Maintenance for Traditionals

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totallynotalex

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I thought about maybe putting this in the maintenance forum, but I want to specifically address traditionals. I have a bunch of questions and instead of making multiple threads I'll just put em all in here.

1) How do you sharpen your knives? I try to sharpen mine on lansky rods but I have a hard time getting em sharp.
2) What degree do you sharpen you blades out?
3) Is it easier to make your own strop or just to buy one?

Thanks in advance guys, and if this is the wong place then I apologize. I've been really getting more and more into slip joints lately and I just wanna become as knowledgable about them as possible.
 
1) I use Paper Wheels. They are not for everybody but I like em. I used a Lansky for over 20 years.

2) I like mine at about 25 degrees per side. Provides a good, sharp, durable edge.

3) No strop needed with the Paper Wheels.
 
blazerman said:
I thought about maybe putting this in the maintenance forum, but I want to specifically address traditionals. I have a bunch of questions and instead of making multiple threads I'll just put em all in here.

1) How do you sharpen your knives? I try to sharpen mine on lansky rods but I have a hard time getting em sharp.
2) What degree do you sharpen you blades out?
3) Is it easier to make your own strop or just to buy one?

Thanks in advance guys, and if this is the wong place then I apologize. I've been really getting more and more into slip joints lately and I just wanna become as knowledgable about them as possible.
Click to expand...

For pocket-sized traditionals in carbon or relatively simple stainless steels (like 1095/CV/420HC/440A/440C), they can be easily maintained with a ceramic hone. In particular, for someone not yet comfortable with freehand sharpening, the Sharpmaker from Spyderco is excellent for that. As with any ceramic hones, they work a lot better if kept clean (Comet/ajax powder, or Bar Keepers Friend work very well).

The 'degree' you speak of, I assume refers to edge angle? If so, you're generally safe with anything between 15 - 20 degrees per side (30 - 40 inclusive). Too much thinner than 15 per side, and edges will more likely roll or chip.

A simple strop can easily be made out of a piece of smooth veg-tanned leather, glued or otherwise attached to a smooth, flat piece of wood. A good, all-around compound for a strop is Simichrome polish (or I hear Flitz works well, too). These compounds will also be perfect for shining the bolsters on your traditional knives, too.
 
For maintaining my pocket knives, I like to keep it simple as possible. That means if there's no coffee mug around, I'll stoop to using the cut down eze-lap model L I carry in my wallet. It's the red 600 grit diamond hone, and it fits in the zipper part of my wallet. I like to be able to sharpen whatever knife I am carrying that day, right now, where ever I am. I don't like to be tied to home based gadgets and gizmo's to touch up my knife. Top edge of car windows, bottom of coffee mugs, strop on the back of a Dickies work belt. It all works. I'm a firm believer in the KISS principle of things.

If the knife has been exposed to salt water after a day of boating, it gets a scrubbing that night with some Dawn dish detergent and an old toothbrush in the kitchen sink.

Once in a while I'll take a paper match and use the torn end to wipe out the lint and stuff from the inside of the knife. Then use the torn end of a clean match to wipe on a thin coat of fine oil. That's it. A slip joint is a simple tool, needing only very simple maintanence. No need to get carried away.

Carl.
 
blazerman said:
1) How do you sharpen your knives? I try to sharpen mine on lansky rods but I have a hard time getting em sharp.
2) What degree do you sharpen you blades out?
3) Is it easier to make your own strop or just to buy one?
Click to expand...

I don't sharpen my knives often, I keep them sharp by stropping them regularly. For carbon steels like 1095 I use sandpaper, for harder stainless steels a Sharpmaker.

I usually do 40 degrees (inclusive), then use 30 degrees to knock off the shoulders.

I use old leather belts with green compound for stropping (only if they are flat).
 
blazerman said:
I thought about maybe putting this in the maintenance forum, but I want to specifically address traditionals. I have a bunch of questions and instead of making multiple threads I'll just put em all in here.

