I need help in Sharpening on KMG

[david thurmer]

Hi I have making knives on a KMG variable speed for over a year now & have gotten acceptable on everything but the final sharpening of the knife I end up wrecking all my hard work on the vary last thing I do sharpening it ,I have tried sharp edge up ,edge down ,faster, slower, speed & just cant seem to get it right & end up with some sort of astremetercal edge .I have been leaving .020 To .060 before heat treat & about .040 after clean up for final sharpening .I see all the full time makers have vary consistent edges & so my question is what can I do to fix this problem I am having ? Thank you for any ideas .Dave

 

[Patrickknives]

its tough to do, I got a little 1 x 30 that I use for the final edge and it works great. A narrower belt makes it easier to watch the edge when overginding occures. Couple of tips use a stiff belt and sharpen on the slack portion. This helps prevent over or under grinding on the belt edge.

I grind my steepest angle first say 11 degress with a used but not abused 120 belt. This establishes the grind line, I then use a larger angle say 13-15 degrees with finer belts 220 then 320. This allows you to develop the edge without moving the grind line up the blade. Also gives you some working room if you edge is not a consistant 0.040 all the way across. I get the edge down to nothing but dull with the 120, make my first burr with the 220 and get a nice visable burr with the 320, then leather strop.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Split your belts down to 1 inch wide, kill the rough edges by rubbing a piece of soft wood into the sides, then sharpen. Edge down, start at 120 grit to get your rough edge, then move to 220, then 400, 800, 1200, 2200 the a light buff. You will want to grind until you see a nice even burr along the edge on one side, then grind until you see it on the other side, the move up to the next grit. Use a soft touch, you are not moving any serious material. Oh yeah, all this is done with a high tensioned slack belt.

Or you can do a quick and dirty, start at 80, then 120, then 220, then 400 then strop with a cardboard wheel or scotch brite slack belt.

 

[david thurmer]

Thank you for the information on how you do your sharpening. Patricknives & Sam Salvati I will give these a try. Dave