I just don understand this blade steel!!!!!

W

Wildone39

Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Messages
815
I have a pocket knife that I absolutely love, its my Spyderco Native in S30V. I carry this knife a lot but now its dull and for the love of me, I cant get it sharp. Its sharp enough i guess but I cant get it to shave hair. I have tried and tried everything I know. The last time I sent it in, Spyderco sharpens it for me and always gets it hair poppin sharp. How do they do it? I am now carrying my Buck Vantage Select and I have no problem at all sharpening this knife. It shaves the hair. All of my Bucks are easy to sharpen. I guess Im not a fan of S30V steel anymore. Ill just go back to good old 420Hc or 1095. I still love the Native and Ill just send it back in to be resharpend. Maybe ill carry some of my other Spydercos thats not in S30V. I love Spyerco's, to me, there some of the best knives on the market. I just cant understand the love for the S30V steel.
 
It's all about patience, you probably have a burr on it from the sharpening. You have to knock it off the edge.
 
If your getting your softer steels sharp, and not the S30V it sounds to me that your not taking the S30V all the way to the edge. Work a lil harder, S30V is tough stuff.

I'm sure knifenut will chime in shorty to help you gitter done.;)
 
You may need better sharpening tools or your not taking enough time and treating it like you would 1095. If it takes you 1/2 hour to sharpen 420hc then it will take 1 1/2 hours to do the same with S30V.

What kind of stones do you use?
 
I've found that the most important thing you can do to keep yourself from getting super frustrated is start with a very low grit and make SURE that your edge meets in the middle all the way through before moving to the next. I don't know how much experience you have with sharpening but s30v isn't the best of steels to perfect your technique on. My first s30v reprofiling job took right around 12 hours. I gave my ZT 350 a 30 degree edge and it took f o r e v e r! However when I started out I was using just the stock course sharpmaker rods and that was a huge mistake. Now days I'll start with 220 grit and get my bevels exactly where I want them and then work up in the grits.

What kind of sharpening equipment are you using? Wet/Dry sandpaper sure can get you a nice edge for cheap. I wrap it around my sharpmaker rods and fasten them with tiny rubberbands used for braces. It works like a charm. Oh and one more thing, I advise you to tape everything on the blade that you don't want sharpened before starting. It can save a huge amount of frustration in the long run. I cut thin strips to form right behind the bevels and then use the full width for the rest of the blade. Good luck!
 
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Someone on here had a nice modded Lansky with a 2x4, vice, and some sandpaper glued to the hones. That thing looked ugly, but I bet it gives a screaming edge.
 
Well, all I have to use is a diamond rod and a small stone, and a gerber type sharpener that you just run the knife through. Those three have always worked on my other knives. The diamond rod is, how i put this, it unscrews from a brass holder and then rescrews the opposite way and the brass becomes the handle. The small stone is just a small sharpening stone. I know S30v is a great steal and its just me thats not doing it right. I may try to buy a better sharpener so I can keep my angle right. Thanks for the tips guys.
 
Your tools are the problem, take a look at something like the DMT aligner.
 
Yup definately your tools... I recommend the Spyderco Sharpmaker for a good, semi easy to use kit that works great for maintaining your edges. However if you want to reprofile you'll have to buy the diamond sharpmaker rods or wrap some wet/dry around them. I've found it to be a great tool for honing and a good way to help you with your freehand technique.
 
Are you sure you're raising a burr? Removing it is one thing, but if you don't get a burr on the opposite side of the one you're grinding then it's not ready to be ground on the other side.

That's if you want it hair popping of course. That's the real key to making sure the edge meets in the middle as nevermind35 was putting it.

Thought I'd mention it since buying new tools isn't going to help if you're not raising a burr.
 
I love the sharpmaker and I Use it all the time now, Never had any problems accept on my Benchmades. They will not get as sharp as the other ones at the recomended 40 * so I use the 30* back bevel for them...never had to sharpen s30v yet ( I like softer steel),hope the diamond rods take care of that.
Be safe.
 
