Sharpening drives me crazy.

MatthewSB said:
That said, the rougher edge won't last as long, before requiring sharpening, as a higher polished edge even if the polished edge doesn't 'feel' as sharp. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm having trouble putting the concept into words.
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Not sure if this is correct...

Additionally, I feel like putting a polished edge on S30V or S35VN is doing a disservice to yourself.
 
I have a love hate relationship with my Seb. I can get it hair popping sharp but it dulls so fast and gets very frustrating. I know it's been beaten to death and some people have "never" experienced this. But I use my knives for everything. Literally everything. Just gets frustrating when I have to touch the edge up constantly with daily use.

Maybe it's me and how I sharpen, or maybe it's what I'm cutting. Either way it drives me a little insane sometimes.
 
Gizler00 said:
I have a love hate relationship with my Seb. I can get it hair popping sharp but it dulls so fast and gets very frustrating. I know it's been beaten to death and some people have "never" experienced this. But I use my knives for everything. Literally everything. Just gets frustrating when I have to touch the edge up constantly with daily use.

Maybe it's me and how I sharpen, or maybe it's what I'm cutting. Either way it drives me a little insane sometimes.
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What's the birthdate on yours?
 
Gizler00 said:
Can't remember of hand, so I will have to look. But the date code on the scales is B14
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Ok, so mid 2014. Specific birthdate doesn't matter. Supposedly the HT was bumped to 59-60 in mid 2013. I have one late 2013 that I have chronicled my experience with here. Did a lot better than I thought it would based on what I'd heard, but avoid things like wire, drywall, etc, so can't give an opinion on those situations.
 
uofaengr said:
Ok, so mid 2014. Specific birthdate doesn't matter. Supposedly the HT was bumped to 59-60 in mid 2013. I have one late 2013 that I have chronicled my experience with here. Did a lot better than I thought it would based on what I'd heard, but avoid things like wire, drywall, etc, so can't give an opinion on those situations.
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Do you have the link to your testing? I would like to check it out.
 
Gizler00, if you use your knife a lot, it won't stay razor sharp. s30V/35VN is made just for your type of cutting, it keeps a working edge for a long time, but not a razor edge, no steel can do that.
I suggest, adding another carry to your pocket that is thin and light for the the razor sharp edge you want. Something in D2 or CTS-XHP.
 
Stropping perhaps underrated? I get great results with Goodwill bought ($5.00!),rough leather belt. With or without green compound... Cheers.
 
Haze said:
To be fair, it's a well used blue DMT so it's probably closer to medium, but yes. :) I worked for most of my life as a forester so my idea of how to sharpen a user knife is down to pure practicality, I just need my knife to cut stuff.
This is literally all I use to sharpen my CRKs.....
attachment.php
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That's a simple set up but takes care of business :thumbup:
I think a lot of times we overthink and overcomplicate sharpening to the point of frustration when in reality it is a simple task once you know the basic technique.
 
uofaengr said:
No fancy numbers or spreadsheets full of data or anything, just my experience. Not an expert and only based off of cutting one type of material.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1280342
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Thanks. I will check it out.

gull wing said:
Gizler00, if you use your knife a lot, it won't stay razor sharp. s30V/35VN is made just for your type of cutting, it keeps a working edge for a long time, but not a razor edge, no steel can do that.
I suggest, adding another carry to your pocket that is thin and light for the the razor sharp edge you want. Something in D2 or CTS-XHP.
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Over the years, I have carried so any different knives that I cannot remember all of them. I have a variety of different blade steels in my current rotation.

Here's my issue..... I have carried spyderco, and ZT knives for years with S30v, and never had the same issues doing the same tasks. I specifically EDC'd a PM2 in S30V for a really long time and it never dulled as fast as the Seb does. S30V/S35V will handle everything I cut in a day. This Seb should have the same ability as my others, but it does not.


Edit: I should not say ability. Rather edge retention.
 
I find it a challenge as well, but a joy once I figured out the steel.

I will say though, it is a stubborn, i mean very stubborn steel.
 
Ajack60 said:
I've never read a bad review on the KME
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Well, here's one....I hate the KME because I'm ALWAYS using it. :D Between old knives that I want fixed up, and new knives that come to me without perfect bevels it seems I'm using this thing way too much.

But back to the Seb, the KME handles S35VN just fine with the Gold Diamond kit. You may have to spend a few more minutes on each stone than you would on simple carbon steel, but not too much. I've done a bit of s35vn on the KME and it not only handles it, you can get some AMAZING edges from sharp and toothy to full on mirror.

But keep that Sharpmaker! It's great for touching up edges after blade usage. Just like a Chef would never try to re-profile his knives on a steel rod, that SM works best for the same purpose. Touch up then strop.

