Mick, optimum sharpening angle for AR?

L.O. Little

L.O. Little

Joined
Dec 28, 2000
Messages
760
I use either an Edge Pro Apex or a Spiderco Sharpmaker, depending on the blade (flat or hollow ground). I use the Edge Pro on flat ground blades, Sharpmaker (set @ 40 degrees included angle) on my Sebenza.

My question is, what angle should be used with a flat ground (S30V) AR blade? I know about using a black marker to see what the angle is. What I'm asking is what do you feel is the optimum angle?

I'll bet you can't tell I'm dying to actually OWN an AR...
 
I remember that Duane (or it could have been Mick) answered this very question awhile ago but I can't seem to find it now.
 
i have been using bench stones for years. i could never get use to the new fangled sharpeners they always seemed clumsy. maybe it was just me. i recently purchased a set of norton diamond stones. they were expensive but even the finest stone removes metal quickly. i also use the spyderco ceramic bench stones. these are also worth the money. i finish the edge on a leather strop with some flitz. and then a plain leather strop. i dont have a problem holding an angle on the edge and this method works fastest for me. as with anything else practice makes perfect.
 
There are a lot of methods these days of measuring sharpening angles.
The most popular is the “included edge” method.
It is confusing as all hell because there is a lot of geometry to figure out.
I personally like the regular old way of measuring off of the 90degree flat of the blade.
Therefor…
if you measure off of the flat, you should sharpen at around 22.5 degrees. But this is a bit of an estimation as we sharpen by hand and may miss by half a degree or so.

That is why we mention the marker method.

Thanks for your interest in SK

Mick
 
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