Sharpening INFI?

wvriverats

wvriverats

Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
328
I pretty much live here, but I don't post often. I also lurk in the sharpening and sheath areas.

I have read a lot of different sharpening posts using many different methods.

My question is: What is the method that the man himself recommends to sharpen his knives. The SHBA I had came with a flyer showing the recommended method, but I would like to know what method the shop thinks is best for each edge geometry.

Just curious. :confused::confused::confused:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I recently acquired a SHSJ with the asymetric edge and I seem to like that the best. I can't seem to get a convex edge sharp enough to do anything impressive. Looks pretty but just about worthless. V-edges and asymetric edges work the best for me.
 
Convex edges require a strop in my experience. I use an EdgePro Apex for most of my knives. Some say that they can do a convex edge with their edgepro but I haven't tried. The asymmetrical edge was underrated IMO.
 
I used to use the mouse pad and sandpaper method to reprofile all my edges to convex, and then strop them. A quick stropping was usually enough to restore the blades to shaving sharp after hard chopping.

I just recently purchased a cheap 1x30 belt sander, and do the exact same thing - reprofile edges to convex. Only now it takes minutes instead of hours. And I have a leather belt for the sander, so I can power strop, meaning it takes me around thirty seconds to restore a blade to shaving sharp.

In the field, I've used a plain leather belt to strop blades with reasonably decent results. It's not fast, and it won't work to fix chips or rolls, but will definitely do a fair bit to restore a blade while out in the woods.
 
The Man himself said to use a ceramic rod:

"One of the great features of INFI is that simply stropping away from the edge (the way a barber strops a straight edged razor) on a ceramic stick is basically all that is required to resharpen INFI. Since you're not chipping steel off the edge there is no need to grind any steel away. This feature of INFI will, likewise, allow you to keep the same overall profile of the knife for a much greater period of time."

From the Busse Combat website.
 
jerry produced a run of "air bleeder strops" a while back. i don't have any pics, but I'm sure they're around.
 
I use "v" grind edges on my smaller (<4") Infi blades and convex my larger Infi blades. One of the most convenient tools, I've used, to touch up a convexed edge is a padded emory board.
 
Houndstooth said:
I use "v" grind edges on my smaller (<4") Infi blades and convex my larger Infi blades. One of the most convenient tools, I've used, to touch up a convexed edge is a padded emory board.
Click to expand...

This is what I do, keep all but a few of my short blades V ground as I can keep up with them on my sharpmaker easy enough. Then all my big blades I use a mouse pad or a peace of leather backing and sandpaper then strop for my convex.
 
Thanks folks! I have a sharpmaker and have had good results "maintaining" my pocket knives with it. I don't have the diamond stones and have not been able to restore my neglected knives. I don't want my Busses to fall into that category that was why I posted. Also, recently bought a leather barber strop which seems to dull the pocket knives after a round on the sharpmaker. Too scared to try the Busses on it. I can sharpen my AD on sharpmaker, but the SAR4LE is convex. If I try the mousepad method what grits do I use and how much pressure and # of passes, just a starting point?

Thanks again, and I know this is just a sharpening thread, but I would rather ask folks who use Busses how to sharpen Busses.
 
If the strop is dulling your knives, you are probably using it incorrectly. The strop should be pulled really right, and you should be using ridiculously light pressure with the knives against the strop. Most people push too hard, which rolls the leather over the edge of the knife and dulls it.

When I use the mousepad method, I sharpen an already convexed edge with something around 800 grit, and work up to 2500 if I'm going for a pretty polished edge. When I'm reprofiling a flat grind into a convex edge, I start around 220 grit or so, and work my way towards the finer grits.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top