M2 sharpening question

C

cds1

Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
237
Hi, guys. I am new to knife sharpening. Just bought a 710HS, as well as a Spyderco Sharpmaker. The 710HS is a great knife, but mine came quite dull out of the box.

Should I be able to sharpen the M2 blade using the ceramic rods that come with the Sharpmaker? Would I need something tougher than ceramic, perhaps diamond sharpening rods?

I'll first practice a bit on one or two of my AUS6 and AUS8 blades before attempting to sharpen the 710HS. Is the approach to sharpening M2 any different than the less wear-resistant blade steels?

Regards,
cds1
 
The ceremic rods of the sharpmaker are easily hard enough for sharpening M2. If the bevel of the edge is more than 30 or 40 degrees (depending on how sharp you want it) you may need daimond hones for the sharpmaker to grind down the edge bevels to the angle. The hones that come standard with the sharpmaker are to fine for serious grinding.

Practising on softer steels is never bad. Try to find the post by Joe Talmagde on sharpening the 710 (few years ago), very informetive!

Good luck.

JD
 
There are two general approaches to hitting a 710HS (great knife, btw) with a Sharpmaker:

1. Keep using the corners of the brown/grey hones at 30 degrees until the 710HS will pop hair off of your arm. After that point, move on to the fine and/or ultra-fine hones.

2. Take a coarse/extra-coarse hone and use an angle smaller than 30 degrees (this will wear away a lot of the protective coating, but the increase in cutting ability, M2's advantage over 154CM, can make it worth the extra time and slightly extra care needed) and then sharpen the very edge at 30 degrees using the brown corners/brown flats/white corners/white flats.
 
Depending on how obtuse the factory edge is, you could be in for quite a lengthy sharpening session using the Sharpmaker. Take Thom's advise #2, get a coarse benchstone and get the bevel down there, then use the Sharpmaker.
 
Would also go with the benchstone first. If you have a diamond benchstone, you can lean it against the sharpmaker rods. Works quite well. Personally, I would work on 30 deg. for a while, but would switch to 40 deg. for the final hone and shaving sharpness. Makes the shapening much faster. If you have the patients though, 30 deg. gives an amazing edge IMO.
 
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