really starting to hate sharpening

W

wicked1

Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
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I had to cut alot today around the house. I cut some metal cable,clothes line,1" rope,lots and lots of cardboard,wicker furniture,and a bookcase. I used my rats for all the chores. Bandicoot and M6. Anyway I just came in and checked the edges out and they need sharpened again. Granted today was a rough day for them, I just spent hours last night sharpening these suckers. They will still cut cardboard but wont push cut paper anymore I guess I should say. I tried stropping them and it did make them a little better but when viewing the edge under the scope the stropping made it more jagged. Back to the Edge Pro I go. Spent another 30 minutes putting the hair popping edges back on.This is really starting to get old. The more knives I get or the more sharpeners I get it just seems like more and more work that needs a knife and dulls it. One day there will be a steel that I dont ever have to sharpen but once a year and use all day.(I HOPE). I guess I could use my sharpmaker instead of the edge pro for touchups but the angles dont quite match so it would be tri beveled. I wouldnt like the look of that. This is an addiction. The quest for the perfect edge.
Arrg.
End of sharpening rant
 
It sounds like you need something really coarse to reprofile so it won't take you more than a few minutes to sharpen. But it's up to you how you balance your time and the looks of your knife.
 
yeah thats my next item to buy. A DMT XXCoarse stone. I am overbudget bad already recently. I think its just once I saw what a polished 10 degree knife can do my expectations for sharp went way up. 6 months ago I would still call these sharp.
 
I think the metal cable, wicker furniture and the bookcase might have had something to do with the edge going away.
Now I'm sure one of the experts, fanboys or expert fanboys will come along and correct me, but why not use a hacksaw for the cable and a hammer to knock the furniture apart?
I enjoy my "knife moments" as much as the knext knut, but there comes a time when it can get silly.
If you were only cutting the cardboard and rope and had the same results, I'd say that you had a problem.
Disregard the above if all the cutting ocurred during a RLSS.
:D

If you had that mythical use all year and only need to sharpen once knife...just imagine how hard it would be to sharpen :eek:

Hint: Don't let it get butterknife dull, maintain the edge as you work.
For example, strop on the cardboard as you work your way through the pile of it.

Good luck :D
 
wicked1 said:
Back to the Edge Pro I go. Spent another 30 minutes putting the hair popping edges back on.
Click to expand...

Assuming you want the final edge to be at 20 degrees, cut the main bevel at 18 degrees with the x-coarse hone, you don't need to finish polish that. When you sharpen the final bevel at the higher grits it will respond near instantly meaning a few passes per side with each grit. Sharpening again is just as fast, as you are again just abrading the micro-bevel. Unless the edge is damaged you can use your finishing grit or just slightly more coarse when sharpening the dulled blade.

Once the micro-bevel thickens to the point you are noticing the sharpening time increase or the cutting ability decrease you go back to the 18 degree primary with the x-coarse hone and recut it. All you are doing here is minimizing the micro-bevel so you don't need to go to a full burr. You hone until you can't see the micro-bevel anymore. For regular sharpening, you should be able to take a blade from about 5% of optimal to 100% in 1-2 minutes with most of the time spent just changing hones. Resetting the primary bevel is only 1-2 minutes longer when necessary.

-Cliff
 
wicked1 said:
I had to cut alot today around the house. I cut some metal cable,clothes line,1" rope,lots and lots of cardboard,wicker furniture,and a bookcase. I used my rats for all the chores.
Click to expand...
Knives really aren't the best thing for cutting cable, furniture and so on. Match the tool to the job and you'll find it goes easier. A cable cutter for cable, a sledge hammer for furniture etc.
wicked1 said:
I just spent hours last night sharpening these suckers..... {snip} ...Back to the Edge Pro I go. Spent another 30 minutes putting the hair popping edges back on.
Click to expand...
Is that 30 minutes per knife or 30 minutes for two knives? If it's the former you might think on changing your sharpening style. Lay in a good relief grind at 15°-17°. Then lay in a bevel at 23°-25° and another at 30°. Do touch ups with your sharpmaker at the 30° setting. When you notice that you are cutting into the shoulder at the 23°-25° level with the SharpMaker, it will be only a few minutes work with the Edge Pro to lay in a deeper cut at 15°-17° you'll notice it cut into your 23°-25° and you don't need to go to the edge, zip in a 23°-25°. The SharpMaker just continues at 30°.

