Poll:Do you keep factory bevels or re-bevel?

Tactical · Apr 25, 2001

Hello again fellow knifeknuts!

I was wondering if people here followed factory bevels when sharpening, or changed the angle to match, oh say your Spyderco Sharpmaker? I have gotten a few factory blades with bevels a little off, but I still try to follow factory bevels to avoid removing too much steel. What do you do? And thanks for the replies!

Be careful out there!

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medusaoblongata · Apr 25, 2001

I ususally rebevel the first time I sharpen a knife. It's just easier that way for me since I use a Lansky. And I buy a lot of BM's, which come with very steep bevels. I'm in the process of rebeveling my D2E Sifu right now and it's taking hours, even with 60 grit sandpaper.

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"Is not giving a need? Is not receiving mercy?" - Thus Spoke Zarathustra
"Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about." - Lazarus Long
"Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting." - Michel Foucault

Tactical · Apr 25, 2001

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by medusaoblongata:
I'm in the process of rebeveling my D2E Sifu right now and it's taking hours, even with 60 grit sandpaper.

</font>

Thanks for the reply!

That is my problem it takes me FOREVER to remove even a little bit of quality knife steel.

Chang · Apr 25, 2001

I always rebevel. I usually sharpen to a 15-degree angle, and most factories do about 20-degrees.

Cliff Stamp · Apr 26, 2001

If you are altering the edge profile on your knives on a regular basis you really want to buy a simple belt sander. You can pick them up for about $50 (US), and with a coarse belt they will allow you to thin out the edge on a blade significantly in a few passes. As your skill increases you can finish sharpen on them with finer grit belts and/or a leather stropping belt. Start off of course by grinding on some cheap kitchen knives to get the feel for it.

-Cliff

Mykl Clark · Apr 26, 2001

I always rebevel as soon as I get the knife. It's easier that way because I use a sharpmaker and hell no knife comes sharp enough anyway so might as well get it started off right.

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Mykl
Once you start down the path of the sharp side forever will it dominate your destiny

Josh Feltman · Apr 26, 2001

Can somebody explain this whole rebevelling thing to me? I read the FAQ on rebevelling the axis, but I am still a bit confused. On the 30 degree setting on the sharpmaker, you are actually removing metal from the area where the secondary grind meets the primary grind as opposed to sharpening the actual edge, and then you move to the 40 degree setting and put a wider final edge on the knife? Is this right?

SDouglas · Apr 26, 2001

Josh,

When I am rebeveling with the sharpmaker 204 I actually work with the 30 degree setting all the way down to the edge. (Warning, this takes a LLLOOOONNNGGG time) (I can't wait for the Diamond Sharpmaker rods Spyderco is working on)

Once I have achieved a 30 degree edge I will either maintain it or go to 40 degrees to increase toughness depending on how I plan to use the knife.

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AKTI Member No. A000370

Jeff Clark · Apr 26, 2001

I usually take the knife to my coarse diamond hone or my belt sander within the first few hours of ownership. I don't care much about edge durability, just razor-like cutting action. I like to resharpen the blades.

Joe Talmadge · Apr 26, 2001

I pretty much always re-bevel. Since I tend to be Sharpmaker-based, I usually start re-beveling at 15-degrees. If I want this knife to cut astoundingly well, I take the 15-degree bevels all the way to a burr. If I want it to be a bit more robust, I'll take the 15-degree bevels to within, say, 1/32"-1/64" of the very edge, then put a 20-degree bevel on top of that. If the edge doesn't chip, I might take the 15-degree bevels all the way to the burr the next time I sharpen.

Joe

Samurai6 · Apr 26, 2001

Always rebevel, as a rule. I have purchased a few knives that have come with a proper edge on them, but not many.

I use a course stone file, the type you can buy at the hardware store to sharpen your lawn mower blade. I can rebevel anything in half an hour.

Tactical · Apr 26, 2001

Thanks guys and any new replies, interesting reading ........ It does seem most people here like to make their knives a little better than they came from the factory.

bad4u · Apr 26, 2001

I always re-form the edge. I use benchstones for this operation, since devices such as the Sharpmaker take forever to accomplish the metal removal usually required.

Final edge angle is difficult to measure, since it's a freehand operation, but somewhere between 30 and 25 degrees.

After I've achieved a wire-edge along the full edge, I form the final edge by honing in two steps, using a strop system loaded with 600-grit for polishing and final finish with 10000-grit loaded strop surface.

Since the stropping steps result in some convex rounding of the cutting edge, the final edge is a mini-convex edge at approximately 30 degrees final edge taper.

This results in an edge that is very easy to maintain with minimal stropping at needed intervals. Even for an edge seriously dulled by hard use, using a small 4" Spyderco white ceramic stone prior to stropping will bring the edge back quickly.

This procedure works well for ats34, 440V and Carbon V blades.

ferguson · Apr 26, 2001

Just bought a BenchMade 735 this weekend. It had a pretty steep bevel. (my first BM) It only took about 30 minutes with my diamond Lansky to re-bevel the edge. Medium, fine, then a light stropping. I've found that if I polish the edge too much it doesn't cut as well.