I just cant get that last bit....

R

rwasham

Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
650
Ive taken on the project of reprofiling my spyderco native and atlantic salt to 20 degrees with my lansky sharpening system. So far Ive done fairly well but Ive gotten to the last small bit of blade left to profile and seem to have hit a dead end.....I cant get those last few tiny increments to profile out to 20 degrees....Before I had done this I had made about half the bevel 30 degrees (Im very new to sharpening my own knives) Im getting very frustrated because I just cant seem to get that last little bit of metal down to the bevel. Is there anything I should be doing to help. Ive only got the very basic stones, should I others? Thanks for your help.
Ryan
 
2 things to check. Lansky stones are small. When you profile, you take off alot of metal. Clean your stones. Use Bar Keeper's Friend, it will clean off the metal. Next, make sure all of your guide rods are set at the same place on the stone set screw. They all need to be the same. Get a sharpie pen and mark your blade. You will see where you are hitting.
 
I have been using a sharpie and I feel like Ive been in the same place for about 10 minutes......I get lots of metal residue but no clear results. I could actually see my edge profile changing before but now it just stays the same. Thanks for the advice though. Ive packed up for tonight but Im gonna try tomorrow.
 
That is 100% normal. Because you've almost finished the bevel it's very wide, and fills your stone with filings quick. Just clean your stone often and keep at it with the same even pressure until you feel the burr along the entire edge. Patience.

To see how this new (to me) steel sharpens, I reprofiled my wife's new S90v Mini Manix 2 to 20 degrees with the Lansky fine diamond stone. I was shocked how well and even it ground, and yes the last little bit seemed to take a lot longer, but I've used Lansky's for well over a decade so it was nothing new. I just kept at it, finally got the burr, repeated the second side, checked the bevel angles, then switched to the fine ceramic stone for a little polish, then the leather belt with green compound.

When the knife sailed through newsprint I was impressed, it was like cutting air. S90v gets the thumbs up.:thumbup:
 
Get yourself at least one of the Lansky diamond hones. You don't necessarily need the whole diamond set. I've been starting all of my re-profiling with the Lansky medium diamond hone (orange holder), and I've come to swear by it. It's aggressive enough that it'll remove a lot of metal much more quickly than the 'basic' Lansky hones, but not so aggressive that it takes too much too fast. After producing the burr on the edge, I use the 'basic' fine hone (blue holder), followed by the 'basic' ultra-fine (yellow holder). These two hones will do a fine job of cleaning up the burr from the edge.

Lubricate all of these hones with water. Do it FREQUENTLY, don't be shy about rinsing the blackish residue off of the hone every couple of minutes or so, and wipe the blade edge at the same time with a damp paper towel (as a bonus, the paper towel will be a great indicator of when the burr begins to form, because the burr will 'catch' the paper and fray it).

All of your hones will work much more efficiently if they're CLEAN. I scrub mine after every sharpening session with some Comet cleanser, water and a green abrasive scrub pad (like Scotch-Brite by 3M, I think it's called).
 
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