Sharpen?

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
Messages
4,567
How often do you guys sharpen? And how fast does s35vn wear? I sharpen whenever I notice a decrease in cutting performance (obviously) with a sharp maker. I find that cutting the burr down and taking it off sometimes a pain so sharpening may take longer than expected. How long does it take to wear the main bevel down to the point where you have to send it in? Years? I don't know how much material gets removed per sharpening so I couldn't even judge that. Do you find this steel wears fast with normal cutting tasks? I know some will mention stropping, but I prefer to just sharpen.
 
After the initial reprofile I did when I got it, I just stop it on occasion and its held a really great edge. Even though I had complaints on the edge that came on my knife new, I am very happy with the edge retention and beautiful stonewash finish. I love my umnumzaan.
 
Don't think I'll wear it out anytime soon with the occasional sharpening? Wear out as in having to send it in? I don't have too much experience with this steel I have no idea how much gets removed when sharpening in these stones.
 
I use DMT diamond stones and sharpen freehand. For maintaining a sharp blade Ill just use the green and tan (fine/extra fine maybe) then finish on a strop with black then green compound. 9 time out of 10 just stropping is enough to bring one back to razor sharp.

The ez-lap combo stone with extra fine and ceramic works great too, followed up with stropping
 
I wouldn't be so stuck on not stroping your blades. It's a great and easy way to maintain a sharp knife
 
I eventually reprofile all the edges on the blade I want to use. I am a v grind with microbevel mind of guy with the sebenza. I leave convex edges for my fixed blades. I do it either by free hand or wicked edge. Depends on my mood. Personally, I maintain with whetstones (high grits) or stropping. Depending how much recovery is needed. Reprofiling if I must.
 
I wouldn't let it get too dull, sharp maker should be fine for touch up's since it doesn't remove a lot of metal. If you need to use the brown stones, I think you let it go too far unless you did a ton of heavy duty cutting on one day.
Now, I know you mentioned about the stropping, but let me tell you that if you want to save metal and considerably extend the life of your blade, you NEED to get into the habit of stopping, not only that but you will also save time because you won't have to be fighting agains the burr which can be frustrating. Just my humble opinion based on personal experience, hope it helps.
 
There are a lot of variables.

- How many knives do you have in your rotation
- How dull does your knives get before sharpening
- What is your sharpening skills
- How much damage does one need to remove
- What work does your knives see every day

There are a few ways to sharpen your Sebenza. While away from home, here is my kit on my 2010 Insingo and it has seen quite a bit of use and lowering of the edge angle:

[video=youtube;XWE14n6-8MU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWE14n6-8MU[/video]

Here are pictures. As you can see, one can not even see the micro bevel applied with the UF Sharpmaker stone.

DSCF3404_zps87c92b96.jpg


DSCF3359_zps835d3637.jpg


DSCF3357_zps547f79ce.jpg


DSCF3356_zpsc74149b3.jpg
 
Since I go it a year ago I've sharpened it a handful of times. I've made it my sole (mostly) edc, so it will see as much use as possible now. I'm easy on my knives in the sense that I don't use them if u know a decent amount of damage will occur.
 
For my 25, I have just stropped. My uses have been light enough and my rotation of 3 edc knives allows each to go a little while between sharpening. I used the 25 yesterday for some cardboard. Some of it was some heavy duty stuff. Well, it wasn't shaving sharp when I was done so I stropped in and it is again. I was surprised how well the semi-convexed edge of my sebenza held up to the cardboard considering the dulling my s30v military took on similar cardboard. I think the convexed edge helps.
 
My small Insingo has been my EDC for a while now. I did find that the 40 degree setting on my Sharpmaker was not very effective. I ended up reprofiling at ~30 degrees on my Edge Pro and now use my Sharpmaker to maintain a micro-bevel. I use it all the time but do not let it become overly dull. Makes for touch-ups on the fine stones very quick since the micro-bevel is so small. I also will strop it if the edge is in good shape.
 
When I sharpen a knife for the first time, I reprofile the blade to 15-19 degrees. This way I can easily touch up with my sharpmaker. All of my CRK knives in my rotation hold an edge for quite a while, I have never tracked it but I have never noticed having to sharpen one of them "early". With normal use my blades go years before having to be reprofiled after the first sharpening.
 
All you need is a high grit stone.

I use 8000 grits.

after a few minutes, itll slice most things wax paper thin. Printer paper isnt thin enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top