New edge on my HC's (advice needed)

C

Cam101

Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
22
Hey guys,

I received a nice HC SE 3.5'', and have a 4'' and an LE on the way.

The edge ain't all that fantastic on the one i've got, and i've decided to put a new edge on it. What do you guys recommend as far as angles with the 154CM steel. Can I put a nice sharp shaving edge on it, or would a more robust angle be better?

I'll be using an EdgePro Apex.

Thanks!
 
Myself, since those are slicers by design, I would go with the former.
 
I free hand sharpen all of my blades but an educated guess on these 154CM blades is 20° to 25° inclusive (10° to 13° off of the 250 - 300 grit stone) for the primary grind and maybe 5 to 10 passes at 35° to 40° inclusive (18° to 20° off of the 400 - 600 grit stone) for the secondary grind. It is a slicer after all. After the re-profiling it gets stropped on 400 then 600 then 800 then 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper on a mousepad or leather and the final touch on a leather strop charged with Green abrasive compound. So, you end up with a convex grind in the end I just like to set the shape on the stones. I rarely have to go back past 600 grit to touch up the edge, usually 1000 grit then the charged strop. I keep a 2-1/2 " x 8" strip of 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper folded up in my bag and use it laid on my thigh when necessary. I, of course, go a bit steeper for the big choppers but not much past 20° off of the stone for the primary grind.
 
I just got an apex I need to use on my HCLE. I started to reprofile it with my lansky but had so much trouble I decided to wait until the edgepro showed up.
Here are some great HCLE sheaths that showed up with a few pals from Eric at OST today.
P6290009.jpg
 
I got my 4" HC and the edge wasn't that great but i did a field test and just honed the edge on a fine side of a Smith's diamond sharpener (free handed). Now the edge is just amazing.
 
Hi Cam,

You can thin it out a lot, and make a nice slicer out of it.
(I wonder why they didn't do that in the first place.)

The 154 CM on my Microtech and Emersons is grounded to almost zero, and they keep their edges very nice. No batoning or nailchopping ofcourse, as the steel isn't very good in taking impacts..

Good luck
martin


Cam101 said:
Hey guys,

I received a nice HC SE 3.5'', and have a 4'' and an LE on the way.

The edge ain't all that fantastic on the one i've got, and i've decided to put a new edge on it. What do you guys recommend as far as angles with the 154CM steel. Can I put a nice sharp shaving edge on it, or would a more robust angle be better?

I'll be using an EdgePro Apex.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
I took one of my HCSE 2008s and matched the shop angle grind (50° - 55° +/- inclusive, steep!) on a fine Washita stone until the grind marks weren't visible and then lightly stropped it maybe 3 strokes per side to remove the burr and I sliced up a cardboard box from a frozen pizza into 1" strips and it still shaved hair with very little pull. I'm still going to lay it back to a smaller angle because that steep angle isn't natural for my hand to work with. So, apparently there is no 'bad' angle to put on this blade just make it one you can maintain and you're good!
 
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