Let's Talk About Sharpening Our Survive! Knives

Casinostocks said:
Always closeby and on my other "desktop" ;)

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Nice!! You should look at the CC4. It is fine/superfine. The fine is the same on the DC4 but the Superfine is a white ceramic that is GREAT for honing blades.
 
Thanks OBX, added it to my Amazon shopping cart :thumbup:

Another addition to have soon is the Flexx pocket strop for the pack carry :)
 
Those big strops are becoming more appealing to me! A few months and one amazon order ago I got a big DMT bench stone... with the interrupted surface.... I think that came up a few pages ago in this thread. As I thought more I started liking the idea of keeping my precious CMP steel away from diamond plates unless drastic repair was needed to an edge.

Anyways, I've been trying to strop just a little here and there to develop the skill and I'm actually not completely terrible anymore. I'm removing sharpie more uniformly and quickly than before and I'm developing a feel for how the angle needs to held and the feel of the edge on the leather. Here's my method.











How do you hold an angle your knife? How do you handle the 2 different directions for the 2 sides of the blade?
 
Silver, your angle looks fine and right to me and I also go from heel to tip. I often manage to score the strop with the tip just because I probably don't lift it in time but I am not too concerned about stropping the very top as I don't really use the very edge of the tip. I mostly use my knives from the heel to about 2/3 up toward the tip at most!
 
For those with deep pockets and an insatiable passion for sharpening:

[video=youtube;cSUT0k0Vd-Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUT0k0Vd-Y[/video]
 
That's very cool! I wish I had a place to put it. This guy also does a good Wicked Edge sharpener video.
 
Hmmmmm. Have you ever seen Guy's sharpening thing? It looks very similar. It uses a belt and not a wheel. It has a bar and a clamp just like that.
 
I think that a stone may (and yet may not!) be easier to deal with, depending on proficiency level. A bely may be too flexible for my (non)skilled level, but sure as heck I will scratch the heck out of the flat part of my steel. Personally speaking, a Wicked Edge Pro will be more fool proof per my "skills". Seems like I'll be dropping $750 or so on something I want but I absolutely don't need, if I keep looking at the W.E.P!
 
Riz! said:
Hmmmmm. Have you ever seen Guy's sharpening thing? It looks very similar. It uses a belt and not a wheel. It has a bar and a clamp just like that.
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Yes, I believe the belt gives the convex edge that a stone cannot produce.
 
I got bore polish, at the recommendation of Worksharp, and out out on my strop. I get a mirror edge with it. Love it. Stopped using anything else.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
this is one of my favorite threads as i am merely "ok" at sharpening. i love seeing how everyone takes things to a next level!
 
I picked up a necker recently and i could feel a few burrs with my thumbnail, but it was shaving sharp. Now after some time with my Gatco sharpening system, I can no longer feel any burrs (good!) but it is not shaving sharp (bad!!). I need a strop...
 
TRfromMT said:
I picked up a necker recently and i could feel a few burrs with my thumbnail, but it was shaving sharp. Now after some time with my Gatco sharpening system, I can no longer feel any burrs (good!) but it is not shaving sharp (bad!!). I need a strop...
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You are probably just fine. A burr or foil edge can be very sharp, but is really fragile and not the true edge. If you've taken the burr off and it's not as sharp you are probably just not to the true edge yet. Raise your own burr by taking a few swipes on one side. If you're at the true edge, it should only take a handful of passes (10-15) to raise a nice burr. If you don't notice a burr, then you are just not to the true edge yet and keep going. Remember to alternate sides (20-30 swipes per side) so you keep the edge in the middle until you get a burr, then alternate with decreasing numbers of passes (I.e. 20\20 -> 10/10 -> 7/7 -> 5/5 -> 3/3 -> 1/1) to make sure there's no burr on the edge. By this point the knife will be sharp, shaving sharp. Then go to the finer hones to refine the edge. The finer bones should go really fast because you're already at the true edge and you are just trying to reduce lose the size of the scratch pattern in the edge. Often, you can just start the decreasing number of passes you just used and be pretty close to going onto the next home, but the steel has a lot to say about that. (Supersteels take longer). Once you've finished your finer hones you should be to scary sharp. A few passes on a strop now will take the edge to stupid sharp. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks MDPete. Makes a lot of sense.

