Sharpening a FFG knife

J

John13

Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
54
Hey guys,

I am about to purchase a Manix 2 lightweight, but before I did that I wanted to make sure it is somehow possible to sharpen an FFG blade with a Lansky sharpening system. I'd like to hear about your guys' techniques on sharpening FFG's.
Also, would clamping it like this mess up the angle?
LanskyFFGClamp.png

Before someone says something, I just want to say I am not willing to purchase a new sharpening system...

Thanks
 
I read some other threads on different forums and found some good techniques... some opinions would be cool though.
Thanks
 
John13 said:
Hey guys,

I am about to purchase a Manix 2 lightweight, but before I did that I wanted to make sure it is somehow possible to sharpen an FFG blade with a Lansky sharpening system. I'd like to hear about your guys' techniques on sharpening FFG's.
Also, would clamping it like this mess up the angle?
LanskyFFGClamp.png

Before someone says something, I just want to say I am not willing to purchase a new sharpening system...

Thanks
Click to expand...

Might as well not worry about the angle anyway. On the Lansky, the marked angles on the clamp are only a valid approximation if the edge of the blade is at the immediate front edge of the clamp. Any blade edge that extends further out, away from the front of the clamp (as shown in your pics), will sharpen up at an angle that's lower than marked on the clamp. With a wide blade like the Manix2 has, that angle will be considerably lower.

Clamp the blade like the first example shown in your pic (the one marked 'Yes'), and sharpen away. You can vary the angle by moving the blade in/out, relative to the clamp's front edge, and by utilizing the other marked slots to get close (don't even pay attention to the 'angle' markings on the slots). For a wide blade, you'll likely need to use a slot that's marked at a wider value, in order to finish with an angle closer to your target. For example, you'll likely need to use the '20' slot to finish at a real angle of something less (like 15°, for example).

If you're determined to hit a very specific angle, you'll need to use trig functions and measurements of the blade's positioning relative to the clamp's front edge, to calculate where the blade edge needs to be to get close to your target angle. In my opinion, it's not worth all that trouble. If you're trying to match the factory angle, darken the bevels with a Sharpie, and move the blade in/out to position it where the stones will evenly remove the ink from edge-to-shoulder, of the bevel.


David
 
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