Kme Sharpener noob - HELP

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bmblades

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Dec 27, 2015
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Hello bladeforum friends. I just got the KME kit and trying to re-set a bevel on a knife to 20 degrees. This is the 1st knife i'm playing with. It has really low quality steel (420), really dull and the bevel is really damaged and inconsestent all over the place. I have set the angle on the KME on 20 degrees and started with the 100 grit stone to reprofile this knife. I am amazed how slow it is to grind trough such a soft metal, only after hours of work on one side i'm starting to see some results but it's soooo slow.. I followed ron advice on not to push on the stone but damn it.. what if this was a s30v or something higher ???? I don't have the 50 grit stone but I was expecting the 100 grit to work on such soft metals.. What am I doing wrong ??? Is this normal ??? Is this because of the diamond break-in period ? I'm from europe and it costed me more then 350 US dollars to get this system here so I was expecting a little more :((
 
Make sure the hones stay clean while working. Scrub them down with a stiff brush and some powdered cleanser & water (Comet, Ajax or Barkeepers Friend), then try again. Soft stainless steels can clog a coarse diamond hone pretty fast, sometimes in just a few passes. It only gets worse if too much pressure is used on these steels, as the shavings of steel being cut from the blade will just be heavier & thicker. If the blade is very thick and lots of steel has to come off, it'll take time and patience.


David
 
I'm not using any pressure. As Ron instructed... just the weight of the diamond plate will do.. so basically i'm just moving the rod over the blade with no vertical pressure at all. I didn't do much cleaning (only with an eraser after the sharpening session of one hour / day). It looks like i'm half way of achieving a V shape bevel for this knife but I clearly didn't covered the previous messed up bevel since I didn't took much steel off. I'm sure I will never need to clear a messed up bevel like this one in the future but what worries me is the speed... if for example I need to change the angle of an s30v or even out a bad factory bevel... it's going to take ages...
 
I've reprofiled some of my knives in s30v even with the arkansas stone set. It takes a while, I think I spent 3-4hrs doing a complete reprofile and then sharpening through the 1micron CBN emulsion. Just sharpening a knife? 20 minutes through all of my grits and polishing with the 1micron emulsion. You just have to remember that you're basically trying to precisely sand down a fair amount of metal when you're reprofiling and that's time consuming, which is why I really don't do it any more. My knives are all general purpose so unless the bevel is just awful from the factory, I'll just center it and sharpen it and it's still coming out very very sharp. Is it the best slicer in the world? Probably not, but I haven't found a box I can't cut either.
 
All blades I have and had came off centered, even the expensive ones. This is all I want to do.. center the bevels so I don't do a diferent setup on the KME for each side of the blade. Also, I would really like to see a perfect V shape on my blades...
 
Diamond 'break-in' will actually make it worse... diamonds are typically more aggressive when new.

You can apply a LITTLE BIT of pressure to see if that improves the stone cutting the blade. Key being a little... don't get frustrated and start pressing harder.

But here's the reality. You're working with a stone that's only 4"X1". It's not going to be a powerhouse no matter what. Even "The Beast" 50g stone will have this limitation. The sharpener's strength is angle control, its weakness is small abrasive stones.

What I suggest, (although you may not want to hear 'buy more') is this... Get a regular size extra coarse stone for reprofiling. Use this stone a couple of degrees BELOW the angle you want on the knife. The easiest way is to hold the knife so it's removing metal at the shoulder. (An alternative is to prop the stone at an angle a little lower than the angle you want on the KME, and hold the blade level). Work the knife just enough to remove a decent amount... maybe ½ the bevel's width. (Even going slow to hold a steady angle, chances are it'll be quicker than just using the KME). This will 'clear a path' for the KME where you can now play to its strength of angle control. (It has the added benefit of thinning the blade for better performance).

If not, you're best alternative is to thin the blade over time, and just set an angle where you can keep the edge sharp in the interim.
 
It looked soo easy from the youtube videos of Dean O :) but he never actually showed the process of reprofiling.. he might as well do it with a handfile before putting in on the KME.. :)
 
I've got the KME and really love it. I've re-profiled several blades with no real trouble at all, it does however take awhile. That being said when I need to do a blade with serious issues or one that is giving me trouble I use the KO work sharp with the blade grinding attachment.
Never really like the KO with the guides but the blade grinder is really great.
 
A slow 8 inch bench grinder and a Norton 3X grinding wheel in 46 grit.

