sharpening advice

L

Lukealoop

Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
5
so im pretty new to higher end knives and recently purchased an enzo trapper in elmax steel with a scandi grind and am wondering what would be a good system to sharpen this knife? doing my own research i first thought that the naniwa pro/chosera water stones would be great but then i found that perhaps the dmt duosharp diamond stones would be even better? and then maybe a strop to finish? if so whats a good strop and compounds that would work well after using the extra fine grit dmt stone? i already own a spyderco sharpmaker that i use on my other knives and thought that would work great to add a micro bevel if more durability is needed. any advice would be much appreciated since ive put a lot of time reseaching and am now more confused then when i started haha. im not worried about expense and just want a really really nice knife to use for bushcraft and hunting and want to do it right the first time. thaanks
 
First off, welcome to BladeForums... Each of us has a favorite way of sharpening and favorite stones, strops, compounds or complete sharpening systems. The short answer is if you have experiences with free hand sharpening then individual stones are going to be fine. If not then a system with a jig like Lansky, Wicked Edge or one of the many other systems will help you get a consistent edge. Most any strop mounted on wood with green compound or stropping paste will finish the edge. This is just one of many opinions on sharpening and I am sure many will follow.
 
Lukealoop said:
enzo trapper in elmax
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Oh cool.
Show us a photo.
I like my Edge Pro by the way.

I haven't read this one but it should help if you have questions.
I was using PhotoBucket until they got crazy.
Now I have a basic membership to BladeForums and can post photos directly from my desk top.
>>>>>Link To how to post photos here.

Welcome to the Forum !
 
thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated and hoepfully i can pay it forward at some point. i dont have much experience with free hand sharpening other than just fooling around with my kitchen knives however i feel confident i can get the hang of it which is part of the reason i went for the scandi..from what ive learned its supposed to be easier to sharpen ? i just bought the knife as a kit from brad at thompsons knives (Brad has awesome service btw) once i get the ebony scales on it ill take some pics for sure! my neck got a pinched nerve and cant work due to the pain so ive been smoking a lot of weed and watching virtuovices videos all day haha so i gotta say im pretty much sold on stones cause it looks so fun!
 
For a scandi knife I’d go with nice flat stones. Leather is great for convex edges and deburring but it will convex your scandi grind. That’s not the end of the world, but you should only do it if you want to.

If you’re trying to keep a scandi geometry, it’s flat along the whole bevel. Get a flat set of diamond stones, I use DMT, from XC through EF depending on what finish I want. Then make sure to lay the bevel flat on the stones when sharpening. That will preserve the geometry.

And practice on some cheap knives! Maybe get a mora for practice?
 
ya i have a mora companion i thought id practice with. the last few animals ive taken while hunting ive had to completly debone the meat in order to pack it out, do you think a zero scandi would be strong enough to stay sharp throughout the entire task or perhaps a very fine microbevel/convex edge might be a good thing? also if you think i should just stick with stones is the EF dmt stone good to finish on or is it worth investing in one of those exepensive hi grit whetstones as well?
 
Small microbevel on scandi makes edge stronger,and performs almost same.What i do on my scandis is i raise the grind on blade much higher almost to top or give it full convex grind and then make small secondary edge.This is how a lot of scandis are-were ground..it performs way better this way in all aspects.Even my Helle knives that are excellent I raised the grind to almost top of blade and with small sec edge theyre straight razors and edge is very stable and doesnt get damaged when cuttind wood or anything.I think grinds on all scandis should be higher but some manufacturers leave them very low,and in my book its no no especially on thicker blades.Most custom puukkos are ground differently and have high grind that performs way better.
 
Ps,you can touch up this knife on sharpmaker with no problems at all,then when sec edge gets visible use stone again.I do this on my Helle knives and they whittle hair and hold edge for long time.
 
Lukealoop said:
ya i have a mora companion i thought id practice with. the last few animals ive taken while hunting ive had to completly debone the meat in order to pack it out, do you think a zero scandi would be strong enough to stay sharp throughout the entire task or perhaps a very fine microbevel/convex edge might be a good thing? also if you think i should just stick with stones is the EF dmt stone good to finish on or is it worth investing in one of those exepensive hi grit whetstones as well?
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A zero Scandi would likely work fine, but you should be prepared to touch it up in the field anyway. Hide caked with mud, scraping bone, mistakes hitting the ground, lots of reasons might make you want to touch up in the field.

So you’re likely going to put on a microbevel in the field with whatever field stone you’re using. It’s so much less time to sharpen a microbevel. And then you can put on a zero grind when you get back to the bench, or more likely, just keep touching up the microbevel for quite a while before needing to do a full sharpening to zero grind again.

When it’s time to grind off that microbevel, you’re likely going to want a very coarse stone to make it take a reasonable time. Norton Crystolon Coarse, or DMT XC sort of coarse.

Also for hunting, you don’t want to polish the edge too much. Polished edges are good for push cutting, woodwork, that sort of thing. A nice DMT C or F, very lightly deburred on a 1 micron strop or fine ceramic would leave an aggressive edge that would do a good job on hide and flesh.
 
Toothy edge is best for meat ,rope and some other materials while polished is best for wood.I once long time ago overpolished knife with strop loaded with green compound and was going to cut meat.I struggled with that knife ,and it hardly could cut sinews ,gristle in meat because edge was too smooth and sliding off meat even though it cut paper like crazy and was hair whittling
 
Thanks for the tips guys so with all this information is think I'm going to pull the trigger on dmt stones. The extra course/ course and fine/extra fine are on sale with the base right now at sharpening supplies. Being only a 4 inch blade and having only 1 other scandi knife I'm guessing the duosharp plus should work good. I'll also look into a 1 micron strop like you suggest and also thanks for the advice on not wanting to polish to much for a hunting knife. Probably saved me a big headache in the field haha
 
Lukealoop said:
Thanks for the tips guys so with all this information is think I'm going to pull the trigger on dmt stones. The extra course/ course and fine/extra fine are on sale with the base right now at sharpening supplies. Being only a 4 inch blade and having only 1 other scandi knife I'm guessing the duosharp plus should work good. I'll also look into a 1 micron strop like you suggest and also thanks for the advice on not wanting to polish to much for a hunting knife. Probably saved me a big headache in the field haha
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I have a set of the DMT 8” double sided stones from XC to EF and use them on pretty much anything. They last a long time, don’t need much maintenance, and cut any steel. Couldn’t be happier. Also 1 micron spray on a flat piece of basswood has been great. It took a lot of practice to get really good with it, but the tools themselves are great.

I think you’re going to get good use out of this setup for years.
 
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