Novice sharpening questions

G

gregg

Joined
Nov 10, 1999
Messages
7
I have finally tried to sharpen my BM 710 freehand. I read Joe Talmadge's FAQ, and tried to create a burr on one side of the blade. But I cannot get a burr to form. I may not be pressing hard enough (using a 6" X 2" Eze-Lap fine [600 grit] diamond stone).

Before I really bear down on the knife, I wanted to know....is ATS-34 exceptionally hard, or am I just doing it wrong? I appreciate any advice, sorry if this has been asked before.

Gregg Kronenberger
 
God knows I'm no expert, but I think part of your difficulty lies in the choice of sharpening tools. That fine grit will take a
mighty long time to remove enough metal to create a burr on the opposite edge. You need
a coarse stone, especially if it's the first time you've done it with this knife. Stay with the diamonds if you like, but you need a more abrasive grade. Hope this helps.
 
Use a marker to blacken the edge and then make a few strokes on the stone. You can then check and see where on the bevel you are honing. I will bet the problem is that you are not matching the current bevel angle.

-Cliff
 
hello,

Or just alliviate all your problems and get a good set of ceramic Crock sticks for like 18.00 to 20.00 and have at it!!

if your still having problems you could send it to me for sharpening if you like, I`ll even do it for ya for FREE and it will Shave when ya get it back, also i wont change or degrade the bevel. In fact if ya send me a blank VCR Video tape along with your knife i will video tape me resharpening it so you can have a guide to go by when you need to re do it again. Up to you,,let me know.

Tke care and good luck,

Allen Blade
 
have to agree with everyone so far.
Also if you get a coarser stone, you might consider a finer one also. 600 is Ok but theres a lot finer out there. You should be able to find a hard arkansas or ceramic for a decent price.If you choose ceramic, get fine white and do as much with the other stones as you can. It is fine enough that it will put a shaving sharp edge on a knife if used properly. But they are so fine that if you try and do most of the work with them you can end up rounding the edge over. Unless you are very good at keeping your angle the same. Good luck.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Concerning shaving sharpeness, even very coarse (x-coarse DMT even) finishes will do this providing you grind right to the very bevel. It is not necessary to go to a really fine stone to get a blade shaving sharp. It is actually harder to freehand on a fine stone as opposed to a coarse one anyway because it requires a more precise motion.

-Cliff
 
Yep, either one of those could be the problem. Definitely use the magic marker trick to see if you're too high or too low on the angle. When you're just right, the marker should get scraped off the entire bevel all at the same time.

Also, a coarser hone will make quicker work of the "create a burr" part of the job. The DMT coarse hone cuts quickly, the x-coarse hone VERY quickly so be very careful with it. Do NOT press hard with any diamond hone, you'll just scrape off the diamonds and ruin the hone. You want faster cutting, go to a coarser hone.
Joe
 
Ah good, now that the sharpening experts are here, I hope you can answer a sharpening question for me as well. On a thick blade with a thick edge like cold steels SRK for example, is it harmful to the blade to take the bevel down thinner? What I am talking about is using the Spyderco sharpmaker. Many thick edges do not touch up well on the Sharpmaker by holding the knife straight. I can resharpen them by tilting the knife inward so the edge contacts the sticks, but I would like to simply bring the bevel down where the sharpmaker will sharpen it by holding it straight. I know doing this on the sharpmaker will be time consuming, but my questions are as follows. Do you think it removes to much steel to bring the bevel down like that? Should I alternate sides, or just continue on one side until its angled how I want it then go to the other side? BTW, if it makes a differance, I have the old style sharpmaker with one angle. Thanks in advance.
 
You're proposing making the edge angle more acute. I do that with nearly every knife I buy. A more acute angle cuts better but is more susceptible to damage. IMHO the manufacturers -- nearly all of them -- choose robustness because if they didn't they'd get people returning knives because they tried to cut a nail with it -- or even music wire -- and nicked the edge -- and they don't get people returning knives because they don't cut well ... most people have never used a knife that did cut well so they don't know what they're missing....

The best angle depends on what you're going to use the knife for. It makes sense to have one or two beater knives with the blunt factory angle on them, and have other knives with nice sharp edges and avoid abusing those knives.

If you don't know what angle you want yet, try gradually making it more acute until you find the edge starts getting nicked in normal use -- then back off a little. It sounds like you know what angle you want, though -- if you're going to use that CS knife for the same purposes you use your Spydercos for, it should take the same angle -- it only needs to be more obtuse if you plan to be more abusive to it.

Just how thin an edge and acute an angle a knife can take depends on the steel and heat-treat as well as what you use it for ... you just have to experiment....

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
Thanks Cougar, I will do it then. I have a few knives I intend to do it with. Good thing you mentioned keeping a couple with the regular thick edge as I actually was gonna do it to all with thick edges. Your right, I should keep a couple for the more abusive work. That just goes to show that when we have a one track mind about something that we are gonna do, you can depend on the other members here to help ya see a little reason in what ya do. Thanks again for the reply.

Richard
 
When an edge doesn't seem to be forming as it should I've found that a decent magnifying glass or loupe makes it clear why. I recently picked up some 4 diopter reading glasses and have found that they can make decent magnifying glasses for sustained close work.
 
Thank you all for the good ideas and the sharpening offer. I'll give it another try, first with a marker, and then with a coarser stone.

------------------
Gregg Kronenberger
 
Richard --

I found the original edge angle on my SRK *way* too big. I started re-bevelling it on my Sharpmaker but it was taking much too long, so eventually I stuck the thing in a vice, broke out the mil bastard file, and really went to town on it. I'm not sure I'd recommend that method exactly, but don't be surprised if it's really slow going on the SRK if the Sharpmaker is all you have. If you've ever tried to justify buying a DMT x-coarse diamond hone, this is the time! Remember, the initial thinning bevels do not have to be perfect, so even if your freehand skills aren't great, I still recommend doing your thinning on the 6"x2" DMT x-coarse (not coarse, X-COARSE) hone. It'll make this job much quicker and easier. Then once they're thinned sufficiently, you can switch to the Sharpmaker to finish the job.

Joe
 
As suggested in another thread three carborundum stones also work nicely, three in order to grind them against one another to keep them flat, which then can be used to keep other stones flat in addition to sharpening knives. Sears has some 2x7in combo stones for something $6. I used my old badly dished Norton carborundum stone to break the edges on all of my other stones, including a small ceramic stone that I just picked up. The system seems to work very well.
 
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