Buying a DMT aligner kit was the best thing I ever did for knife maintenance, Sharpmaker is next best thing. When I dulled my S30V military practicing on wet/dry I bought a sharpmaker. I could never get it hair splitting sharp on the SM it was getting so frustrating. When I got my DMT aligner kit I got it even duller. Then slowly I learned I now have it hair splitting sharp and I thinned the blade somewhat. When I tried to touch it up on my SM at 30 degrees, I was doing nothing again. I got an idea then, I was sharpening it (actually reprofiled it) at about 28 degrees or a touch less on the aligner, so I though of reducing the angle on the sharpmaker by putting a rubber band across the top of the rods. Worked really well, I soon had a hair splitting edge with just a little work on the flats of the fine stones. My Chinook came with a sharp edge near the belly but was really dull for about an inch beginning from the tip. I could really see that instead of an edge it looked flat. It was about an hours work on the aligner to thin the blade and get it shaving sharp, I finished up with the SM with the rubber bands across the top. It can whittle hairs now. And all thanks to the advice of the people here like knifenut, obssessed with edges, and others.
 
For 100 dollars you could set yourself up with a 6 inch buffer and a set of paper wheels..
In less then 2 minutes your native would be scary sharp..
PM me if you want any help with where and what to get..
I have twice that amont of money in hand sharpening stones, rods, strops,and they are now only used in the field..at home my paperwheels get all the use..
If your time is imporatnt to you...paperwheels are the ticket..
I had another member help me with what to get and I am just passing on the favor.
 
here is the link to the thread on the paper wheel that harleyguy02 is talking about. i used to use stones and an ez sharp which is similar to a lansky. when i would sharpen by hand or with the ez sharp, my hands would cramp and hurt real bad. when i switched to the wheels i no longer had the problem (unless i would be sharpening a few hundred knives). i sharpened 241 folders in 17 hours but over a 2 day period. there is no way anyone including me that could have done this with stones. the same goes with a belt sander setup due to having to change belts to finer grits. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578787
 
No sarcasim intended but the trick is to try and keep your knives Sharp All

The Time. Do a touch up whenever needed.....Dont let it get anywhere

near dull and avoid the problems youre having now.:D
 
You wanna be throwing out that pull through sharpener...right in the garbage. It only has any effect at all on your softer steels because is raises up a gawd-awful ragged edge like barb-wire...it'll cut I guess but it will not maintain.

One looks for the better mousetrap to sharpen with. I have learned after many years of frustration that there is no better moustrap. You need good stones, good technique, patience and practice.

A good first step is something like a Lansky which I used for years with marginal results. It works great on short blades but is tough on a long knife and takes for ever regardless...that little 3 inch long thing is just not a lot of abrasive surface.

I have move on to free-handing. I started out with just a plain old carborundum stone that dad had and found I could get results. Then I found a combo Norton India oilstone at a yardsale for .25...thats about a $20 stone for .25. I got kind of an el-cheapo diamond stone when I bought a Gerber folder and I got pretty decent results with that. I finally get serious and got a complete DMT Duo-sharp 8" diamond set XFine, Fine, Course, XCourse with a stand. Along with that I have a round diamond steel, a round ceramic rod, and a bench strop I made from leather and oak with green compound.

With knife sharpening, the man and the tools are important. I wasn't happy with the edge on my Roselli UHC Hunter which is a very hard carbon steel...about 66. Just a few dozen careful strokes at a very acute angle and the thing is scary sharp...you can't even see a visible difference but you can sure feel it.
 
harleyguy02 said:
For 100 dollars you could set yourself up with a 6 inch buffer and a set of paper wheels..
In less then 2 minutes your native would be scary sharp..
PM me if you want any help with where and what to get..
I have twice that amont of money in hand sharpening stones, rods, strops,and they are now only used in the field..at home my paperwheels get all the use..
If your time is imporatnt to you...paperwheels are the ticket..
I had another member help me with what to get and I am just passing on the favor.
Click to expand...

I resemble that remark. I have a Smith's tri-honing system, a lansky type guide rod system, a Sharpmaker, Ceramic bench stones, Japanese water stones, and paper wheels.

Guess which one I use? The paper wheels get 95% of all my sharpening, and I only use the water stones for Scandi-edges.
 
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