Overthinking sharpness

J

Jared Leland

Joined
Apr 3, 2020
Messages
185
Ok, i have Many knives. My newest is an S30v Benchmade mini bugout. I love this blade it was a gift from my brother. Slightly used because it was his which is even more special. It was sharp but toward the tip just at the end it skates across the fingernail some. I took It to my worksharo field sharpener on the fine stone and touched up the entire length of the blade some then went fine ceramic and stripped a bunch. It’s laser sharp but i find Myself thinking at the very end of the tip it’s just a little less sharp than the belly i have stropped more and hit it on the ceramic rod some too. I find Myself checking a lot. Is this a situation where i should Just use my knives and quit overthinking overall complete perfect sharpness? Thank you in advance I’m proud to be a blade forums brother
 
Jared Leland said:
Ok, i have Many knives. My newest is an S30v Benchmade mini bugout. I love this blade it was a gift from my brother. Slightly used because it was his which is even more special. It was sharp but toward the tip just at the end it skates across the fingernail some. I took It to my worksharo field sharpener on the fine stone and touched up the entire length of the blade some then went fine ceramic and stripped a bunch. It’s laser sharp but i find Myself thinking at the very end of the tip it’s just a little less sharp than the belly i have stropped more and hit it on the ceramic rod some too. I find Myself checking a lot. Is this a situation where i should Just use my knives and quit overthinking overall complete perfect sharpness? Thank you in advance I’m proud to be a blade forums brother
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Nah, get the edge where it needs to be, then you can enjoy it.
 
I think you'll be fine. You gotta sharpen it an awful lot to wear out the blade. I think of supersteels like high mileage tires. You go longer between sharpening because it holds its edge well, so therefore you actually get more use and life out of that blade
 
elevator man said:
I think you'll be fine. You gotta sharpen it an awful lot to wear out the blade. I think of supersteels like high mileage tires. You go longer between sharpening because it holds its edge well, so therefore you actually get more use and life out of that blade
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Thank you! I want This one to last me a lifetime it’s special. It’s laser sharp! It’s just the very very tip wheee i have To rock up my wrist to get it to touch my fingernail that skates a tad bit
 
Jared Leland said:
Just run the tip on the ceramic rod?
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I thought it sounded like you had the WS field sharpener with the flat diamond plates. If you are using ceramic rods then be careful as it's very easy to round off the tip by dragging the tip across the edge. If you have a sharpener with flat abrasive that's what I would use to get the tip done. If all you have are rods then set the very tip on the rod and slowly work backwards just a bit.

This is of course all just my recommendation and I'm by no means an expert. This is just what I would do in your situation.
 
Maximumbob54 said:
I thought it sounded like you had the WS field sharpener with the flat diamond plates. If you are using ceramic rods then be careful as it's very easy to round off the tip by dragging the tip across the edge. If you have a sharpener with flat abrasive that's what I would use to get the tip done. If all you have are rods then set the very tip on the rod and slowly work backwards just a bit.

This is of course all just my recommendation and I'm by no means an expert. This is just what I would do in your situation.
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Oh i meant The ceramic rod section on the WS field sharpener
 
Tip grinds on many knives are often thicker, geometrically, as the edge grind sweeps up and meets with the usually thicker steel near the spine. Even when the apex at the tip is fairly crisp, often the tip will still want something more for sharpness. Most factory grinds will attempt to keep the bevel widths uniform all the way from the heel to the tip, as it looks better to most buyers. So, with the bevel width being the same at the thicker tip, the edge angle there will often be much wider (more obtuse).

You can bring the tip sharpness up to match the rest of the edge by grinding the edge bevels near the tip more acutely than factory. The trade-off will be, in doing this, the edge bevels in the thicker steel near the tip will be noticeably wider, sometimes MUCH wider. For appearance's sake, it may look odd to some. But it can still be gradually blended into the overall edge grind and the tip sharpness will improve dramatically. With my own knives, I've opted to get that extra sharpness all the way out to the tip, and I can live with the gradually widening bevels approaching the tip.