Blisteringly fast but don't go so hard at it you get a blister . . . if you know what I mean. Keep the pressure light and keep the blade wet or your fingers on the blade to prevent over heating. The water will boil off when it is getting hot . . . keep dipping in water.

I can relate to expecting more from diamond plates and spending hours.
What you need is an abrasive that is sharp (diamond isn't), an abrasive that fractures and renews its self often for fresh sharp cutting surfaces (diamond doesn't).

This is the description from Norton :
The fastest cutting wheels on the market are also the coolest. A constant supply of sharp cutting points with Norton’s patented SG grain gives the Premium Norton 3X blue wheels an incredible burn free cut with controlled micro grain fracturing. Great for bench and pedestal operations, especially hollow grinding of plane blades and chisels.

Oh Yah Dog !
 
First experience with KME for D2, m390, and AUS8-
The first knife I reprofiled was also the first knife sharpened with our KME: a Benchmade 710-D2. The bevel was broader at the tip then at the hilt from the previous owner, so I wanted to start over. Using the brand-new diamond 140 grit on my brand-new KME, I set the angle right on the bottom 17° hash mark, and used a sharpie to keep an eye on the bevel contact points with the stone. Using two drops of water, a little hand weight plus the stone and stone carrier, I now have a great consistently even bevel. It took a lot longer than it will take in the future because I was not only using the sharpie but also an angle Finder on my iPod touch 4th gen, with a lot of slight repositioning of the blade in the clamp with angle measurements to understand the impact of position relative to angle. I settled on an angle of 18°. I would guesstimate that I moved to the 300 grit after an hour of fussing.
Next, I honed a benchmade 710-m390 with the 1500 grit and it is even more amazingly sharp then it has ever been, slicing through pants legs of an old pair of Levi's like butter.
One of my sons first attempt at using the KME was to bring a badly damaged CRKT AUS8 (M21) back to life. It had dings divots and tears along a very dull edge. Explaining the use of different grits for both 710 jobs, I started him with the 300 grit. He chased technique and ironed out chingaderes and in no time at all we progressed to the 600 grit. As he worked and we talked, he ended up with much better technique and a 40° inclusive to meet his usage needs with that steel. He did end up leaving a small divot/dent halfway between the shoulder and the edge of the bevel, but that also will iron out over time.
I am also convinced that this is the safest guided clamping manual system for starting another son on his learning curve.
 
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A low quality steel is sometimes much harder to sharpen than better quality steels. I have a couple of Rough Rider knives which are 440(A) steel which take about 5 times as long to reprofile as a Victorinox of the same size.
 
fvdk: you might be right but, why!? Anyway... last night I finished sharpening and beside having a lower angle towards the tip (I might have clamped the blade the wrong way) i'm preety happy with the result... shaving sharp and glides trough phonebook paper. I started to work on another knife (same crap quality) and the xx.coarse stone seams to cut better now. I'm keeping the factory angle and got a burr in less then 10 minutes without applying any pressure what so ever. Seeing the end result, my frustration is all gone now :). By the way fvkd, you convinced me to buy this system in a post I started time ago heh... so I have to thank you as well for having this...
 
It is probably a combination of low quality alloys and poor heat treatment. Some steels also will clog up your stones greatly reducing the cutting ability.
Anyway, good to hear that you had much better results with the second knife.
 
bmblades said:
fvdk: you might be right but, why!? Anyway... last night I finished sharpening and beside having a lower angle towards the tip (I might have clamped the blade the wrong way) i'm preety happy with the result... shaving sharp and glides trough phonebook paper. I started to work on another knife (same crap quality) and the xx.coarse stone seams to cut better now. I'm keeping the factory angle and got a burr in less then 10 minutes without applying any pressure what so ever. Seeing the end result, my frustration is all gone now :). By the way fvkd, you convinced me to buy this system in a post I started time ago heh... so I have to thank you as well for having this...
Click to expand...

Good that you got past the frustration phase and are now achieving success. I like the KME very much but as cbwx34 wrote " But here's the reality. You're working with a stone that's only 4"X1". It's not going to be a powerhouse no matter what. Even "The Beast" 50g stone will have this limitation. The sharpener's strength is angle control, its weakness is small abrasive stones."

The only advice I might have offered is that I frequently add water while using, to my diamond stones - just a few drops but I keep the stones lubricated and wipe them off occasionally. That seems to help. Of course the first go with the coarse stone requires the most patience as that is the phase that is accomplishing the most work. After that you are just refining the edge.
 
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