Sharpener for recurve

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Sep 10, 2005
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Friend of mine has a couple recurve blade knives to sharpen and was asking me about one of the work sharp tools vs the spyderco sharpmaker for them and other non-recurve blades as well. I dont own any recurves and sharpen all my knives on a grinder, so I thought Id ask in here for some more knowledgeable opinions to give him

Thanks
Cory
 
I use a harbor freight 1x30'' belt to sharpen recurve blades.

I use BLAZE 36 grit belts to establish a burr then go to 400 to 600 grit or so.

then I strop with compound on a powered leather belt or just on a piece of cardboard. pAper towel tubes are good for this as it helps hit the recurve section
 
one can use sharpmaker, it works but i doht recommend it because the recurved sections are particularly harsh on the 204M even the 204F rods. well, i have no standing nobody believes the kresil from gemani haha so go ahead and experience the consumption of 204M for yourselves (you'll see "black powder/flakes" on the blade).

i recommend cheap round ceramic rods, stuff like RRS or similar
 
Wicked Edge has curved stones, but in limited grits.

You can also use dowels of various diameters wrapped in wet/dry sandpaper. You can drill holes into a block of wood at a specific angle so they work like a Sharpmaker.
 
Google Eze-Lap-Oval-Diamond-Steels. I have one M390 recurve knife and I use the Eze-Lap for that one.

Diamond-Steel-sharpener-Fine-X2.jpg


I have a small belt sander too, but only use it for rough stuff or cheap kitchen knives - usually with 600 paper.
 
+1 to the oval diamond steels, for recurves. Their relatively wide radius - therefore wider direct contact to the blade edge - and length make them pretty fast at metal removal, even for tasks like reprofiling recurved blades. Most of them seem to be around ~ 600-grit finish. I have one of the EZE-Lap 10" models and have used it to good effect for recurves.

Pretty much any ceramic rod can handle the light touch-up jobs on recurves, beyond the heavier work done on the diamond steel.
 
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