Sharpening 1095 steel on Kabar 1211

[RandGuy]

Hey all,

I have a Kabar utility/fighting knife that I take out to the woods to use as my backpacking/camping knife. I use the lansky standard system for sharpening my knives. I've only been able to get a usable edge. And to be honest, for what I'm doing with the knife, I don't need it to be super sharp...but of course I still want it to be.

Any tips on sharpening this sort of knife/steel?

 

[richard j]

do you strop after you get done with the lansky? that can help you a lot. get some white rouge and a leather strop and that will help out a lot without having to spend a lot of money.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I've used the Lansky quite a lot (in fact, I've worn most of my hones out). The hones in the 'standard' kit (non-diamond) I feel are OK, but not quite as aggressive as I would've preferred. The one thing I did to greatly improve the performance of the kit, was to buy one Lansky diamond hone to start the process and produce the burr. I used a medium diamond but, in retrospect, would've done better to get a coarse/XC. Afterwards, the standard hones will work fine to refine the edge and gradually remove most of the remaining burr. Then strop afterwards, as richardj mentioned.

Edited to add:
The Lansky hones are pretty small. So, on a large blade like your Kabar, it helps tremendously to start with a hone that'll remove as much metal as possible, in a relatively short time. That's why I'd recommend trying the Coarse/XC diamond hone to start. The follow-up work with the standard hones will go much quicker that way.

 

[DennisStrickland]

that 7 in. blade will work you on anything but coarse diamonds to start as already mentioned. you can move from the coarse to red dmt to finish. if you want to go sharper go to dmt fine.
dennis