Just bought my first real traditional folder: Queen Country Cousin

amflud said:
I haven't decided which route I'm going to take with regards to sharpening. Maybe I'll use this as an excuse to finally buy a sharpmaker. Do they make coarse diamond rods for it? I have no idea.
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My first choice, if doing it all over again, would be a DMT Aligner/Magna-Guide setup (this is what I still prefer for jobs just like this), with at least a C/F Dia-Fold (the blue/red one), and maybe an XC Dia-Fold, if you're willing to spend some extra. You can get diamond 'sleeves' to fit over the stock ceramic Sharpmaker rods (actually, I'm not sure they fit that way), but they aren't all that aggressive. Especially for re-bevelling D2. And they're pretty expensive too. Once the bevel is set with a coarse/XC diamond hone, you have many options beyond that, for finishing the edge (finer Dia-Folds, all the way to EEF, or sandpaper, etc.). The heavy grinding is the tough part, and a coarse/XC diamond does that the best, I think.
 
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I have the DMT Aligner but I the edge angles are never the same on both sides when I'm finished. I haven't used it in a while, I might give it a try again.
 
amflud said:
I have the DMT Aligner but I the edge angles are never the same on both sides when I'm finished. I haven't used it in a while, I might give it a try again.
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If you do, and still have some questions about stabilizing the blade in the clamp (probably the source of the varying angles), you might post in the Maint forum for solutions/help (so we don't sway this thread too far from the 'traditional' guidelines here). I always look in there, so feel free to ask.
 
Thank you for the help, I'm more than certain it's something I'm doing wrong.

BTW, I haven't put this knife down in 2 hours.
 
A Solid working knife
Nothing fancy
Will last for years

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As the advice above:
I invested in a DMT Aligner and added a E Course stone to the course, fine and E Fine (about $55)
Makes sharpening D2 painless, just takes time
Excellent results
You can adjust the notches to balance the two sides
But first check that you knife is centered in the jig
 
Okay, I spent a total of about 5 or 6 hours over the last 2 days resetting the edge bevel angle with the DMT Aligner including the time it took to actually sharpen it (probably less than an hour) hitting every grit from extra coarse to extra extra fine. I had to remove a lot of steel because the edge bevel angle from the factory was VERY obtuse and VERY uneven. Also, the new edge bevel angle is much more acute than the pic above this post which required even more steel to be removed. The new edge bevel is not pretty, but it's easily the sharpest knife I own right now. No pics because there's no good light to be had at 1:26 am.

I just kept flipping the knife in the clamp keeping the tightening knob facing down to make sure the edge bevel angle stayed consistant. This had a lot to do with why it took so long.

I'm now super excited about having this knife. I'll post pics as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone for the advice and pics.
 
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Okay, here's a pic. The Aligner kit marred the finish some, which doesn't surprise me after the number of times I took the blade out and flipped it over.
025-1.jpg
 
amflud said:
Okay, here's a pic. The Aligner kit marred the finish some, which doesn't surprise me after the number of times I took the blade out and flipped it over.
025-1.jpg
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Looks like you're off to a good start with D2! :thumbup:

I would recommend trying to avoid re-clamping the blade frequently. There's always at least a tiny bit of variability in re-positioning the blade in the clamp, and that'll take away from the angle consistency a bit. Having said that, it looks and sounds like you've handled this pretty well. Nice work! :thumbup:
 
Thank you for the compliments!

I have several other knives in D2 so I knew what to expect with regards to sharpening. This IS my first traditional using that wonderful steel, though.

I reclamped it to avoid having two different angles on the edge bevel, which always happens when I use the Aligner kit. I didn't mind doing it since I plan on making this one a hard user.
 
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