Sandpaper Sharpening suggestions?

[a223cat]

I would like to try sandpaper on blocks for fine edge work. what grits would you suggest and any hints on how to get the best scary sharp clean edge?

Thanks! always playing! but it's fun!

 

[thombrogan]

Get some sort of magnifying system (magnifying glass, pocket telescope, jeweler's loupe, etc...) to make sure you've removed the scratches from the previous grit with the current grit. Make sure to clean your knife with each grit change so that any abrasive knocked from the previous sandpaper won't find its way into the finer paper and interfere with that paper's job. If you really want to, you can go past 200,000 grit/mesh, but if you don't get a very sharp edge with your starting grit, most of what you'll do will be wasted effort. If you do get a very sharp edge with your coarsest grit and progress carefully from there, pretty much everything past 1200 grit will be pointless, but not a waste to anyone on that quest for the sharpest edge. I recommend using a hard surface to back your sandpaper instead of a rubber block or mousepad. Tempered float glass or flat cast iron is always good.

Hand American sells very good sandpaper, as does www.toolsforworkingwood.com , www.psidragon.com , www.rshughes.com , and www.leevalley.com

For a lower-priced alternative, get some tubes of diamond paste and use it on printer/copier paper. The initial cost is high, but it only takes a few dots of paste on a Post-It note-sized piece of paper to put a snarky sharp edge on several knives (many thanks to Ken123 and C-Dawg from KFC for that idea).

Good luck you poor soul.

 

[a223cat]

Thanks Thom. I have never been able to master the S30V blades so am just looking for different ways to work. I figure sooner or later one of the methods will click for me with that steel. The CR Sebenza seems to have a utility edge and isnt so sharp really. If it keeps me off the street and mostly quiet the wife wont mind!

 

[thombrogan]

Glad to help. One of my pals had a hard-to-sharpen Sebenza. He bugged a custom knifemaker to reharden it and now it takes and holds an edge like you read about. I think if you raise and remove a burr with an India oilstone and then go to progressively finer sandpapers or paste-on-papers, you'll be fine and your edge will be, too.

 

[Buck268]

I've damn near fallen in love with my dual grit carborundum stone. I would definately like to get a nice fine finishing stone as the fine side leaves things a little rough, but anyways. Left it at school over christmas break, and needed to sharpen the paraframe II that finally came back from warrenty (replacement due to lock failure). used 320 grit paper to do that as well as a cheapy jap-style tanto (bent tip practicing throwing). Gotta say, I'm sticking to my carborundum stone for reprofiling from now on.

 

[Native Justice]

Inexpensive Spyderco ceramics are terrific for putting a near mirror edge on S30V after you've run thru some finer grit stones. In lieu of that try the convex sandpaper/mouse pad method of sharpening and run your wet/dry paper grits from, 220, 320, 600, 800, 1500 and 2000. Gets them very sharp and near mirror very fast and inexpensively.

NJ