M4 and the work sharp Ken onion

B

Bucketmouth

Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
22
Hello all,
I'm new to the forum but a long time lurker. So I purchased a spyderco gale Bradley and the edge is not centered. I have a sharp maker and can get a bur on both sides but still the edge is almost straight up the left side when looking straight down the edge when pointed up. The right side is a major steep angle. I notice when I cut cardboard the edge doesn't last but maybe a whole box and then it's dull. I'm sure M4 should last longer than this. My question to you is will my wsko be enough to center the edge or should I send it to a professional like Jason or Josh?
Thanks
 
Centering the edge is the job of the person sharpening, the tool is just what he/she uses.

It's also worth mentioning that if the primary blade grind is off then the edge will only be "centered" by grinding off center. Spyderco is usually pretty good with their grinds but sometimes a less than stellar grind can make it out the door.
 
Well i noticed was off center when I got it and tried to correct it by doing more strokes (alot more ) on the side that was pretty much straight up from the grind and very minimal on the other side was needed to rid and create a new bur. Yet I still can not get it to move any. Does that sound like a grind error? How would one go about fixing it? Thanks Jason
 
Almost sounds like you started grinding on the wrong side.

Any possibility of posting a picture of each side?
 
Here are the pictures you emailed to me.

C1B396A3-AB70-47D7-9782-FB7F680FE8FB.jpg


68B6915F-A29B-4587-8950-422910256BD4.jpg


FCFD91C2-AD1E-492A-86A7-1A839D91CCC8.jpg


DC67E8CB-68C7-4E04-9CE1-07F1C774D644.jpg
 
Hard to say for sure but from the first picture it appears that you still have factory grind marks in the bevel. Before anything can really be said those need to be removed and a complete scratch pattern of your own making must be applied. I would recommend diamond rods or a diamond stone to make the work go a little quicker. The Sharpmaker grits are rather fine and don't offer much in terms of stock removal.

Also, I've never seen a GB ground so thin which leads me to believe that your bevel angles are more obtuse that you think. Overall, you must remember that this is a machine ground factory edge and is by far one of the most inconsistent ways to make an even bevel. Too much steel is removed too quickly for any real precision. Typically, when I get a knife in for sharpening it takes several minutes on an 140 grit diamond plate to correct all the low spots, recurves, and angle inconsistencies that are so very typical of factory edge grinds.
 
Another way to check and see if a grind is off... look down at the tip from the spine side, and look at the grind at the heel from the edge side... pretty easy to see if the grind is off from these areas.
 
So if I lay my blue dmt against the rods what angle and what side should I do first? When I look from the tip down the left side of the tip is just a hair and I mean hair longer than the right. I can hit the left side with the 15° slots and shoulder on the right side. Hit the edge on 20 with the right side and hit the edge on left with 20. As seen in the 4th picture. Would I work on the left side at 15 or 20 and then hit the right side at the same or would 15 make my right side bevel a lot larger than left? Thanks for replies guys!
 
It's less about what side you start on and more about how much you inspect the edge while sharpening. Once you get a bevel going with the coarse stone you can begin to inspect your work after every few strokes, look at it from all angles and gauge how much work needs to be done on any one side. Truthfully, this should be habit for any stage of the sharpening.

As you get closer and closer to getting the bevel centered spend less and less time on each side until you are basically just making one stroke per side.

As for angle, always go as low as possible. Obtuse edge angles do absolutely nothing for cutting.
 
OK I'll start hitting the 15 with the dmt blue I can actually get an edge to pop hairs push cut phonebook paper with free hand but this knife is just to pretty for me to mess up as I'm always nervous I'll screw it up at first then after I get comfortable I'll use the bench stones after the whole newness thing wears off lol thanks for the help Jason
 
OK so I'm going to try freehanding the entire thing maybe just stop right off the dmt course stone and call it good. If I use the quarters trick how would I measure the blade on gb? The heel to spine is a lot longer than the middle of blade to the spine. I'm guessing I'd go with 3/4 inch and maybe 4 quarters to get around 15-16 per side correct? I'll postry pictures of my mutilation job after its done lol
 
Bucketmouth said:
Hello all,
I'm new to the forum but a long time lurker. So I purchased a spyderco gale Bradley and the edge is not centered. I have a sharp maker and can get a bur on both sides but still the edge is almost straight up the left side when looking straight down the edge when pointed up. The right side is a major steep angle. I notice when I cut cardboard the edge doesn't last but maybe a whole box and then it's dull. I'm sure M4 should last longer than this. My question to you is will my wsko be enough to center the edge or should I send it to a professional like Jason or Josh?
Thanks
Click to expand...

If you don't want to deal with it you could always send it to me. I'd give it a good home...
 
Well I still can't upload pictures but I do think I did OK. Looks good I used 3 quarters and the left side took me forever but I did end up pushing to center or at least to my eye it's damn near perfect. Just going to use the blue dmt finish on it for now as it pops hair and slices phone book paper easily. Thank you guys for the help
 
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