I am sharpening at 22-degrees per side. I believe this is in the right range for the typical S!K blade. I would take that down (Say 19-degress per side) but my coarse stone was damaged and I only have the medium and fine stones, and reprofiling would take *forever* with the finer stones. But I can get shaving sharp on my other knives with this setting, so it seems a good starting point.
 
Casinostocks said:
I think that a stone may (and yet may not!) be easier to deal with, depending on proficiency level. A bely may be too flexible for my (non)skilled level, but sure as heck I will scratch the heck out of the flat part of my steel. Personally speaking, a Wicked Edge Pro will be more fool proof per my "skills". Seems like I'll be dropping $750 or so on something I want but I absolutely don't need, if I keep looking at the W.E.P!
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I have a Wicked Edge Pro Gen 2 and rarely use it. Strop is so easy for touch ups. The only reason I pull the Wicked Edge out is if I have time to set it all up, and something that is damaged or WAY dull. 90% of the time I just strop. I have not used the WE in probably 14 months.
 
TRfromMT said:
Thanks MDPete. Makes a lot of sense.

I am sharpening at 22-degrees per side. I believe this is in the right range for the typical S!K blade. I would take that down (Say 19-degress per side) but my coarse stone was damaged and I only have the medium and fine stones, and reprofiling would take *forever* with the finer stones. But I can get shaving sharp on my other knives with this setting, so it seems a good starting point.
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20-25 dps is a solid choice for any outdoor knife. S! knives are super steel so if you want to push the lower end of that angle range, you should be fine. (You can always add back a few degrees by adding a micro bevel at a higher angle if your original choice proves too acute). If you can't raise a burr along the entire edge, you're not at the true edge and that means you have to remove material to get down to the true edge. If removing more material is the task, then the coarse hone is your friend. I find that I do 90% of the work of sharpening with the coarse stone. The finer ones together only constitute the last 9% and the strop for the last 1%. You should repair or replace the damaged hone to avoid it taking forever. Otherwise your options are limited. You can comit to hours of drudgery with the medium hone (this is super steel we're talking about) or you can make your angle less acute i.e. 25 dps knowing that if you later decide to make it more acute, you're right back where you are now - not at the true edge and in need of material removal.

The advantage of a fixed angle guided system is that the angle is fixed and reproducible. Set up the clamp and guides properly and you will get the same edge time, after time, after time. The first time you sharpen any knife though, you are reprofiling it. You'll often find that the factory edge has areas where it was lifted during sharpening, or off center, or just ground out too much (tips are a popular spot for this to occur). Youre going to raise a burr on some parts long before others. Remember, you're not to the true edge until there is a burr down the entire length of the edge. Getting there can be slow. Once there, the process really picks up and the strength of your system becomes more evident as you transition between hones without changing your angle at all. The real advantage is the next time your knife needs sharpening. Get set up properly and your angle is identicle.
 
When you sharpen your knife after you've taken the time to get to the true edge, you may well be able to start with the medium hone. If you raise a burr along the entire length of the edge - super! This will be easy! If, however you find that one area or another fails to yield a burr, pull out the coarse hone because you have some work to do. If there is a chip, the true edge is at the bottom of that chip and you have a lot of work to do. Again you're going to be wishing for that coarse hone.

Now you maybe asking, "won't removing all that material mess up my knife?" The short answer is "No." Not any worse than that chip in the edge has. The longer answer is that you shouldn't have to sharpen your knife very frequently if you maintain the edge. Rolls are easy, they happen all the time. Your kitchen knives get rolls daily. A few quick passes on a knife steel or a strop can straighten them right out. Regular knife use on those rolls however will flatten them out and then become divots or chips. When that happens its - "where's my coarse hone?"

My wife thinks we have awesome kitchen knives because they never seem to get dull. The truth is, they are average knives that roll every time they are used. I've just gotten used to taking a few quick swipes down the knife steel each time I pick them up and the rolls straighten right out. Eventually, the metal at the edge will fatigue and come off, and that means I'll need to resharpen them. But I've only had to sharpen them once this year and they are all still shaving sharp. A little maintenance goes a long way.

These posts have been longer than expected. The short of it is: replace your coarse hone - you'll need it eventually anyway. Don't be afraid to remove material, when material needs removing. And lastly, maintaining your edge to prevent rolls from becoming something worse. Hope that was helpful.
 
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