Sharpening, and I SUCK!!

S

saylorbrand

Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
338
I am embarrassingly unsuccessful at sharpening my knives. I can sharpen my RC4 to shave, but my sebenza is tough. It is sharp enough for most, but I want to shave hair. I practice quite a bit but still suck. I thought about cheating and getting a machine sharpener. Are those suggested by anyone? Or maybe someone here can let me in on a secret.

Oh yeah I dont have anything nice as far as stones, but what I do have is course, fine diamond. With a ceramic extra fine stone.
 
S30V is a whole lot harder (takes more time) to sharpen because of its high wear resistance. If you spend 10 minutes on 1095 expect to spend 1 hour on S30V to get to the same level of sharpness. You should also have a shaving sharp edge after your fine diamond.
 
I've managed to turn my Kabar USMC short from blunt to a spoon. But I must give myself some slack here - I've never had to sharpen a a blade with such a dramatic belly (all my sharpening experience has been kitchen knives prior). Also the knife came pathetically dull with an edge angle of probably 45 degrees plus. Honestly it looked like a door stop instead of a blade.

I've not had any luck thinning it out with the stone I have though. I've really rounded out the edges but I still can't get a sharp edge on it at all. It's completely unusable. :(

Recently I've tried convexing the edge with 400 grit sandpaper with no improvement. The thing is just too thick with the termination of the grind too close to the edge. I have no doubt I'd done some damage to the blade after the many attempts I've made but I probably should have started out with an easier blade to sharpen.
 
I chose to learn how to sharpen freehand on stones with a crappy $10 Buck 110 knock off. I recommend this for anyone who wants to learn. Don't ruin your good knives.
 
S30V shouldn't be too difficult to sharpen on diamonds, but I would be hesitant to use a Sebenza for sharpening practice. I practiced on my old school Leatherman Wave several years ago and it still has a bunch of scratches all over it. Sharper than hell now though;). BTW, here's the article that taught me the correct way to freehand sharpen: http://www.knifeart.com/sharfaqbyjoe.html

I think it should be mandatory reading material for anyone looking to learn freehand.
 
I try to clean my edc knives once a week, and touch them up on the ceramic rods at that time. That tends to keep them sharp enough for me.

I have tried to sharpen really dull knives with little success - but honestly my problem is my patience level.
 
I also only use diamond stones and ceramic rods. I rubberband the diamond stone to the ceramics to ensure the same angle is used on both. That should help.

If you create a slight burr, you can tell this by scraping both edgse backwards against a thumbnail, then remove it by slightly increasing the angle and take some very light strokes on a diamond stone.

You can learn a lot at the mainteneace,and tinkering subforum.
 
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Get DMT diamond stones and a well made leather paddle strop. I didn't think I'd ever get a knife to shave until I bought a full set of DMT Diafolds and a firm, uncoated leather strop. Now my knives look at a scrap of paper and it falls in half! :D
 
get the Spyderco set, its usage is VERY clean...my 10 year old can make a good knife shaving sharp with it. it comes with a DVD for some help, and it will get you started. besides, if collapses down into a small package thatll fit in a pack for about $60
 
yup. spyderco sharpmaker.

it should be roughly 30 degrees inclusive, but you can also use the 40 degree setting.

i like the extra fines stones, but you will be fine with the med and fine that come with the set.
 
Here is what i would do...

if your set on doing it yourself...sharpmaker with UF rods would be my recommendation...or just send it to knifenut1013 and let him work his magic:D
 
get the Spyderco set, its usage is VERY clean...my 10 year old can make a good knife shaving sharp with it
Click to expand...

I have a Spyderco SM with all of the addtl rods. I can't get a shaving sharp edge on super hard steel. Some of the softer steel - oh yeah it'll do the job and get razor sharp, but on BM S30V & a little less so their D2, it's a whole different ball game.

I'd recommend a Sharpmaker but once you get your confidence up or if you have a couple of beaters around, I'd say go straight to DMT diamond stones and freehand. Just lightly shave the edge acoss at a consistant angle and you're home free in about 100th the time as a Sharpy. :)
 
I use to suck and sharpening especially with harder steels but with some practice
I have it down pretty well now. Just needed to learn to angle it right so I could feel it
gripping at the stone.
It also helped when I bought the ceramic stones, Kind of like the one's for the sharpmaker but made for freehand
 
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