sharpening degree?

A few days ago, I sharpened my Street Beat (with VG-10 blade) at around 10 degrees per side, then finished by adding small bevels with the Sharpmaker at 15 degrees. So far, no problems at all. I cut some thick cardboard and then looked at the edge under a microscope. There were no chips or tears or anything. I also used it to cut up steak on a ceramic plate. The edge was very slightly dulled, but there was no damage.

IIRC, Sal was carrying around a Street Beat that had been sharpened to 7 degrees inclusive :eek: , which I guess would be "flat to the stone". I wouldn't want to go that extreme, but I think Sal uses very thin edges sometimes to test what a steel is capable of. He could probably give you a better idea of what the angles are that VG-10 will work best at.

I have an old Calypso Jr. with a VG-10 blade that needs its edge thinned out. Since I just got a new coarse Diasharp hone, I'm probably going to reprofile it in the next couple of days. I'm thinking that I'll do about 10 degrees per side, but I won't add a micro-bevel and I'll try leaving it somewhat coarse. It should be interesting to see how that kind of edge performs in VG-10.
 
Thanks. I was thinking to sharpen it at 15-17, but wasn't sure, so thank you :>. And I guess it'd be great if Sal would say something too ;>
 
cerulean said:
A few days ago, I sharpened my Street Beat (with VG-10 blade) at around 10 degrees per side, then finished by adding small bevels with the Sharpmaker at 15 degrees. So far, no problems at all. I cut some thick cardboard and then looked at the edge under a microscope. There were no chips or tears or anything. I also used it to cut up steak on a ceramic plate. The edge was very slightly dulled, but there was no damage.

IIRC, Sal was carrying around a Street Beat that had been sharpened to 7 degrees inclusive :eek: , which I guess would be "flat to the stone". I wouldn't want to go that extreme, but I think Sal uses very thin edges sometimes to test what a steel is capable of. He could probably give you a better idea of what the angles are that VG-10 will work best at.

I have an old Calypso Jr. with a VG-10 blade that needs its edge thinned out. Since I just got a new coarse Diasharp hone, I'm probably going to reprofile it in the next couple of days. I'm thinking that I'll do about 10 degrees per side, but I won't add a micro-bevel and I'll try leaving it somewhat coarse. It should be interesting to see how that kind of edge performs in VG-10.
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I use 10/15 for all of my heavy duty knives and haven't had problems. I've gone much thinner on my lighter duty stuff.
 
i have a question, but it's not really related to this topic but i don't want to make a new thread just for it so.. what is the smallest degree i can get with the spyderco sharpmaker? i've read it's only 30? or am i wrong?
 
dalgis said:
i have a question, but it's not really related to this topic but i don't want to make a new thread just for it so.. what is the smallest degree i can get with the spyderco sharpmaker? i've read it's only 30? or am i wrong?
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If you put a rod under the center of the base and use it as a fulcrum to tilt the base you can get approximately 10 degrees per side. I learned that from a post Jeff Clark made, and it works really well. When I used trig on the bevels to figue out the angles it produced it was right at 10 degree.
 
dalgis said:
Neat. If you could please give the link to this post? :>
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Sorry, I printed it out but my wife threw away the print out. Do a search in the toolshed forum, it was a reply that Jeff Clark made in a thread commenting on how he uses the sharpmaker for burr removal. That should be required reading for anyone who sharpens with the sharpmaker, or even sharpens in general. Once I started using his tips and a lighted magnifying glass to track the burr I have been getting much sharper edges on my knives.
 
18 per side is the official factory-edge on most VG10's (Police, Delica, Endura)

but, proper VG10 can easily take 10 per side.....if you want it to
 
dennis75 said:
18 per side is the official factory-edge on most VG10's (Police, Delica, Endura)

but, proper VG10 can easily take 10 per side.....if you want it to
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Well, in a recent thread in the general section, and personal experience, my VG-10 Spydies have ranged from 12-15 degrees per side, and Sal says they shoot for around 15 per side. Just wondering where you got the 18 per side info, as I am new to the hobby and forums, but have been pretty deep into it lately.

Agreed wholeheartedly that they can handle 10 degrees per side, that is what I put my Enduras at, with a 15 degree microbevel, and they have no durability issues.
 
gunmike1 said:
Just wondering where you got the 18 per side info, Agreed wholeheartedly that they can handle 10 degrees per side, that is what I put my Enduras at, with a 15 degree microbevel, and they have no durability issues.
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official info from spyderco customer-servie and Sal himself. posted it on BF and SpF 'bout 2 years ago. the threads are roaming around the web somewhere, can't find it..... sorry.
 
dennis75 said:
found it...yet again...

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4154076&postcount=11

(VG10: 18/19 per side, CPM's: 15 per side)
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Thanks for the link. I have been participating in a recent thread in the General Blade Discussion forum where Sal said they aim for 15 per side, and on the Sharpmaker DVD he said something similar. Obviously, with hand grinding of the edges they will vary from knife to knive. My R2 was around 12 degrees per side, and my Manix is right around 12.5 degrees per side, while my Enduras have all been right around 15. Spyderco definately leaves good geometry for cutting and ease of sharpening.
 
Some recent edge retention tests I did using cardboard found a very slight tendency towards chipping with a VG-10 Caly Jr. sharpened at 12 deg./side, with a microbevel of 17 deg./side. IMO the chipping observed wasn't very significant, but making the edge more acute could run into problems.

For general utility use where the edge could be subjected to significant lateral stresses and sometimes impact hard objects, I think the angle settings on the Spyderco Sharpmaker would be nearly ideal for Spyderco's VG10: sharpen the primary bevels at 15 deg./side and add a 20 deg./side microbevel.
 
Sal mentioned that they usually sharpen at 15 per side. At least that's what they shoot for.

I wouldn't go 10 deg per side...if it doesn't chip it will roll. anyways, I hate the look of a microbevel. I like 15 per side best.
 
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