sharpening a Mnandi...please help.

[rob i]

Hi,

I just purchased a bnib lefty Mnandi with ebony inlays. It is beautiful. It's born on date is Jan 21st 2005, but it is absolutely brand new. The only thing is that it is not razor sharp. It cuts through paper, but with some effort. It doesn't seem as sharp as my sebenza, and definately not even close to my new william henry. Sharpening it seems like a reasonable fix especially since I have a spyderco sharp maker, but I am a total novice and don't want to scratch up the blade or ruin the edge. I was hoping that someone here could guide me step by step through the process including at what angle to place the sharpening sticks and which ones to use. The video that came with the sharpmaker is a vhs and I only have a dvd player. I've sharpened a few other knives with it but the blades have gotten scratched a bit, and the tip goes flat. I don't want to make that mistake with my mnandi and don't want to send it in. It is fairly sharp, so I think I could just use the white sticks, but I would be very appreciative if someone could help me here.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[kwackster]

Just apply a piece of sellotape over the largest part of the blade, ofcourse not covering the edge.
This way you can essily experiment with the Spyderco Sharpmakers white sticks without fear of scratching the blade.

 

[jki]

Yes, the Sharpmaker is good at removing the fine point at tip! Unfortunately the Spyderco video does not explain how to avoid this damage. The tip is removed if you draw the blade completely off of the sharpening sticks! The trick, then, is to never draw the entire blade edge across the stick; you must stop your stroke short of the tip! To finish the job, place the sharpening stick horizontally on the Sharpmaker holder and sharpen the tip edge on the sharpening stick flat.

Even better, keep the edge sharp and polished by using a leather strop after use. This will mitigate the need to sharpen by 90%+! Stropping maintains the edge by restoring the fine edge that is still there, rather than by removing metal as occurs in the sharpening process. It is always better to keep the edge sharp rather than letting the edge go dull, which requires metal removal to restore.