Schrade USA 165 Old Timer Fixed Blade Sharpening Angle

[alphonse coco]

I'm new here so I'm hoping this is the right place for this. My dad has one of the old 165 Old Timers, and the blade has gotten dull. I want to sharpen it, but I can't find any information on the correct angle. I'm really fond of the knife, so I want to do it right. Also, any suggestions on how to make edge last I'd really appreciate

 

[WuGod]

Mark the edge with a sharpie, stroke it until the sharpie is gone, raise a burr, flip, sharpie, reburr, deburr, enjoy.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Don't worry too much about an exact angle to hit. Most any knife will hold up pretty well at around 30° inclusive (15° per side) or sometimes a little lower. If the knife gets used pretty hard, such as for abrasive cutting (dirty items, concrete sacks, carpet, fiberglass, etc) or chopping (wood, bones, etc), then a slightly wider angle up to 35°-40° inclusive (17.5°-20° per side) may hold up better. You could also set the back bevel first at 30°, then apply a microbevel at 35-40° to add some durability to the apex, while still improving the overall cutting geometry with the narrower back bevel.

Schrade's old 1095 blades were usually hardened beautifully, and can be amazing slicers at fairly thin geometry, even below 25° inclusive (I have a 1970s-vintage 8OT stockman with all three blades thinned quite a bit, and love it). If the knife isn't used too hard, it'd be a shame not to take advantage of that.


David

 

[ConBon]

David, as always is right . It turns out that most people, myself included, sharpen their knives at a thicker degree than needed. I myself would put around 12-14 degrees per side on it, 14 if it was used for heavy chopping. On my SAK I sand blasted and had to reset the edge on, I made it about 13 DPS, have used it for reaming holes in brass, splicing wire, cutting cardboard, trimming wood, and a lot more without touching it up and it shaves like a demon still. SAK steel is a lot softer and less hard wearing than Schrade US 1095, so don't be afraid of a low angle.

If it gets dull or beat up too quickly, add another degree with a micro bevel and see if that works. If it does, keep a micro bevel on it. If it doesn't work, sharpen it to the micro bevel angle and try again with adding a micro bevel. It's easier to add more degrees to an existing edge than take away.

Connor