Add: If you don't already have the Extra Fine rods for the SharpMaker, get them too. Once you already have a great edge profile from the KME, you don't need to do much to get the blade back to razor (unless you've been out really beating it up). I use the EF rods more than anything for touch up.
 
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My experience and theory....

All three of my small sebenzas came fairly dull (unable to scrape hair or cut paper cleanly) and after a few cuts in card board or hardwood they would be very dull and tear paper. A full sharpen on a sharp maker would produce average results (scrape hair) and dull just as quickly as before.

A full sharpen with diamond stones then sharpmaker then strop would produce a hair whittling edge that holds as well as any s30v (I have no other s35v to compare to) that I have used before.

Theory, CRK put a nice even, somewhat polished edge on their knives. This takes time to produce and depending on the life cycle of the sharpening belts used and time it takes to get these even, polished edges determine how much heat will be produced at the edge and the depth of steel softening that will inevitably result from that heat. But after that softer steel is removed from a full diamond stone sharpening, I have had great results. This is also regardless of the manufacturing date (2012 and 2014) or supposed change of targeted blade hardness over that period.
 
Haze said:
To be fair, it's a well used blue DMT so it's probably closer to medium, but yes. :) I worked for most of my life as a forester so my idea of how to sharpen a user knife is down to pure practicality, I just need my knife to cut stuff. :thumbup:

This is literally all I use to sharpen my CRKs.....

attachment.php
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Forest tech here (going back to school for my degree this year though), and I find the SM can be hit and miss. Sometimes I nail the sharpening, other times it's lacking, so I just hand sharpen with the ultra fine SM stone to fix it. My large 21s and large insingo treat me very well in the woods.
 
In regards to the Sebenza not holding the edge as long as other knives, let's not forget that they run their hardening a few points softer then most other brands with similar steels. This makes it easier to sharpen in the field though. But I've never had a problem. My advice would be to reprofile the edge and even out the apex. Unfortunately the hand sharpening at the factory isn't as good as one would hope. I got my Sebenza resharpened and it is a cutting machine, I love it.
 
Poromenos said:
In regards to the Sebenza not holding the edge as long as other knives, let's not forget that they run their hardening a few points softer then most other brands with similar steels. This makes it easier to sharpen in the field though. But I've never had a problem. My advice would be to reprofile the edge and even out the apex. Unfortunately the hand sharpening at the factory isn't as good as one would hope. I got my Sebenza resharpened and it is a cutting machine, I love it.
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While this was true for a bit, I would bet that the edges on the blades coming out of the CRK shop as of late are much better. Anne Reeve personally responded to this in one of the threads here and let us know that they are focused on delivering blades with excellent edges.
 
gull wing said:
Gizler00, that is puzzling.
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Not sure How. I have talked to many other Seb Owners with the same experience. Dont get me wrong, I really love and enjoy the knife. But it is very disappointing that the blade dulls so quickly. Im not talking razor hair popping edge. I realize that any blade steel will dull with use, this is just faster than I think is should be.

Im not out pounding my knife across cement or cutting carpet up all dag while the blade hits the floor beneath. Im talking simple tasks such as cutting cardboard, opening up a wiring loom on a vehicle harness, cutting a sandwich on a plate, cutting down some wooden sticks for my boys, cutting the sheathing off of 220V wiring (this killed the edge the other day), cutting up some plastic containers. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The other day I was stripping 220V wiring for an extension cord to use with my welder. I scored the rubber and pulled it back with my hand. While holding it, I proceeded to cut the rubber off with the seb. Then I cut the insulation thats inside wrapped in with the wires. This is simply a paper wrapped nylon or cloth type cordage thats in there with the wires. Performing that exact cut, destroyed the edge on my seb. It struggled to cut printer paper afterwards, and had to even sort of saw cut through some paracord.

I am not asking for this blade steel to be like 3V or M4, or anything far superior, I just want it to cut, and not dull to the point where its struggling to cut normal everyday things.

I know there are others out there that have the same experiences, I am not the only one.
 
I will say that I tried a different technique tonight and had different results, but still to early to tell.

I typically touch up on either the SM or I will free hand on DMT stones, then strop when finished.

Tonight I had the SM and my Loaded Strop out. I proceeded to make strokes with the Brown rods on the angled sides, then after that step I took it to the stop with black bark river compound. I repeated this exact same procedure for every step of the way while using the SM. Every time I would switch sides on the rods, or switch from Medium to Fine, I would strop lightly in between. Then I finished off with a light stropping with the Green compound.

I typically would not strop in between. Now before everyone gets their panties in a wad and says "thats what CRK says to do" I already knew that was how he does it. I just personally never have. I could and can achieve a hair popping edge with the other methods mentioned.

Now I just went out and cut up a USPS medium side Priority box and the edge is still hair shaving sharp. I will have to replicate some of the other cuts I made in the past that destroyed the blade.


Another thing worth mentioning, is that I had the same experience with my Small 21.
 
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