brittle and likely to chip, regardless of the edge angle. I'll take a 57 - 59 Rockwell at 10 DPS over some "high edge retention super steel" at 61 - 63 Rockwell at 30 - 40 DPS or even more obtuse, any day. I like knives that can cut. I have other tools for chopping. An axe, and machete, for example.
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I do agree, word for word. Three things to consider: keeness, sharpness, cutting abilty. The so said "Supersteels" (with large amount of carbides) are only good at abrasion resistance but they won't get the keeness and won't behave better than carbon or low alloy tool steels for most tasks since it's the matrix which embeds the carbides which matters for edge stability.
From 20 to 25 for pull or push cutting. 30 to 35 for chopping. That's what i've been practicing for decades and i still feel good.

Dan.
 
afishhunter said:
you must have weak/brittle/fragile steel.
Click to expand...

- guess much depends on how and what it's used on/with/upon

Normal cutting and slicing I'd go lower, personally, but if used for camping chores, for example, unless the person really knows how to use a knife, I'd never recommend going lower than 20deg for fear of them returning to tell me their cutting edge is not so good any more
 
The best angle for any knife is the one it will hold without causing irregular deformation to the cutting edge. Probably not the answer you want but the best one you will ever get. The steel, hardness, blade thickness and blade grind all play into selecting an edge angle and how it will perform in a given task. So simply asking what edge angle for a knife is kinda a backwards way of going about it.

Sharpen, test, repeat.
 
Jason B. said:
The best angle for any knife is the one it will hold without causing irregular deformation to the cutting edge. Probably not the answer you want but the best one you will ever get. The steel, hardness, blade thickness and blade grind all play into selecting an edge angle and how it will perform in a given task. So simply asking what edge angle for a knife is kinda a backwards way of going about it.

Sharpen, test, repeat.
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This.

Often, when I thin out an edge, I will use it, and find it rolls or blunts too easy. Typically I will then go back and use a slightly steeper micro bevel.

Still cuts better than the original blunt factory angle.

I don't pay a lot of attention to exact angle any more. I almost never use my fixed angle sharpener any more.
 
Jason B. said:
The best angle for any knife is the one it will hold without causing irregular deformation to the cutting edge. Probably not the answer you want but the best one you will ever get. The steel, hardness, blade thickness and blade grind all play into selecting an edge angle and how it will perform in a given task. So simply asking what edge angle for a knife is kinda a backwards way of going about it.

Sharpen, test, repeat.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's true. The thing is I'm not cutting paper, I need to test on small branches. I guess I need to get me some to see if it doesn't bend or chip. All my other EDC knives are 30 with a 40 micro bevel and 44 strop. But none of them ever used for something solid like wood. Aluminum is the toughest.
 
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