Sharpening different steels...

[The_Iron_Joe]

How do you guys deal with it?? I've recently sharpened my knives with my newly acquired Spyderco Sharpmaker, and almost all my blades came out sharper than I got them.. with the exception of the ZDP-189 / 420HJ CB Caly 3.5. That ZDP-189 really takes a LOT more time and effort to even come close to how sharp it was when I bought it. Any tips and tricks out there? What methods do you guys use to sharpen your knives? Also, which steel do you guys dislike sharpening the most?

 

[Mannlicher]

I use an EdgePro Apex. For steels like ZDP-189 and S3V, I use slightly different stones, than for say D2, A2, O1. I added a 220 and a 400 EDM, which seem to work well with the newer steels.

 

[HuntBomb]

Im also not a fan of sharpening my caly 3.5 CF in zdp-189/ 420j2 for two reasons:
1. It's very wear resistant and takes a while.
And 2. It requires a lot of careful attention because it can chip easily if you make the bevel too thin.
Im still trying to figure out the best methods for zdp-189.
Otherwise, i enjoy sharpening my other more common steels and super steels because it's my stress reliever.

 

[Cynic2701]

2. It requires a lot of careful attention because it can chip easily if you make the bevel too thin.

I've yet to have issues with a 20 degree bevel on ZDP-189.

OP, if you haven't already, I'd suggest giving some diamond stones a try. They will make sharpening much faster.

 

[HuntBomb]

Have you tried using it when cutting/carving hard woods or cutting around bone?
I'd like to try thinning out the bevel, but i would hate to be stuck with a chip and have to remove more steel than necessary.

 

[pwet]

already deboned some game with my zdp stretch, it's way lower than 20° per side, closer to 20 inclusive. if you don't do anything stupid it'll hold fine. i had some microchipping, too small to be seen once from scraping bones a bit too hard.

 

[HoosierQ]

Those very wear resistant steels are quite literally (if passively) playing defense against your stone. The SharpMaker is a great tool but it is by no means aggressive.

 

[bdmicarta]

There are lots of discussions involving the sharpmaker. It is good for touching up an edge but not good for reprofiling or very dull blades.

You didn't say anything about the angles of your ZDP-189. Assuming you are working with the proper angles then you just need to work more. If your angles aren't right then you need another strategy for getting the angles right.

Generally with the sharpmaker you need something more aggressive. Spyderco sells diamond rods that will help, other people sell coarser ceramic rods, or you can wrap sandpaper around your current rods and work with them that way. Other people have reported success by putting a coarser diamond stone against their sharpmaker rod to set the angle and working with it similarly to before. Or you can get another sharpening system for the more difficult blades. I've decided to go this way and I'm looking into the DMT Aligner system.

 

[Cynic2701]

Have you tried using it when cutting/carving hard woods or cutting around bone?
I'd like to try thinning out the bevel, but i would hate to be stuck with a chip and have to remove more steel than necessary.

I didn't cut or carve hard wood with it, but I've boned a few chickens and haven't really had any chipping. For a while it had a 20 degree inclusive bevel, but then I put a 30 degree microbevel on it just because I felt a little paranoid about chipping out the edge--even though I never had issues.