Ideas on how to best sharpen a cheap knife?

M

Mora2013

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Dec 1, 2013
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So on a whim, I purchased a Harbor freight Gordon folding knife. It was $3. Made in China with unknown stainless steel. I bought it to try out a tactical style knife, and it turns out I'm not a fan - I'm definitely a traditional guy.

Nevertheless, it sits in my garage for occasional use, but it really can't hold an edge at all. I've tried sharpening it up to 6000 grit with waterstones, and also at low grit with a coarse Norton India stone with similar poor edge holding results.

Anyone got idea how to make it hold a better edge? If it's a soft steel with poor heat treat, should I consider an large inclusive angle of 50 or even 60 degrees? Should I make the bevel convex?

Right now it's basically used to cut through packaging tape, since a meager 10 feet of cardboard is enough to dull the edge before needing to take it to a touch up.
 
It's never going to hold an edge, due to the heat treatment (none) and steel type. You might be able to make it more functional by thinning or reshaping. You could try a convex edge, but that would be time-consuming. If you have one of those Harbor Freight 1x30 belt grinders, you could thin the edge behind the final cutting edge. I'd hold it as low as possible without hitting the belt all the way across the blade. I wouldn't even try it on a stone; You'll likely die of old age before it's thin enough to be good.
 
Why waste your time sharpening a bad knife?

Personally, I don't even see it as worth the effort to just be disappointed in the end.
 
You may have saved a lot of money buying that knife. But how much is your time worth?

Nothing you do with a sharpening stone can change the underlying structures and ingredients of the steel.

Should make a good throwing knife :)
 
First :
I just sharpened a dull box knife blade. Super quick; by hand . . . I know the sharpening dudes won't believe 'Bagger abandoned his faithful jig . . . but it's true . . . by hand; no jigs . . . how d'ya like that ?

How ? ? ? ? I took it to a Shapton 220 as shallow as I could and still get a bur.
Then
To a Norton 8000 with a much steeper angle for a couple light strokes; not even a micro bevel.
Hair shaving ; I didn't try to whittle.

Angles ? Who cares ? Just do as I said.

Use it.
Then
When it stops cutting (after severing a couple pieces of tape) put 'er there pal :

Along with anything else from Harbor Freight. Buy tools not toys.



PS: I guess I know how it is . . . you want to try a weird aced knife to see if you like it and not spend a lot of money. I did that. I killed two birds with one order. I wanted to try a tanto and a combination edge. I ordered this Gerber. As I thought I have no use for a tanto or a combo blade. It's not a bad little knife; the liner lock sticks pretty bad if I really flick it open hard. Other than that it is serviceable and looks pretty good.
anyway
now that we have got all THAT out of our systems lets be serious shall we ? :p

 
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My approach with 'cheap' knives and steel that won't hold an edge is, make it as THIN as you'd like at the edge, if you're going to use it at all. It still won't hold a crisp apex at all, but the geometry behind the apex will be the only thing left contributing to cutting efficiency after the apex dulls. With cheap steel, it'll dull just as quickly, regardless of how thick the edge angle is; a thicker edge angle will just make it seem MORE DULL, after the apex is gone. After thinning, use the knife lightly, more as a slicer for light duty (opening mail, packages, etc), than as a hard-use knife, as it won't hold up to that. When it does need touching up, the thinner geometry behind the apex will make that easier.

The big downside to trying to thin a cheap, tactical-style blade is, you'll likely have to remove a whole lot of steel to do it ('thin' and 'tactical' are usually a contradiction). In the end, you may decide that's not worth the trouble. But if you do pursue it, maybe just take it a little at a time; it's not worth expending a lot of energy and/or frustration for such a cheap blade. At the least, it may be a good exercise in training muscle memory for the hands in sharpening, if you're still developing that.


David
 
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Funny as I just sharpened a cheap Rambo knife from Harbor Freight just for kicks as I gave it away. It was laser sharp, that's for sure. Took all about 10 minutes including time to find factory angle. How long it will hold? It is a beater. I use a guided system tho.
 
Djrichone said:
Funny as I just sharpened a cheap Rambo knife from Harbor Freight just for kicks as I gave it away. It was laser sharp, that's for sure. Took all about 10 minutes including time to find factory angle. How long it will hold? It is a beater. I use a guided system tho.
Click to expand...

What guided system did you use? What angle?
 
Get a $15 knife from any name that you recognize as a knife maker, you'll be miles ahead.

But I am surprised that you cannot get the cheap knife sharp.
 
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