How To Sharpening a lg seb

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SuzukiGS750EZ

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Dec 30, 2008
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Hey guys. I owned a large sebby many years ago and I can remember it being a pain to sharpen on my sharp maker due to the factory edge. I think it was convex? Thinking about buying another with an insingo blade (or plain 31) but want to know if they changed the edge at all? It's the only knife I've ever had issue with...
 
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To the best of my knowledge it is the same, since they sharpen on a belt sander. Most don't try to maintain the convex edge
 
I maintain all my CRKs on a Sharpmaker. I have two fairly new 21's (2018 and 2019), small Insingo and large DP and I'm able to touch up the factory edge to extreme sharpness with just 50 or so strokes on the brown rods. Same for a 2018 lg Inkosi DP recently back from the Spa. Some of my older Sebenzas needed a lot of time on the brown rods to get back to sharp. Since I bought most of those older ones used, I'm not sure if I was working off the factory edge or not.
 
I use a kme to re profile the secondary bevel to 17 dps then use a sharpmaker for weekly touchups on the 20dps setting. If you dont want to invest in a guided sharpener you could always send it to one of the many guys here offering sharpening. You could also get a set of diamond rods for your sharpmaker that might make it easier to get rid of factory edge for you.
 
My preference in edges is firmly in the convex realm. Being that I'm a khukuri guy, convex edges were some of the first ones I learned to maintain. I generally free hand all of my knives using basic gray and white ceramic rods. Instead of using a guide, I just run the edges down by feel as if i were using a butcher steel. Since I'm not going for a "fat V" edge boarding on a "U" like you want on a chopping tool, I don't move to an actual strop. Instead, I use a thick piece of leather loaded with polishing compound on both sides. I generally smooth in a convex after getting a bit of a micro bevel on the sticks. Once that feels right, I flip the leather over and strop 40 or 50 times per side to polish the edge completely smooth. The leather gives a bit, yielding a convex edge, but since it isn't slack like a strop the "V" stays a bit tighter.

It's a process. I know trying to use a Sharp Maker would confound me. Rods and leather seems to work well enough for my needs. Good luck:)
 
CRK always got flack for using softer HRC values in their older knives. That said, it is still a bear to remove that factory convex on a sharpmaker. I think a lot of people who were complaining about dull edges back in the day were still not hitting the apex, even after many sharpenings, due that convex still being there. I had an early 2000s 21 that I thought had a bad heat treat on the blade until I realized after 6 months of use and sharpening, I still had the remnants of that convex edge. Turns out this particular blade is one of my best at edge-holding now that it is properly reprofiled and sharp.

I use a sharpmaker followed by KSF leather/wood block with some medium compound on it. Seems to work well.
 
I use the Sharpmaker brown rods and then use a strop at a steeper angle to create something of a convex edge or micro bevel. Works every well for me. Using the strop at a steep angle also prevents polishing the area behind the edge—that look really bugs me.
 
I own five CRKs, all bought brand new. The first one bought in 2002; the second in 2011; two more in 2015, and one in 2016. The 2002 Sebenza came extremely dull out of box. I had to reprofile the edge, and had only my Sharpmaker (SM). At the time, it was my most expensive knife, so I used the grey rods to work the edge down at 15 DPS. This took quite a while, off and on, over time. With time and patience, I finally thinned it out enough and finished the edge on the white rods at 20 DPS.

Maybe not the optimal way to reprofile, but I was worried about using any method that might accidentally remove too much metal at a time. The other, more recent knives came with much better/thinly-ground edges (though still convexed), and touching them up on the SM is easy.

That said, I really do not prefer convex edge bevels on a hollow ground blade. I wish that CRK factory edged their knives with flat V bevels at 20 DPS. IMO, the edges would be equally strong, and also IMO, the edges would have more “bite” out of the box than the convexed edges. They would also better complement the thin primary grinds of CRK blades.

Jim
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Hey guys. I owned a large sebby many years ago and I can remember it being a pain to sharpen on my sharp maker due to the factory edge. I think it was convex? Thinking about buying another with an insingo blade (or plain 31) but want to know if they changed the edge at all? It's the only knife I've ever had issue with...
Click to expand...

Here ya go. Give this a watch. It’s a video I did awhile back that many have found helpful. If you have any questions, ask away. Enjoy..!

 
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