Kershaw Rake factory angle :confused:

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simioh

Joined
Jan 12, 2012
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I have a Kershaw Rake that while it cut paper, the sharpness wasn't impressive so I decide to sharpen it.

I clamp the blade on the Lansky and color the bevel with a marker. Next I give it a couple of passes with the ceramic stone at 17 degrees and it only hits the shoulder. I go all the way to the max 30 degrees on the Lansky and it STILL only hits the shoulder of the bevel! Has anybody else had this happen? Is it normal on the Rakes? Should I reprofile to 17 degrees?
 
I found its easier to sharpen my rake on a wet stone starting with a coarser stone working my way up to the ceramic
 
If you're reprofiling definitely start with the coarsest stone you have. 17 degrees might be a little fragile depending on your uses. From the sounds of it, you would even benefit from reprofiling it to 30, so I'd probably start there.
 
Thanks for all your replies. All I have to work with is the Lansky, and It's served me well for about a year now. I always check and make sure the rods are straight before I use them and when I switch stones. I already started reprofiling (it's gonna take a while) and I'm using the extra coarse diamond stone The only reason why I used the ceramic stone first was because I thought all I was going to need was to touch up the edge and strop.

bpeezer, the edge on the rake is D2, from what I've read it can hold a finer edge better but I have never sharpened or used a D2 blade before.
 
It will take a fine edge no problem, But will be more fragile than 25 degrees per side which is still hair popping sharp when polished.

How much of the blade is in the clamp?
 
D2 is a pain to reprofile without diamonds or coarse, low grit SiC (3M brand wet/dry) sandpaper. D2 is a fantastic steel but reprofiling it isn't too much fun. I'd shoot for 20 degrees per side and see how you like that before going down to 17 dps.
 
I barely have it in the clamp, it's just clipped onto the spine.

I've read people saying that 15 degrees per side works fine on D2. I actually sharpen most of my knives to 17 degrees, and for my uses it has worked fine except on 8cr13.
 
You'll Be allright with that angle. My rake hade a goofy factory edge on it. Its gonna take some time to get it to where you want it. Mine still isnt perfect you can see a tiny bit of factory edge left on one spot but i was sick of sharpening it. Its a beater for me so i was cool with it. The d2 stays sharp for a long time though.
 
simioh said:
I barely have it in the clamp, it's just clipped onto the spine.

I've read people saying that 15 degrees per side works fine on D2. I actually sharpen most of my knives to 17 degrees, and for my uses it has worked fine except on 8cr13.
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I meant because reprofiling from 25+ dps to 17 dps is going to be a bit of a chore on that blade. D2 can handle 15 dps but getting it there without DMT stones or an Edge Pro or Wicked Edge won't be any fun.
 
Fanglekai said:
I meant because reprofiling from 25+ dps to 17 dps is going to be a bit of a chore on that blade. D2 can handle 15 dps but getting it there without DMT stones or an Edge Pro or Wicked Edge won't be any fun.
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Tell me about it! haha I think a belt sander would be better.

Topcatpt, I can't sharpen the first few millimeters of the blade because the thumb stud gets in the way and because the grind line drops all the way down to the edge. I don't know if that makes sense, I'll post a picture.
kershawrake.jpg
 
simioh said:
I barely have it in the clamp, it's just clipped onto the spine.

I've read people saying that 15 degrees per side works fine on D2. I actually sharpen most of my knives to 17 degrees, and for my uses it has worked fine except on 8cr13.
Click to expand...


That actually makes the angle lower depending how wide the blade is. You could be around 15 degrees. Personally I would go to 20/25 degrees in favor of a stronger edge, And so you can sharpen the whole blade without hitting the thumbstud.
 
Yea I have the same issue. Mine looks alitte better but im using a wicked edge. I started to sharpen it will a regular lansky before i got the wicked edge that was a joke. Im not a pro at sharpening either just getting the hang of the wicked edge it was the first knife i sharpened on it.
 
blame it on god said:
That actually makes the angle lower depending how wide the blade is. You could be around 15 degrees. Personally I would go to 20/25 degrees in favor of a stronger edge, And so you can sharpen the whole blade without hitting the thumbstud.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's part of the reason why I clamp it as far up the spine as possible. I want to get to around 15* because I don't usually do enough cutting in one day to dull a knife, even at 15* and specially if it's anything better than 8cr13. If it does dull I can always just grab another knife and put the rake aside until I sharpen it.

As for an update, after about 2 hours of regrinding I'm still not getting a burr, but I'm close! haha
 
All knives should have bevel angles below 40 inclusive/20 dps, ANY greater of a inclusive angle and edge retention goes out the window because now you are fighting geometry to cut.

In experimentation I've found both D2 and CPM-D2 are sharpened well on silicon carbide Norton stones. A fine Norton and a strop with the built-up slurry from the stone will produce a wildly sharp edge on this steel.
 
simioh said:
I barely have it in the clamp, it's just clipped onto the spine.

I've read people saying that 15 degrees per side works fine on D2. I actually sharpen most of my knives to 17 degrees, and for my uses it has worked fine except on 8cr13.
Click to expand...

I have most of mine at 17 as well. I reprofile with the lansky and keep then sharp free handing it, it works better and quicker for me than just doing everything by hand. Especially when you don't have a proper set of stones. 17 dps works pretty good on 8Cr for me, but the ones that have that edge are slicers only, aka light edc. I started going up to about 20ish on all the ones I use, it seems to cut just as well as 17ish edges and holds a lot longer in any steel.
 
Swoop03 said:
I have most of mine at 17 as well. I reprofile with the lansky and keep then sharp free handing it, it works better and quicker for me than just doing everything by hand. Especially when you don't have a proper set of stones. 17 dps works pretty good on 8Cr for me, but the ones that have that edge are slicers only, aka light edc. I started going up to about 20ish on all the ones I use, it seems to cut just as well as 17ish edges and holds a lot longer in any steel.
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Yeah... I guess there's not much difference from 17 per side to 20 per side.

Why do you choose to start with the Lansky and then finish freehand? I've never tried freehand but have been thinking about giving it a try. What discourages me is that it takes so much precision and practice to get the proper technique.

Knifenut1013, if I'm understanding correctly you're saying that inclusive angles greater than 40 will not hold an edge as long? To about what angle do you sharpen D2 or CPM D2? (I didn't know there were 2 d2's)
 
bpeezer said:
If you're reprofiling definitely start with the coarsest stone you have. 17 degrees might be a little fragile depending on your uses. From the sounds of it, you would even benefit from reprofiling it to 30, so I'd probably start there.
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i use 17 or so degrees on my hard users, used a chopper at 19, used a machete at 17..... 20-22 for my axe.........30 for my imaginary ceramic chopper.... nobody should need to use 30 lol
 
knifenut1013 said:
All knives should have bevel angles below 40 inclusive/20 dps, ANY greater of a inclusive angle and edge retention goes out the window because now you are fighting geometry to cut.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I sharpen at 20/25 degrees all the time and it is still shaving sharp. I started sharpening at those angles because I got tired of stropping my Cold Steel knives every time I used them. 25 degrees per side may not be "tree topping" sharp but it is still good utility edge and is much less likely to deform.
 
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