Seeking Advice on a Zero Grind

[Iboschi]

So, I picked up an NMFBM LE to USE . I'm going to take some glamour shots before I beat the hell out of her later next week. However, once I"ve started to whollp that zero grind, what do I do to keep her sharp and supple?

Is stropping enough? I think it might be. However, supposing I ding the edge or need to actually sharpen it, what should I use aside from a belt sander (I hope to buy one of those in the next couple of months in fact) to keep her sharp?

I would appreciate any input, as this is my first "zero grind'.

 

[Ankerson]

I usually just use a ceramic rod to touch up the edge until it won't come back anymore then reprofile them. I don't keep the convex grind for very long.

Once I do need to reprofile I keep the angle as close as possible to the original edge angle.

 

[Skrapmetal]

If you find yourself with damage to the edge that stropping wont repair, and you don't have a beltsander, just make a trip to Advanced Auto or another auto parts place and pick up some various grits of sandpaper. You can use a mousepad as a backing to get your convex shape, but I prefer leather. I just wrap the sandpaper over my strop and go to work.

Depending on how badly I mangle the edge, I may go all the way down to 100grit if I'm doing it by hand. Going from that point up to a polished edge takes a couple of hours though. For small dings and rolls, 1000grit or maybe 6-800 would be as low as I would go. I work my way through 1000, 1500, and 2000 then go through my strop compounds.

 

[PeterPHWS]

When using mine the hardest problem to sort is "dinging" the edge near the belly curve to the tip where you might catch the blade on a stone either chopping or batoning .... I bought a butcher's steel and sawed the bottom 4 inches off .... I use that to steel the "dink" back into alingnment .... I then have a Eze Lap Model M diamond hone to restore the last bit of a roll over and give some basic edge back. Then in the field I use the Altoids tin idea where I have a square of Mouse Mat cut away and glued on the lid ... inside I have wet and dry paper in different grits ... roll it over the lid/pad and put the lid back on the tin to "lock in" the paper ... then rub the tin down from the tip to the hilt to sharpen her up and keep the convex edge .... start always at the tip to protect it from rounding like a "pizza cutter" ... usually at the end of a day it takes about 15 mins to restore the edge .... even if "dinked" .... at home I use a belt sander. I carry a white fine ceramic diamond rod as well from my Spyderco Sharpmaker ... you can use this for fine delicate stropping .... it brings the final razor quality back to the edge where you might need it by removing the wire roll over created from stropping ... use it like a "feather touch" .... and then your edge should be razor sharp.