Recommendations on someone in the US to sharpen a FSH

OilMan

OilMan

Gold Member
Joined
May 6, 2004
Messages
4,283
Hello,
I picked up a FSH years ago that had some dings in the edge and MOSTLY got them out with my KOWS but now I'd like to get it completely fixed/sharpened. Looking for some recommendations for someone in the States to do it. Not looking for recommendations to learn to sharpen it myself as I have nerve damage in my dominant arm and I've already done what I could with it. Also not looking to send it to Busse as I've been disappointed in the edge of every new Busse I've bought besides one and don't want to waste money shipping it back and forth until I get decent results. As long as it's extremely sharp I don't care if it's convex or a conventional V sharpening. Can you recommend anyone aftermarket that you have used yourself and got good results? I've already tried REK and Micah Sonntag but REK is booked til January and Micah doesn't currently have the right equipment for a blade so thick.

TIA,

Greg
 
I know you said you're not looking for sharpening advice (how to) due to neuropathy - I assume you are referring to freehand sharpening. (Because that makes sense!) Have you considered using a sharpening system that controls the angles for you? Something like a Wicked Edge setup?
Something like that may be much more economical and convenient in the long run; also doesn't require nearly the degree of fine-motor coordination compared to freehand sharpening.

Disregard if not interested. Just my 2 cents.
(No intention on driving potential business away from anyone either.)
 
I have a Wicked Edge but my arm does what it wants when it wants, which makes things like brushing my teeth and controlling the arms of a WE an adventure every time.
 
You’ve probably already checked, but Maybe there is someone in the Knife makers section. Josh at REK is definitely worth the wait, but waiting is no good sometimes. I’ve messed up my share of knives on the stones.. Josh fixed them right up.

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tinfoil hat timmy said:
this thread needs more photography
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It's on it's way back to me currently but nothing has been done to it yet so I'll get some pics of the dinged up edge. Busse replied to my initial message to send it in so I believe I'm going to start there and see how that goes, just haven't had much luck with Busse edges in the past and I didn't/don't want to waste any more money than I have to shipping/insuring it if I don't have to.
 
OilMan said:
It's on it's way back to me currently but nothing has been done to it yet so I'll get some pics of the dinged up edge. Busse replied to my initial message to send it in so I believe I'm going to start there and see how that goes, just haven't had much luck with Busse edges in the past and I didn't/don't want to waste any more money than I have to shipping/insuring it if I don't have to.
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100%
I've never had a sharp edge come from the factory.
 
Andy the Aussie said:
.............I guess we all have different experiences as I certainly have !
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Yes, I have had most of my knives from the factory arrive sharp. I got an original Force One many years ago and I was making a Kydex sheath for it. Before the sheath was riveted it slipped out when I was testing it for fit. It was so sharp it cut through the thick leather gloves I was wearing and right into my fingers in an instant. It was literally razor blade sharp and needed almost zero pressure to slice through the leather.
 
I've had plenty of unsharpened after leaving the shop busses enter my collection super sharp.

The thing about busse blades though is that they are ALL USERS. Why put so much work in on an edge that you dont want to USE it?
 
polskiogorki said:
100%
I've never had a sharp edge come from the factory.
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Same here. Some companies are better than others at putting on a decent edge, but I usually cut a few pieces off paper and then reprofile the blade on my Wicked Edge.
 
tokerblue said:
Same here. Some companies are better than others at putting on a decent edge, but I usually cut a few pieces off paper and then reprofile the blade on my Wicked Edge.
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How big of a Busse have you used a WE for though? Guessing this FSH is a bit too big/heavy/thick for it. If it was something smaller I'd consider it. And technically it is kind of sharp from my WorkSharp but still has dings in the belly that I'd like to get fixed with minimal steel removal.
 
Not ne
OilMan said:
How big of a Busse have you used a WE for though? Guessing this FSH is a bit too big/heavy/thick for it. If it was something smaller I'd consider it. And technically it is kind of sharp from my WorkSharp but still has dings in the belly that I'd like to get fixed with minimal steel removal.
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Not necessarily a Busse, but I've done 15" blades on the Wicked Edge. I just move the blade a few times while sharpening.
 
Slight update. I have pics but lost the password temporarily to my FTP site so I'll try to find it tonight. Meantime I shipped it to Busse yesterday..
 
OilMan said:
How big of a Busse have you used a WE for though? Guessing this FSH is a bit too big/heavy/thick for it. If it was something smaller I'd consider it. And technically it is kind of sharp from my WorkSharp but still has dings in the belly that I'd like to get fixed with minimal steel removal.
Click to expand...
I've done a boss jack and sar 8 , took about 1.5 hrs each to reprofile and sharpen.
That job right there made me upgrade to an amk-75.
It was painful
 
Greg,

Not to downgrade Busse by any means, as this is really representative of all production knife companies, the edges are done rather poorly in many ways. They are at rather obtuse angles generally, IMO, you could reduce the degrees per side by half in most cases with zero additional problems for most work. Secondly, the quality of the finished apex can never be good when using power tools. It must be done with water cooling if done on grinders and this is not common in industry, sadly. The best edges are done by hand on waterstones and finished w/ oilstones or diamond plates, IMO. Busse can remove damage very well and it is free (shipping aside) but would not be my first choice for a high performance edge personally. YMMV.

I say all this with much love for Jerry and crew and do not mean to be hard on them, this is just industry being what it is in order to be economical. Sharpening by hand can be quite time consuming and few are willing to pay for this, IME.
 
This is a recent job I completed on TRASH-1 for a member here prior to finishing the apex, you can still see a bit of burr present from overgrinding. Notice how wide the bevel has become as the edge angle has been reduced significantly, this is a mostly flat grind on the edge also... perhaps a very slight convex which is unavoidable as nobody can hold perfectly a single angle without jigs.



Another recently completed project Scrapivore CG. I stripped it and finished the handle/blade with 1000 grit muddy waterstone prior to forcing a patina, then reground the edge bevel to a much shallower angle. Again notice the width of the bevel at the edge, this is actually after regrinding the primary thinner before the edge bevel so DPS is actually probably below 10 DPS on this one.

 
Just for fun, here's how I did them back in the day.. :-) I forget how many hours I spent per knife but it was not easy..

sharpeningtable_03.gif


sharpeningtable_05.gif


sharpeningtable_07.gif


Also, I didn't realize the process to add a pic was changed, here's a pic of my edge damage if it fits..
CameraZOOM-20211113102700261b.jpg
 
Got it back today and it's sexalicious again. Can't even tell where the dings were and it's sharp as hell. Well done Busse.
 

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