KME and sharpening large curved blades

I have no problem with recurves on my KME, however I have not ever tried doing a very large blade. I would think it could be done, have to try it sometime.

However I may be more inclined to grab my Edge Pro for a very large blade. If money is an issue with things tied up in the KME, there are EP similar imports for well under $50. But if you have many knives, and/or as OCD as I am with my edges, I'd suggest buying the real thing. While it's a bit of a bite in the beginning, I think the KME, Edge Pro, and Sharpmaker are the perfect combination for making any edge amazing for any style, size, and type of edge finish.





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People are Strange, When You're a Stranger....
 
Is that because the KME rods wouldn't be long enough or it wouldn't be strong enough to hold the one pound weight?
 
I love my KME, it is my goto sharpener, that being said, no one method is the do all. Except maybe bench stones although I don't use my bench stones as much as my KME That being said if I were going to sharpen a kukri, I have one but it's a bring home from WWII so I don't do anything with it but keep it dusted off and a touch of oil to keep it from rusting. However if I were going to sharpen one I'd go with the Ken Onion Blade Grinder attachment. You should be able to do any size blade with that.
 
I highly reccomend the KME, but not for long large blades. The reason is the weight of the blade and the pressure you put on the ends of the blade can change the angle (the blade and guide flex and/or the blade shifts very slightly in the clamp). The longer the blade, the more leverage you put on the clamp as you sharpen.

I alleviate this by supporting large blades from the underneath with one hand to take some of the pressure off of the clamp.

I will emphsize that this does not mean there is a design flaw with the KME guide. The guide is heavy duty and very well made; it just isn't made for long, extremely large blades.
 
I don't think that a blade flexing would be much of a concern. However the problem with the Lansky/KME type setups is geometry. The further you move from where the rod intersects the guide the greater the hypotenuse which changes the vertex. Close in the difference is going to be negligible, but as you move further and further out from the center of the guide the vertex formed where the stone contacts the bevel is going to get smaller and smaller. On a 2-4" blade this isn't going to be very noticeable functionally, but the longer the blade is the more pronounced the difference is going to be. The wicked edge system minimizes this by lengthening the distance from the guide to the bevel making the vertex change less dramatic when you lengthen the hypotenuse similar distances.
 
Large blades, or heavy blades, don't react very well on my KME.
KME is much better for folders and medium blades, in my experience.
 
LegionPrime said:
However the problem with the Lansky/KME type setups is geometry. The further you move from where the rod intersects the guide the greater the hypotenuse which changes the vertex. Close in the difference is going to be negligible, but as you move further and further out from the center of the guide the vertex formed where the stone contacts the bevel is going to get smaller and smaller. On a 2-4" blade this isn't going to be very noticeable functionally, but the longer the blade is the more pronounced the difference is going to be. The wicked edge system minimizes this by lengthening the distance from the guide to the bevel making the vertex change less dramatic when you lengthen the hypotenuse similar distances.
Click to expand...

Has been discussed many times before and not true. This is one of the previous threads and is worth reading from the beginning: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1339022-angles-on-clamp-style-devices

If you do not have the patience to read it all, jump to reply #38 http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...n-clamp-style-devices?p=15412040#post15412040
 
LegionPrime said:
I don't think that a blade flexing would be much of a concern. However the problem with the Lansky/KME type setups is geometry. The further you move from where the rod intersects the guide the greater the hypotenuse which changes the vertex. Close in the difference is going to be negligible, but as you move further and further out from the center of the guide the vertex formed where the stone contacts the bevel is going to get smaller and smaller. On a 2-4" blade this isn't going to be very noticeable functionally, but the longer the blade is the more pronounced the difference is going to be. The wicked edge system minimizes this by lengthening the distance from the guide to the bevel making the vertex change less dramatic when you lengthen the hypotenuse similar distances.
Click to expand...

https://www.wickededgeusa.com/does-the-angle-change-along-the-length-of-longer-blades-on-the-wicked-edge/
 
fvdk said:
Has been discussed many times before and not true. This is one of the previous threads and is worth reading from the beginning: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1339022-angles-on-clamp-style-devices

If you do not have the patience to read it all, jump to reply #38 http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...n-clamp-style-devices?p=15412040#post15412040
Click to expand...

Very interesting, that all seems very counterintuitive. I will definitely have to bookmark that thread so I can sit down and read through the whole thing as it appears I have been wrong despite everything my geometry teacher taught me. LOL Thank you guys, I'll be busy the whole weekend going through that thread.
 
LegionPrime said:
Very interesting, that all seems very counterintuitive.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I thought... that's why I ended up putting that long bar in the Wicked Edge... to figure it out. It does seem counterintuitive... until you figure out which angle is actually being measured. :)
 
I sharpened this 6" curved blade on the KME and maintained a good even bevel until the very tip -



You can see the tip has a bit of snipe in the last 1/2" -



I set the blade up pretty much centered in the clamp but that wasn't the right position (if there is a correct position)
for this particular blade. The photo exaggerates the snipe. I will get it out with the next sharpening which - for at least the last 2" I will
do by hand.

This might advise you as to how to proceed with a Kukri.
 
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