Losing Edge Too Fast? Leek CPM-D2

[kershawleek]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum but I've read a lot on here before! If you didn't see from my username, I use the Kershaw Leek for an EDC and have for about a year now.
I had the composite blade with CPM-D2 for 7 months, used it every day as I worked landscaping/hardscaping. The knife was stolen when I got back to college, so I bought another one
about two weeks ago.

My question is about sharpening this knife. I own the el-cheapo DMT credit card diamond stones, but so far I haven't touched the new knife with them. It came razor-sharp from the box
as always, so the plan was to exploit the properties of the steel and try to see how long the edge would keep. Unfortunately, this has been a failed endeavor. Already, I have lost the
designation of "razor-sharp" (can't shave my arm anymore) and I could deal with that, but it also can't even cut through paper as well as my $5 Sheffield I bought at WalMart.

Now, to get it out of the way, I do know how to sharpen knives. I am an Eagle Scout, and spent over 10 years in the BSA. I sharpened a lot of knives and owned a lot of knives. I do
know the importance of stopping, and I own a nice leather belt that I usually use. The combination of the stop and the diamond stones are how I got the Sheffield so sharp. However,
stropping is making absolutely no difference on the D2 blade. I had read that just stopping it should keep it razor-sharp, but it didn't work for me. My questions are:

1.) What do you guys think could have gotten the blade so much more dull so quickly? I go to college right now and all I've used the knife for is EDC stuff like opening a few cardboard boxes,
shredding receipts, and cutting some fruit and veggies. The roughest task I've used it for is cutting up tomatoes on a granite countertop.

2.) I'm open to any suggestions about improving my stopping....I'm good at keeping the angle but it doesn't do very much. I usually do 50 strokes on each side, at 20 degrees or less. I do not
own any compound....that's what I am going to try next I think.

3.) There are already rust spots on the blade, both on the Sandvik upper and the D2 lower. I promise it didn't go swimming or anything. Any insight on why that happened and how I can take
better care of it from now on?

Thank you very much in advance. I'm eager to learn, and I read this forum almost every day. It's just that for some reason I'm having trouble applying what I've learned....and sorry for all
the questions. Don't get mad because I'm new please!

 

[Rapt_up]

"The roughest task I've used it for is cutting up tomatoes on a granite countertop."

Well this right here will dull any blade...Granite is way harder than the D2 will ever be. Only cut food on a wood or plastic cutting board. Cutting on ceramic or stone has essentially the same effect as trying to slice your sharpening stones... it dulls your blade very fast.

Also D2 can be a little harder to sharpen than the 13CXXX steel that the original Leek blade came in so its going to take more to put the edge on in the first place.

Finally often the factory edge is not as good as your hand sharpened edge will be once its been sharpened a couple times because there is a good chance the factory edge has been overheated some by the grinding and so hasn't got the same hardness as the rest of the blade. Try putting a fresh edge on your Leek, clean the strop the edge to remove the burr and avoid cutting on very hard surfaces. I think you'll find it holds an edge reasonably well..

That said, I have never considered D2 to be a premium edge holding steel, its a good aggressive cutter with large carbides, so it take a coarse edge better and will slice well but not really maintain a very fine razor edge. For a fine razor edge the standard steel is probably better. But neither will stand up to cutting on granite.

I like M390, 3V, S90V, or 10V run as hard as they can reasonably be run. That varies for each of those steels, but is over Rc 60 for all of them. in the case of 10V its up to Rc 65 .

 

[kershawleek]

Shows what I know as far as granite goes....whoops.

One further question: I am looking at DMT sharpening stones, and I'm sold on the 8" Fine/Extra Fine bench stone on Amazon. Will that plus stropping with a compound get me to a razor-edge? I don't want to have to buy waterstones because they're apparently very annoying to maintain. In other words, I'd just use the Fine, then Extra-Fine, then strop with leather and probably 1-micron diamond paste. I already have DMT Coarse stone (a small one but I rarely use it).

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Jason B.]

I would recommend the Coarse or Coarse/fine DMT with 1 micron strop. I often use the Coarse DMT plus 1 micron strop and it yields a very high level of sharpness.

BTW, lots of misconceptions are spread about waterstones. They need to be maintained but it's not a big deal.

 

[blade dude]

I have never met tasks other than kitchen where I notice a difference between shaving and not able to cut paper. Also cardboard is really rough as well. I get vg10 razor sharp on really cheap course stone without stropping