Reprofiling a Sebenza's Edge?

batosai117

batosai117

Gold Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2007
Messages
5,463
Don't worry guys/gals, I haven't done it yet. Just a little food for thought before I go to bed (which I should have done hours ago :yawn:).

I recently bought the full blown lansky set and was reading up on the blade edges and it seems that my sebenza has about a 20 degree angle on both sides. Well, 20 degrees is supposed to be for great slicing and all of that, but it looks so.....thin. I don't know if it's my "beefy knife syndrome" kicking back in, but I was thinking of putting a 25/25 on it as that is a more typical edge for a normal workhorse, a 30/30 just seems a bit too thick for this knife though. 30/30 is said to be more for a real cardboard beater, which this won't even be touching cardboard :o

I was just curious if I should put on the broader edge before I go on a hunting trip this weekend. Thanks in advance, J.
 
You might try the narrow angle first. It will slice a lot better than the higher angles.
 
You don't need anything stronger than that 20/20. I use the 40 degree Sharpmaker setting for the edge and then the 30 to smooth the shoulders a bit. You will find people who legitimately feel that with that good steel, the Sebenza can probably be taken down to a 30 degree inclusive edge without a problem for most uses.
 
Oh okay, thanks guys, I better just leave it alone for now (and get myself to bed already, it's near 2:00 am here :yawn: :eek:)

Thanks again, J.
 
I don't do any skinning with my Sebenzas, but they all get used for warehouse work, home chores, and camping/hiking stuff in the woods. I use a 30 degree incl bevel and don't have any problems with it at all. Most times, after use I can get back the edge with a few minutes on the strop block.
 
I put a 30 degree inclusive bevel on mine and sharpen the microbevel on the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. The thin back bevel gives it less cutting resistance and the thicker cutting bevel gives it a little more strength. I started doing this on all of my knives once I realized I can easily get a 40 degree microbevel to whittle hair.
 
Hey guys, thanks for all of the feedback, I ended up putting a 30/30 on my Large Sebenza 21. It came out great and the lansky set really impressed me. Before this go around with all five pieces, I was using the 1000 stone free hand and hadn't used the full blown system.

It does a great job on the reprofiling and increasingly sharpened the edge up until at last it was polished up. It looks a bit thicker at the edge which is what I prefer. It seems a bit better that way for whittling wood so that the edge doesn't bend.

When ya'll say 30 on the main and 40 on the edge, what does that mean? My system only goes up to 30 and this is pretty new to me since I've always freehanded my stuff.
 
Capt. Carl said:
I put a 30 degree inclusive bevel on mine and sharpen the microbevel on the sharpmaker at 40 degrees. The thin back bevel gives it less cutting resistance and the thicker cutting bevel gives it a little more strength. I started doing this on all of my knives once I realized I can easily get a 40 degree microbevel to whittle hair.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I have done with mine. Must be the best slicing knife I have and holds its edge well.
 
i've heard of and seen a lot of seb mods. some gave me nightmares. this is a good one though. you know better than anyone what your knife will be cutting. i suggest that you try the factory edge first and alter if needed for your own needs. we do use a keener angle, but we figure that touch ups on most sharpening systems will create a new angle and the original angle will become the back bevel
 
Thanks guys, and nifegrinder your input is appreciated especially since you put the original edge on it in the first place :thumbup: I did end up using a 30 degree angle on both sides with my lansky. It came out superb, and now it seems less likely to bend out of shape if I were to whittle wood or do the outdoor activities that I like.
 
Finding the right edge angle on the Sebenza is a reasonably forgiving process because of the heavy hollow grind. I sharpened mine once on a Lansky; I think the 30 degree setting was closest to the original edge bevel, but I had to lock the blade in at a really funny angle to avoid grinding too much material off.
Ever since then, I've used the sharpmaker. The edge it puts on the 'benza looks about right, takes less time, and is at least fine enough to push-cut newsprint.
My .02
 
A nice touch about using the Sharpmaker is that each stroke is slightly different so you end with with a slight convexing -- which is what you get on a Sebenza from the factory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top