Edited to add:
And because of the thicker steel and the wider edge angle near the tip, it's very common to come up a bit short of full apex when attempting to sharpen the tip at the same held angle as for the rest of the edge. It usually takes much, much longer to fully apex near the tip under these circumstances. Examining the edge under high magnification and under good light will show if the edge is fully apexed or not.
 
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elevator man said:
I would recommend a flat stone for the tip. I agree with others, it can be easy to round a tip. Using a flat stone makes it easier to be sure to maintain the right angle so the edge gets sharp without rounding it
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Thank you! I use the work sharp field sharpener is that ok?
 
I'm sure, i use a guided dmt system myself kinda like a lansky and also a sharpmaker some. I have to be careful with the sharpmaker with the tips
 
elevator man said:
I'm sure, i use a guided dmt system myself kinda like a lansky and also a sharpmaker some. I have to be careful with the sharpmaker with the tips
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I’m using the worksharp field sharpener but finishing up on the ceramic rod on the field sharpener then stropping
 
It seems that you didn't get the tip sharp ( completely apexed) with the diamond stone. You will be almost to forever trying to remove enough met with the ceramic rod to get it sharp. If you want the tip as sharp as the rest of the knife. The fastest way to get there will be to work the tip on you course diamond stone, until you reach the apex on both sides. Then refine that edge with the fine diamond, ceramic rod, and strop.

O.B.
 
The True North said:
Never been a fan of rods.

Flat stones, foxed angle systems, and a good strop are where it's at.
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Rods shine for those intentionally OR UNINTENTIONALLY recurve blades 🙃 😣
Some times the depth of grind waves it's way down the blade and the angle changes similarly AND FROM SIDE TO SIDE .
With a ceramic rod , usually two or three grits , especially the Spyderco Triangle rods I can go motto crossing around the factory edge terrain and get a new knife fresh out of the box usably sharp until I can mentally psyche myself up to reprofile the edge into symmetry on a fixed angle sharpening jig . Often the number and duration of the loud expletives that flow are a bad time for all ; some times the plants get up and walk outside for a quick breather .

. . . why the $%&$ do I have to grind a ¥€¢¶∆× consistent , sharpenable edge on a ?$;#%$ brand new $ 150 knife to make it able do the only &%@℅€ purpose it was ¥¢€¶× made to do ? ! ? ! 😓

Still , if I am at work and ding an edge or other wise do something stupid to the edge I can get in there with a triangle ceramic rod and improve that few millimeters of the edge without touching the otherwise ~ perfect edge .

Spyderco Ceramic Triangle rods : Love 'em !
 
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Wowbagger said:
Rods shine for those intentionally OR UNINTENTIONALLY recurve blades 🙃 😣
Some times the depth of grind waves it's way down the blade and the angle changes similarly AND FROM SIDE TO SIDE .
With a ceramic rod , usually two or three grits , especially the Spyderco Triangle rods I can go motto crossing around the factory edge terrain and get a new knife fresh out of the box usably sharp until I can mentally psyche myself up to reprofile the edge into symmetry on a fixed angle sharpening jig . Often the number and duration of the loud expletives that flow are a bad time for all ; some times the plants get up and walk outside for a quick breather .

. . . why the $%&$ do I have to grind a ¥€¢¶∆× consistent , sharpenable edge on a ?$;#%$ brand new $ 150 knife to make it able do the only &%@℅€ purpose it was ¥¢€¶× made to do ? ! ? ! 😓

Still , if I am at work and ding an edge or other wise do something stupid to the edge I can get in there with a triangle ceramic rod and improve that few millimeters of the edge without touching the otherwise ~ perfect edge .

Spyderco Ceramic Triangle rods : Love 'em !
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True. Recurve and hawkbill knives are essentially impossible to sharpen without Spyderco's triangular rods.
 
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