SAK sharpening

C

Carbon12

Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
74
All of the recent discussion of SAKs in the trad forum got me interested in carrying them again after an 18 year absence from my pockets. I ordered a new Recruit model for EDC and rediscovered how remarkably sharp they are right out of the box. I got to thinking that I have never really carried one long enough to need to resharpen. Most of my other knives I sharpen well enough on Arkansas stones so I imagine they will work great on the Inox. I am interested in hearing what you have had excellent first hand results with. For instance, I get scary sharp results on an Arkansas stone with Buck's 420hc so i am very satisfied with that combination. Do you have a similar recipe for success on your SAKs?
 
I find my swiss army knives sharpen up super easy just like my Opinels. They are my easiest knives to sharpen & can go from dull to sharp on just the standard medium & fine sharpmaker stones without much effort at all.
 
I use a Victorinox Paring knife to practice sharpening on so it's safe to say I have more experience with this steel than any other (still a LOT less than most of the guys here it seems). I use my DMT Aligner, and lets just say it takes some getting used to with how fast diamonds remove steel from something like a SAK but once you got it down you can make some very sharp edges to it. Still feels like I have some more more I can squeeze out of this steel but so far it's quite entertaining to see how sharp you can get one of these. I think right now the diamond stones may be removing a bit too much steel for me to allow me to squeeze out more performance out of it, so I have to work on my technique more.

Will say this though about this steel if you look at it funny with a sharpening stone in hand you can just scares the thing sharp without touching it. Squeezing out every last drop of sharpness I can out of it on the other hand I find a bit harder to do as I think I am removing too much steel which seems to be easy to do with what I am using.

I have no experience with Buck's 420HC, I hear they do a superb job on their heat treat. Closest thing I have to that is probably my Rough Riders in 440a and having sharpened both the 440a and Victorinox back to back earlier today I will say the Victorinox seemed a little easier to get sharp and was a lot more willing to take a fine edge. Though how well Bucks 420HC compares to that 440a I can't tell you, as I haven't had the pleasure of sharpening one yet.
 
My older SAK is easy to get sharp, hard to get really sharp. It requires a very soft touch for the soft steel. I usually finish on 1200 grit for a working edge or 1 micron for the polished edge.
 
Bo T said:
My older SAK is easy to get sharp, hard to get really sharp. It requires a very soft touch for the soft steel. I usually finish on 1200 grit for a working edge or 1 micron for the polished edge.
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This is exactly my view of it, as well. I remember suddenly arriving at an epiphany some time back, after touching up one of my Victorinox blades: LESS IS MORE, with this steel. Gentler grit, finer grit, fewer strokes and light, light pressure all make the difference. It's way too easy to 'overkill' the edge with an excess in any of those aspects.


David
 
Spyderco Sharpmaker. If you have the 204D rods, you can get there faster by "setting" the edge sooner then moving on to the medium and fine stones. SAK blades do not seem to be very hard or wear resistant compared to many other blade materials I have sharpened.
 
Thanks for the replies. I will probably give the Arkansas stones a try. I use them on Case trusharp SS successfully using a light touch as has been described in this thread. Is the SAK steel as soft as Case's stainless?
 
Carbon12 said:
Thanks for the replies. I will probably give the Arkansas stones a try. I use them on Case trusharp SS successfully using a light touch as has been described in this thread. Is the SAK steel as soft as Case's stainless?
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Somewhat softer, from what I've seen. I have a bunch of Case stainless blades also. Both are quite easy to get along with, but the Victorinox stainless (X50CrMoV15) does demand a lighter touch.


David
 
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An Arkansas stone for a SAK is excellent
The steel is soft so very responsive to sharpening, and too much sharpening will make a burr
Touch up of the blade is minimal once you have your secondary grind that suits your use and sharpening

First get the blade sharpened to your sharpening technique, establish the angle
Then the lights touch up will bring back a sharp edge
Strop on your jeans to get rid of the burr
 
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