Sebenza blade angle.

G

Gb2310

Joined
Mar 2, 2012
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What is the edge angle of a sebenza from factory and can it be touched up on th 40 degree setting of the sharpmaker?
 
According to the guy from You tube you have to reprofile it in order to use the sharpmaker. But according to chris reeve you can. He recommends sharpmaker for resharpening his knives. I say try the 40 degree setting. Run a black marker down the edge of your knife. See if its still there after two passes. If its gone than your sharpening the edge. If its still there than you have to reprofile which takes forever using the sharpmaker. You got a $400 dollar knife get a $400 dollar sharpener lol. Wicked Edge is the shit. I need to sharpen up my Sebenza too just havent messed with it yet.
 
Just used 40degree setup on my sebie and it works fine.
It might be worth getting a pair of diamond rods so even if you need to reprofile, it won't take too much time. And it won't cost you a limb.
Just my two cents
 
I have a Wicked Edge system and a Spyderco Sharpmaker. I prefer the sharpmaker on my Sebenzas as it removes less metal. I use the ultra fine stones and touch them up about once evey week or so with a few very light passes on each side....SHARP!
 
I guess the edge angle varies because my small sebenza didn't fit the sharpmaker. Had to reprofile.
 
I found the angle on my Insingo blade wasn't consistent. While the grind looked great, a pass on my edge pro revealed the variance. So, I had to sacrifice a bit of metal to even it out, but it's all good now.

I set my secondary bevel at 21 degrees and the primary at 24. Since Chris runs his blades a bit soft, I opted for the steeper angle. Since the blade sits slightly crooked on the edge pro, the actual angles are a bit more shallow. Probably 18 and 21 degrees or so. That likely matches the 40 degree inclusive angle on the Sharpmaker.
 
I can't say for the Sebenza but my Umnumzaan was >20*. The belly portion was especially obtuse. I reprofiled it with a DMT aligner to approx 30* and micro bevel at 40* with a sharpmaker. It cuts like a dream with the thinner edge and the micro bevel gives the edge plenty of strength for my use.
 
Talley1013 said:
I can't say for the Sebenza but my Umnumzaan was >20*. The belly portion was especially obtuse. I reprofiled it with a DMT aligner to approx 30* and micro bevel at 40* with a sharpmaker. It cuts like a dream with the thinner edge and the micro bevel gives the edge plenty of strength for my use.
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It was 20 degrees inclusive before?? I'm guessing you meant something else because that would be an extremely thin edge that would cut insanely but would never be a stock edge from CRK because it would chip and dull quickly and you might not even be able to get an angle that low without subsequently grinding the shoulders of the blade above the hollow grind. Reprofiling it to 30 inclusive (15 per side) is a good move IMO, though. I like my Sebenzas with a 30* edge. It's quite a bit less obtuse than the stock edge, so it cuts great, but it's not anything that will chip easily and dull too fast as long as you put a little maintenance in. I don't generally put a micro-bevel on personally (I have a Wicked Edge and that combined with some occasional stropping make it easy enough to maintain a shallow-ish angle without a micro-bevel), but isn't going out another 5 degrees per side for that 40* micro-bevel a bit much? I thought you generally only went another 2-4 degrees per side for a micro-bevel? I can understand using a Sharpmaker and only have 30* and 40* as options, though. It just seems like that's taking a nice, lean 30* edge and taking it back to a pretty obtuse 40 degrees. Maybe I'm way off, though. I'm not a user of micro-bevels and I definitely don't take the time to build a convex edge like a stock CRK edge.
 
So, CRK says use a Sharpmaker for Sebenza blades. But apparently the hand-done blade grinds are inconsistent, so it might or might not work. So your factory grind might be off, or it might not be. Really? Is this generally expected with CRK blades?

I only have a small Sebenza (could never get it sharp on a Sharpmaker) and a Mnandi (haven't even touched it up yet). But I have a small micarta Insingo on the way. I'm not bashing, but I am asking: What are my chances of getting an Insingo that I can touch-up on the Sharpmaker--without reprofiling?
 
I just played around a bit with touching up my small Insingo. I found I had to be at ~50* inclusive to touch the entire edge without having to reprofile. the Insingo is brand new.

Every manufacturer has their own methodology for sharpening. The Sharpmaker is made by Spyderco. Their blade grinds tend to be around 30* inclusive, so the 30 and 40 degree settings should work well. I find that the grinds on the Spyderco's are some of the shallowest around.

As much as I've heard great things about the Sharpmaker, I'm not buying one due to a lack of a 50* setting. I've found that many knives exceed the 40* max. Both my Zero Tolerance knives just barely touch up at 50. 40-degrees, forget it...
 
ChrisB507 said:
What are my chances of getting an Insingo that I can touch-up on the Sharpmaker--without reprofiling?
Click to expand...

I'd say average to low. My suggestion is that you either invest in some coarse stones for the Sharpmaker, or get yourself a system like an Edge Pro or a Wicked Edge. I'm heavily invested into the Edge Pro and don't plan to switch anytime soon.

I know it's frustrating, but a quality sharpening system is a great investment. I keep a whole fleet of knives around the house sharp and can reprofile an obtuse blade fairly easily if I want to.

Another option is to have it professionally reprofiled. You'll then be able to easily keep it touched up on a Sharpmaker.
 
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I've owned 14 CRKs so far, and 3 of those have come with geometries that were suitable for the sharp maker. The other 11 were too obtuse to touched up at all on the sharp maker. Maybe one tiny section of the blade was acute enough, but the rest was just too obtuse.
 
Talley1013 said:
I can't say for the Sebenza but my Umnumzaan was >20*. The belly portion was especially obtuse. I reprofiled it with a DMT aligner to approx 30* and micro bevel at 40* with a sharpmaker. It cuts like a dream with the thinner edge and the micro bevel gives the edge plenty of strength for my use.
Click to expand...

This is what i do with most of my knives. I freehand it so the angles are nowhere near exact but a more acute secondary bevel with about a 40 degree microbevel lasts longest in my experience. Stropping on top of that make for a great slicer with some strength and durability. Im new at sharpening so its possible im making no sense at all lol. But my stuff cuts great. After a few touch ups and strops its got a nice semi polishe covex edge. I love polished stuff but its just not practical for me, itll look like crap befor a weeks over.
 
Not to drift too far off topic, but I'm mildly shocked that a best practice seems to be "reprofile your CRK blade so you can actually follow the manufacturer's instructions to sharpen it." Does the top-notch fit-and-finish of the Sebenza not apply to the blade grind? Or is the variable blade grind in-line with any hand-done semi-production knife?
 
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