Need Help Fixing a Sharpening Error

[Ares1307]

Hello everybody! I have been sharpening my own knives for almost as long as I've been a member here, but I'm still not as good as most people on here. I don't freehand, I just don't have a steady enough hand, so I use a Lansky Diamond Deluxe kit for reprofiling and small fixed (small chips and tiny broken tips) and a Spyderco Sharpmaker for touch ups.

However, a couple of days ago I had some very bad luck and damaged BOTH of my EDCs. I fixed the first knife but the second knife was a knife I just got in trade (ZT 561) and of a steel I've never used or sharpened before, Elmax. This knife had a tiny break in the tip (the very very tip was gone) but when I started sharpening it on the Lansky I noticed that part of bevel on one side of the blade was not being touched by the diamonds, about a half inch from the tip on the show side. Its hard to explain but you know when you're putting a sharper edge (like taking a 20* to a 15*) you start with the shoulder but the cutting portion of the edge is untouched at first? It was like this. I sharpened the entire edge evenly for a long time and was getting nowhere so I started focusing more on the tip and more on the show side where the issue was... I know, bad idea. Now the edge is uneven, and that part of the edge that was being stubborn is shorter on the bevel than the rest of the edge (the cutting bevel has less width compared to the rest of the cutting edge). The very tip on the show side has a wider bevel than the non show side also, how can I fix all these issues without taking off too much more material? I'll take some photos tomorrow to give a better idea, but basically the bevel at the tip of the show side was taken to smaller angle than the non show side so it has a higher shoulder and a half inch past the tip the cutting edge is kind of flat and the edge is at its highest angle so the bevel is smaller.

Thanks for any help.

 

[EyeDog]

A wet stone would solve this problem. Larger stones give you more area to work with. The other option would be a paper wheel or belt sander.

But I have ruined a couple of knives that will never be able to be fixed.

 

[rycen]

Or if you don't think you have the ability to fix it yourself you can send it in to Kershaw for sharpening.

 

[Jason B.]

I would start with a benchstone and cut into the stone grinding the edge flat. This gives you a good starting point and will reduce your bevel width to some degree fixing your uneven bevel issue. From here a new edge will need to be ground, large flat stones would be a help here to maintain bevel consistency. Small stones will only make things worse.

 

[Ares1307]

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately I don't have any bench stones, or the skill to use them. I would prefer to try and fix this myself, but if you guys think I would just screw it up more then let me know. If you think I could fix this using the Lansky then any and all advice is welcome. I have the Diamond Lansky system with Extra Corse, Corse, Medium, and Fine Diamond hones... I also have Extra Fine and Sapphire Ceramic hones and three leather strop hones with Diamond spray compound (1,.5, and .25 micron). And I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker plus Ultra Fine rods.

I think that the position that I had the clamp attached to the blade when sharpening it might have been part of the error, but other than that I don't know how that part of the edge ended up shorter and straighter than the rest of the edge. It doesn't follow the shape of the rest of the edge, it almost looks like I filed down about .25-.5 inches of the edge near the tip. I was thinking that trying to find a better spot to clamp the blade and reprofiling it again could fix it, but not sure, do you guys think it would fix it?

I took some pix before my camera died but they aren't very good and you can't see the flat part of the blade very well. But I'll include them anyway. The flat part of the blade is hard to see, its very subtle, you have to look pretty close in person. It almost looks more like a dip on the non show side. I think I might have taken more material off in this area than the rest of the blade and that's why it looks bad.

Any advice on how to fix this myself using the tools at my disposal would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to send off my knife unless its absolutely necessary, and buying new stones is not possible at this time. Thanks again for all the help so far.

 

[EyeDog]

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately I don't have any bench stones, or the skill to use them. I would prefer to try and fix this myself, but if you guys think I would just screw it up more then let me know. If you think I could fix this using the Lansky then any and all advice is welcome. I have the Diamond Lansky system with Extra Corse, Corse, Medium, and Fine Diamond hones... I also have Extra Fine and Sapphire Ceramic hones and three leather strop hones with Diamond spray compound (1,.5, and .25 micron). And I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker plus Ultra Fine rods.

I think that the position that I had the clamp attached to the blade when sharpening it might have been part of the error, but other than that I don't know how that part of the edge ended up shorter and straighter than the rest of the edge. It doesn't follow the shape of the rest of the edge, it almost looks like I filed down about .25-.5 inches of the edge near the tip. I was thinking that trying to find a better spot to clamp the blade and reprofiling it again could fix it, but not sure, do you guys think it would fix it?

I took some pix before my camera died but they aren't very good and you can't see the flat part of the blade very well. But I'll include them anyway. The flat part of the blade is hard to see, its very subtle, you have to look pretty close in person. It almost looks more like a dip on the non show side. I think I might have taken more material off in this area than the rest of the blade and that's why it looks bad.

Any advice on how to fix this myself using the tools at my disposal would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to send off my knife unless its absolutely necessary, and buying new stones is not possible at this time. Thanks again for all the help so far.

OK....take the Sharpmaker and put one of the course rods in the end of holder with wider flat side up. You will notice that the rod is flat and you have no set angle to work with.

You mentioned that your hand was not steady enough to use a larger stone. But if you are steady enough to use the Sharpmaker the standard way...what have you got to lose?

Lay your knife flat on the rod and raise it a little more than than the width of the back of the blade.

The point is that you may need a different angle than the Lansky or Sharpmaker can give you with their preset angles.

 

[Ares1307]

Thanks for the help. I got the knife as good as I can get it without taking off too much more material for now. I got the flat spot gone so the shape of the edge is right again, but couldn't even out the bevels perfectly yet. I'm just going to leave it as is for now and just use it until its dull enough to send it out for a good sharpening. BUT, I'm not sure if I'll be sending it to ZT or try and find someone on the forum that can put a perfect edge on it. I find that factory edges don't satisfy me much and there's always a chance that the factory won't even the bevel out completely. Any recommendations on who to send it to? I would like a very precise, evenly ground edge by someone who knows what they're doing. I've looked in the services offered and will probably send some emails out eventually, but won't need the job done for a while, like I said, I want to use it and enjoy for a while first. I just thought I'd ask if you guys have had any experiences with anyone good.

Thanks again for all the help. I'm a bit obsessive so that odd shaped edge was driving me crazy.