1) How do you sharpen your knives? I try to sharpen mine on lansky rods but I have a hard time getting em sharp.
2) What degree do you sharpen you blades out?
3) Is it easier to make your own strop or just to buy one?

Thanks in advance guys, and if this is the wong place then I apologize. I've been really getting more and more into slip joints lately and I just wanna become as knowledgable about them as possible.
Click to expand...

1) I found an old Buck Washita stone at a flea market for $2, it sharpens carbon steel very impressively and it is all i use anymore. If the edge is really rough i use an india stone.
2) For blades intended for utility i use about 15-20 degrees, i'm not exactly sure because i sharpen it by hand, for a secondary blade i keep a razor sharp edge for whittling by laying it down nearly flat on the stone when i sharpen
3) Just use your leather belt for carbon steel and 420HC steel because they are easy steels to work with. For supersteels (s30v, ats-whatever), I don't know i have never had one because i like carbon steel. If you want to, you can make a strop with some old leather from boots or something. I think the strops on the market are way overpriced
 
1.I use the DMT fine/extra fine tri-fold hone to touch my edges up, and a smith's whetstone to reprofile the edges.
2.Personally, it depends on intended use. I keep about a 30 degree inclusive edge on my EDCs, and the ones that are used solely for slicing I reprofile to almost a zero edge.
3.IMO, it's easiest to go to a local goodwill store and pick up a decent condition belt, then to the local jewelry shop and ask for rouge. About a $10 fix, works great, and keeps $$ in your local economy.
 
I use a Smith's flat diamond bench stone I've had for 10 years. I don't worry about the angle. I maintain the angle it came with.
 
I touch mine up on the sharpmaker when needed... that's about it for sharpening. Every once in a while I fold up a paper towel and use the corner to clean inside the knife. Then a drop of oil in the joints and you're good to go.

The only reason I use a sharpmaker is that I'm not confident in my free hand skill, and I haven't taken the time to learn since the sharpmaker is so easy. If you have any older knives laying around, I would suggest learning to free hand before you become a slave to the sharpmaker of other sharpening device.
It seems that it must be much more satisfying to sharpen free hand.
 
When sharpening, its all free hand and I don't worry about angles either. No one would sharpen my knives for me as a kid so I had to teach myself over many years of trial and error and have gotten pretty good at it. I use various stones, ceramic rods, and in worst cases, EZ Lap diamond hones. They all get a finishing strop on 3M brown lapping paper on a phone book.
Whatever I am carrying for the week gets a toot of compressed air down the slots and joints to get fuzz and lint out and a drop or two of Starrett Tool and Instrument oil in the joints.
 
I reprofile most traditionals since the original edge geometry is typically not very good. For that I either do it free hand or with my Edge Pro. From there I touch up with my Sharpmaker that is always in the kitchen. Never use more than the fine stones with a very light hand. I sometimes strop but the sharpmaker is so fast plus I always have it on hand. I cook most nights and use it to maintain my custom kitchen knives also so I tend to just pull the knife out of my pocket for a few strokes also.
 
Blazerman....if you don't mind...I have a question that I hope will add to your thread. What are some of your ideas for cleaning up the inside areas of a slipjack. I found a few old ones I found recently and they have rust inside the cavities that blades rest in.
 
I use some fine grit sandpaper and a mousepad for when my edge gets really poor. Normally I just use a strop to maintain a razor edge. As far as angle, I don't worry about it much. I put a little mineral oil on my traditional once in a while but mostly just keep it clean.

