sharpening a benchmade presidio

M

mustang67ford

Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
3
I just recently purchased a benchmade presidio 525. It is the mini with a regular blade. I like the knife so far as it seems to be built pretty tough. I am wondering the angle of the blade, is it 30-degrees? I was thinking about getting the benchmade mini field sharpener to keep the knife sharp anybody know if this sharpener is at the correct andgle and if it is a good sharpener? I also read that benchmade has their own lube for like th pivot point. Is it worth buying? Thanks
 
The edge angle on Benchmades are 60º inclusive. On the Sharpmaker is the 30º Back Bevel. Benchmade's sharpeners work pretty well, I have their combo edge sharpener and it will put a work edge on it but I would recommend a Spyderco Sharpmaker, that's what I use for all my knives. I'v heard Benchmade's Blue Lube is pretty good but I don't have any experience with it
 
Get the Sharpmaker rather than a pull-through sharpener. You'll get a much sharper edge and avoid removing unnecessarily large amounts of material.
 
My Presideo and most of my other benchmades have been around a 50deg inclusive angle. I use a Lansky diamond systen and that works very well. So does the Sharpmaker. The Benchmade field sharpener is garbage and will ruin your edge, don't get one. Do a search for pull through sharpeners and you'll see what i mean.

The Presideo is my favorite folder. I hope you enjoy yours.
 
mustang67ford said:
I just recently purchased a benchmade presidio 525. It is the mini with a regular blade. I like the knife so far as it seems to be built pretty tough. I am wondering the angle of the blade, is it 30-degrees? I was thinking about getting the benchmade mini field sharpener to keep the knife sharp anybody know if this sharpener is at the correct andgle and if it is a good sharpener? I also read that benchmade has their own lube for like th pivot point. Is it worth buying? Thanks
Click to expand...

As I understand it, their field sharpener is a cheapo pull-through carbide sharpener. You will get much better results with one of the many kinds of benchstones out there, or maybe one of the many other sharpening systems out there (a lot of people recommend a Spyderco Sharpmaker).
 
thanks for the help. saved me from making a bad purchase. I checked out Spyderco Sharpmaker, which one do you use as there appears to be several? I have a couple buck knives I sharpen by hand. I think buck knives are at about a 15-degree angle. it is tough to change the angle when sharpening by hand when used to a certain ange. What is so unique about the Spyderco Sharpmaker? Will it do the buck knive angle as well?
 
Last edited:
Benchmade sharpens their knives by hand so the angle can be anywhere from 24 to 30 inclusive.

I use the SharpMaker trick to mark the blade and approach the angle by how much color is removed from the very edge.

The SharpMaker works OK for touchups and maintenance on the edge, but definitely not for reprofiling, and is a LOT of work for the harder steels like D2.

I use the Edge Pro system and keep a log of the angles used on my knife collection, and yeah it costs a few bucks, but to me it's worth it because it makes sharpening easy.

As said above I would NOT use the field sharpener, it's good for a fast and dirty edge but ruins more than it fixes in the long run.
 
jkarp_53 said:
Benchmade sharpens their knives by hand so the angle can be anywhere from 24 to 30 inclusive.
Click to expand...

I am going to have to respectfully disagree on this bit. There have been dozens of threads indicating the dull edges of Benchmade knives. The angle I see more often than not is a 60 degree inclusive bevel. That is 30 per side, not 15 per side as indicated. Most all production companies sharpen their knivee by hand too.
 
The SM is a touch-up tool and works good at that but is not something I'd actually try and sharpen a knife with. Ceramic stones cut very slow so if your angles are not the same as the SM or if your knives need profile work the SM will fall short of being effective.

Factory angles are a guessing game and are usually anything but the angle the factory says. Its best to simply forget angle numbers and sharpen to whatever angle makes the edge perform best. Its something you figure out through repeated sharpening.

BM blue lube is great stuff, I highly recommend it.

As for a sharpener, you said you did some hand sharpening? why not stick with it? King 1k/6k water stone for 30-40 dollars???
 
RevDevil said:
I am going to have to respectfully disagree on this bit. There have been dozens of threads indicating the dull edges of Benchmade knives. The angle I see more often than not is a 60 degree inclusive bevel. That is 30 per side, not 15 per side as indicated. Most all production companies sharpen their knivee by hand too.
Click to expand...

I have no problem with that, you're right...60 not 30 is more accurate...and yes I've received knives rather dull right out of the box. My 760 Ti Lum knife arrived so dull it wouldn't slice paper. 20 minutes or so on the Edge Pro took care of that.

On the 'EP' I usually set the mark to 24 degrees, but the 760 took a couple of degrees less than that in the end.
 
jkarp_53 said:
I have no problem with that, you're right...60 not 30 is more accurate...and yes I've received knives rather dull right out of the box. My 760 Ti Lum knife arrived so dull it wouldn't slice paper. 20 minutes or so on the Edge Pro took care of that.

On the 'EP' I usually set the mark to 24 degrees, but the 760 took a couple of degrees less than that in the end.
Click to expand...

I have not taken anything to tje 24 degree range yet. The most I have done is 30 on the 710 in D2. It worked really well too, that knife became a scalpel in 1 hour. :cool:
 
mustang67ford said:
I just recently purchased a benchmade presidio 525. It is the mini with a regular blade. I like the knife so far as it seems to be built pretty tough. I am wondering the angle of the blade, is it 30-degrees? I was thinking about getting the benchmade mini field sharpener to keep the knife sharp anybody know if this sharpener is at the correct andgle and if it is a good sharpener? I also read that benchmade has their own lube for like th pivot point. Is it worth buying? Thanks
Click to expand...
Nice buy. I just have held the mini once and found it to be a great little knife. I carry the 520 (with a custom blade) for long time and enjoy it very much.

Take time and learn to sharpen your knife freehand. It will take less money to get a couple of good stones and a ceramic rod for the touch ups inbetween two sharpening sessions. If you have learned that, you will be able to sharpen any knife with almost any sharpening system you get hands on. Don´t just lay on only one (relatevly expensive) system.

I sold my sharpmaker and have never missed it since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top