Sharpening BG42

A

adanac

Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
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I asked a variation of this question before but don't think I did so in the right way so I'll try a narrower, yes or no type question.

Is is possible to sharpen a knife made of BG42 on the Sypderco Sharpmaker using the rods that came with it and the diamond rods?

Thanks.
 
Yes, but ceramic rods are way too fine for any serious metal removal.
Depending how much metal needs to be removed, how hard your BG-42 steel is and how good your skills are, mainly how steady your hand is, it may take few hours.
 
If you want to put an entirely new bevel on the knife it's going to take a good long time on the sharpmaker, plus you might need to use some other diamond triangles. If you want to simply touch up the edge, you can probably do a decent job using the medium then fine triangles.
 
Sharpen, yes. You shouldn't need the diamond rods unless it is really, really dull. Reprofile - not this week. ;)
 
Well, as you pose it, the answer to your question would be "yes."

What's the problem? The Sharpmaker does 30- or 40-degree angles. If your blade's edge angle doesn't match the angle of the stone, you'll have to reprofile the edge to match the stone angle. The diamond stone will work fine for that.

Try painting the edge with a Sharpie and see if the stone angle matches the edge angle. If not, you'll see what you have to do.

When you do start sharpening, make sure you raise and remove a burr along the entire length of the edge on each side of the blade.
 
For re-profiling, I use 3" length sandpaper-strip-on-glass. Removable glue sticks work well to stabilize the sandpaper-on-glass and ease sandpaper strip replacement. I use 400 or 600 grit. Either grit cuts faster than anything but a diamond stone. Periodically lift off the grindings with a damp paper towel to prolong usefulness of the sandpaper strip.

For establishing angles, I use a scientific calculator (Sin function) to calculate spine-lift to establish the starting stroke - and simply try to maintain that honing angle free-hand for the total blade bevel. I use some combination of coins (2 quarters, 4 pennies, etc.) for a jig to establish appropriate spine lift-off for that blade at that angle.

I have a SharpMaker, but I really don't like using rods of any style. For perfect tip-sharpening they totally suck. You'll need a flat-surface stone to form a perfect tip, so I use flat-surface hones all the way.

My Military BG-42 functions very well for materials such as hardwoods with a compound-taper:
- 15 degree main bevels (30 degrees inclusive).
- 10 degree micro-bevels (20 degrees inclusive).

I finish bevels with Spyderco Medium Grit (grey), Spyderco Fine (white) on the micro-bevels.

Hope this helps!
 
If you are just sharpening it then Sharpmaker should do very well.

BG-42 really isn't too bad to sharpen at all.
 
gud4u said:
For re-profiling, I use 3" length sandpaper-strip-on-glass. Removable glue sticks work well to stabilize the sandpaper-on-glass and ease sandpaper strip replacement. I use 400 or 600 grit. Either grit cuts faster than anything but a diamond stone. Periodically lift off the grindings with a damp paper towel to prolong usefulness of the sandpaper strip.

For establishing angles, I use a scientific calculator (Sin function) to calculate spine-lift to establish the starting stroke - and simply try to maintain that honing angle free-hand for the total blade bevel. I use some combination of coins (2 quarters, 4 pennies, etc.) for a jig to establish appropriate spine lift-off for that blade at that angle.

I have a SharpMaker, but I really don't like using rods of any style. For perfect tip-sharpening they totally suck. You'll need a flat-surface stone to form a perfect tip, so I use flat-surface hones all the way.

My Military BG-42 functions very well for materials such as hardwoods with a compound-taper:
- 15 degree main bevels (30 degrees inclusive).
- 10 degree micro-bevels (20 degrees inclusive).

I finish bevels with Spyderco Medium Grit (grey), Spyderco Fine (white) on the micro-bevels.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Am I reading that shallower microbevel correctly? Wouldn't you want to go steeper?
 
Superdave1 said:
Am I reading that shallower microbevel correctly? Wouldn't you want to go steeper?
Click to expand...

My thoughts also. The shallow microbevel has to be a typo, because this is geometrically impossible on stones with a v-edged blade. It is also the opposite of what a microbevel is supposed to do.
 
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