Like Carl, I like to keep it simple with my knives. I still would like to learn to use stones but I learned on sandpaper a few years back and it works really well for me (and it's super cheap)
 
Cleaning/oiling same as Carl.
Sharpening besides a coffe cup, I use a Spyderco Pocketstone. Freehand, handheld.
Took me a while to learn it, being spoilt by the Sharpmaker and screwed up a few edges that way:grumpy:, but I´m finally getting the hang of it.
After the stone a few strokes against an old leather belt i have hanging in the kitchen and it´s shaving sharp again.
Don´t exactly know what angle and I don´t care very much. If it´s sharp, it´s sharp;)
As soon as the blade cleanly slices a leave of cigarette rolling paper I´m happy:D
 
Lately, I've been using sandpaper that is 600 grit but it's worn down. Then I strop on cardboard on the back of a paper pad. Placing sandpaper atop the pad will convex the edge some. Not an ideal setup but works for me. Free hand takes a while to develop muscle memory, but if you start with a fine sandpaper, it's hard to do irreparable damage to your blade. I use a cheap coarse/fine stone if I have to do major re-profiling. My mini ceramic sticks don't get used much these days, and my EZ-lap diamond stick stays in my emergency kit.
 
Sharping and mainentance for a knife?! Never I do this... Just joking :D

I sharp them like every other knife. With the Lansky stones, but all freehand. First I make a new grind, evertime, with a stone which I use for skythe.
Then comes the middle Lansky, and if necessary I use the fine Lansky. I never use leather or something like this. I like to make my knives not razorsharp. But a really sharp knife is what I need.
The scales get oiled with Ballistol, as well as the blades and the axes.

My 2 Cent.

Kind regards
Andi
 
I use Smiths and EZ Lap diamond sharpeners for the most part and for finer touch up an M-204 sharpmaker, no stroping except for my old Marbles convex edge fixed blade. I'm with Jackknife on the KISS state of mind....
006-1.jpg
 
You guys that use sandpaper. Is this method similar to yours? This guy put the video up yesterday. I hadn't been able to find any good sandpaper sharpening videos before that. His test at the end is pretty impressive to a sharpening newb like myself. i've watched videos of guys doing those "cheater tests" and still hanging up half way through the sheet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUMgkZN4IF8
 
I sharpen on sandpaper over a dense rubber pad. I finish and maintain my edges on a ghetto strop bat I made my self. I keep my knives nasty sharp.

The strop just makes it so stinking easy to keep my knives "even my dad won't touch the edges" sharp!

here is my ghetto strop bat. I broke a new belt, and cut it up. I use ghetto buffing compound from the hard ware store, but it works. (ignore the non traditional knife in the shot, it is the only pic of my strop that I have I think)
IMG_0990.jpg

IMG_0999.jpg

IMG_0993.jpg


This is a v grind at this point. Just a bit of stropping with the loaded strop and it was hair popping sharp.

Angle does matter. If you have an obtuse angle and strop it up, it will get polished and shave hair well, even be hair popping sharp, but re-profiling the edge to a thinner angle then stropping will give you better tree topping results, but the edge will be more delicate, so just figure out what edge gives you a good balance between durability and slicing scary edge.

convexing an edge is another subject. If you use a strop for a while on the knife it will eventually become more convex.

Next I want to actually use quality leather and good quality compound.

I have used this set up for about 5 or 6 years or so. With my convexed edges, it does a fine job! I have no idea what the micron size of this harbor freight buffing compound is. It is not a true mirror polish (like with my saphire stone).
 
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eNon said:
You guys that use sandpaper. Is this method similar to yours? This guy put the video up yesterday. I hadn't been able to find any good sandpaper sharpening videos before that. His test at the end is pretty impressive to a sharpening newb like myself. i've watched videos of guys doing those "cheater tests" and still hanging up half way through the sheet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUMgkZN4IF8
Click to expand...

Nope.

I don't do the circular thing. I just drag the edge across the paper. The same way I strop.

I also don't wet the sandpaper (if you do, it cuts down on the dust, but I feel like the paper lasts longer without doing this) If I am doing serious work I will tape the corners down to the rubber pad (I use a pretty dense rubber base pad that I picked up at Tandy Leather).

This is a pretty detailed set of video's
http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages/Sharpening-Videos

Photos.
http://brkca.com/convex.htm

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQCkKPGSOtA

Search you tube "convex sharpening" on youtube, and about 20 vids will show up.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=convex+sharpening&aq=f
 
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