If you are spending 30 mins a knife with an EdgePro on a knife you've already reprofiled with the EdgePro you're doing something wrong. Either totally mistreating your knives or your sharpening regimen is off. I'd would use different tools for different things and I'd change the way I'd sharpened. And what's wrong with a tri-bevel? You'll hardly see the 3rd one at all and the 30° final does add some benefits.

Big Snip
wicked1 said:
This is an addiction. The quest for the perfect edge.....
Click to expand...
Yep it can get that way but it beats watching television.
 
I'm sorry to hear your piece broke:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=418286

It's a shame they asked you to take down the picture. It is your perogative to direct the discussion of your own post, including the use of pictures. Even if you intentionally broke it, it would have been a lesson in fracture mechanics for everyone to see. Let the products speak for themselves: such censorship doesn't reflect well of the values of a manufacturer.

Update: The pictures were reposted. One questionable decision made at one point in time doesn't mean the course of action needs to continue to be questionable.:thumbup:
 
Get yourself some Knipex CoBolts: http://www.crawfordtool.com/knipex_bolt_cutters.html. 64HRC, comfortable, and will save your knives from a lot of unecessary wear.

I adopted the "never let it get dull" rule a long time ago because of scenarios like yours. Spending 20+ minutes at the sharpmaker multiple times per day is a pain. Find ways to maintain sharpness while you work. Stropping on cardboard was a really good suggestion. I used to strop on my jeans, but that's less wise than effective. Also, don't go for a polished edge unless you need to. I think a relatively coarse edge would serve you better in most of those tasks.
 
I kind of like sharpening.

the other night, I spent 3 hours sharpening a tomahawk with a badly dented useless "non-edge" to a nice convex edge. It would have been way faster with a belt sander, but it is satisfying, even so.

(I was taking my time and watching movies)
 
I find sharpening relaxing, and I enjoy it. I probably would not if I used one of them contraptions to sharpen, though. I have bought more of them then I should have, so no offense to the Edgepro users, and they can get knives very sharp, but sharpening with them for me is not nearly as rewarding as sharpening freehand on a big stone.
 
If you have the space in your garage, basement, or shop buy a cheap belt sander instead of an XXcoarse diamond hone. It will really save you time and effort. The belt sander is in the same price range as big diamond hones and will do a lot more. I find it easier to control than hand sharpening on an extremely coarse bench hone.
 
thanks for all the suggestions guys! I will try them next. I was polishing the primary bevel as well as the microbevel because I thought I read somewhere once that if you polished both it made the edge stronger. On the belt sander I am probably going to get one soon. I keep going to the hardware store and they have one for a little over 30 bux. I just get worried over the heat and tempering I keep reading about. I would like to get a smooth steel sometime soon as well. I believe that would help alot. I strop my knives occasionally. But my strops are hanging in the bathroom for shaving so less than convenient. I think a smooth steel might be a big help as it will hang on my belt. I know there are better tools for the jobs as well but it isnt nearly as much fun or satisfaction as watching a knife do it.
 
Thanks, Jeff. I pulled an old Kasco sharpener (1" x 24" 80 grit belt) to fix a knife - had to regrind the tip pretty extensively. If I didn't have this I would still be hand working this blade. I agree with you after doing this, using a few tips from Bill Siegle (new belts, very light pressure, take your time & use a bucket of water to cool the blade) - it was easier to control than I expected and looked good when done. I plan to give it a shot for a job where I would normally use the XXC DMT.

I also used a vibratory sander - I thought this worked very well as a step after the belt grinder.

Here's a little cutting trick I saw on this site recently by Tai Goo that I wanted to attempt - cutting rolled up pages from the phone book. A few of my knives that I thought were sharp could not make this cut. It may be considered blase' by many, but I really enjoy these cutting tricks. This is a blade (modded SH-E) that has approx a 15% per side edge.

http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l67/broosdal/?action=view&current=papercut.flv
 
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