Sharpening 52100

H

hookset

Joined
Aug 26, 2013
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I was wondering what kind of edge 52100 likes. I've only been making knives for about a year and have had pretty good luck with O1 and 1095. D2 was a problem, but I've been playing with 52100 and love it. It somehow seems to slice through meat and veggies with ease even after the knife appears to have lost its initial edge. I've been sharpening to 600 grit, then taking it to a leather strop. How does everyone else treat their 52100, coarse or fine edge?
 
I like face shaving edge and my regular shaver is Bluntcut's small 52100 paring:thumbup:
Going to DMT EEF and then strop with white & green.
 
Thanks. I have been leaving a toothy edge on mine because that's what I do on my hunting and kitchen knives. I tried one today with as fine an edge as I could get, then stropped with white and green - man, it can get scary sharp! I'll give it a go with the fine edge for a while and see how it compares.
 
Just as two datapoints. I have a small neck knife made of forged 52100 differentially tempered made by Mark Reich. I use CBN on it in various grits up to around 1 micron so far and this works well. It also interacts well with natural Japanese natural stones. Right now it has a final stone edge using a Yaginoshima Asagi that is outstanding, combining both toothiness and refinement at what I would estimate would be in the 15k grit range.

---
Ken
 
:D Finally I need a facial shave. Touched up the 52100 util knife (desert ironwood handle, mostly for kitchen duties) with EE, stropped with a Balanced Strop (white compound); voi'la clean shaven. Pic of my vacation knives & sharpening kit [ diafold E/EE, sand papers, balanced strop ]
Knives and field sharpening small.jpg
I used the 52100 8.5" blade to hack branches; coconuts and take down small coconut trees for its heart - yum.

Chris "Anagarika";13829730 said:
I like face shaving edge and my regular shaver is Bluntcut's small 52100 paring:thumbup:
Going to DMT EEF and then strop with white & green.
Click to expand...

52100 fine grain, fine carbides is really to easy to sharpen most abrasive and can take finish & stable edge from 60um to 0.1um abrasive.
 
I give my Bluntcut paring knife 52100 the standard treatment on a Washboard up to 6k. I've only had to touch it up once since putting on the original edge. Haven't tried it with a variety of finishes yet - is a perfect finish for how it gets used.
 
Just to add, heavy polish using balance strop and further refinement using washboard. White compound.
Green compound only sometimes, a nicer shave ;)
 
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52100 is one of the very few steels that I consistently take to a 10k waterstone. It seems to love extreme sharpness and is fairly easy to take it there.
 
One of the nice things about 52100 is it will work well with whatever edge you want to put on it. Coarse, fine, polished, toothy, any will do.
 
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