Sharpening issues

HelixKing

HelixKing

Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
67
Alright so I have a couple of Emerson knives, one is a mini cqc-7 and the other is a SOCFK. I'm having a really hard time putting an edge back on these. I'm not sure why, I've been trying to use my spyderco sharpening system, but it's not working. I don't know if I wore out the rods or what. I haven't been able to use any of these knives for quite some time because of how dull they are. I've been wanting to buy some Japanese water stones, but I'm not sure which grits I should purchase.

Anyway I didn't know if anyone had this problem with these knives, or if they just had any sharpening tips in general as well as what tools you use to sharpen your blades. Pics to follow soon.
 
Get a wicked edge they are awesome, coming from me the guy who couldn't even work the sharpmaker lol
 
I'll check it out, I don't know why it's so hard for me to get an edge on these knives, the sharpmaker has worked amazingly on all my other knives. Maybe it's the chisel grind. None of my other knives have that grind.
 
Its probably the grind. Try only sharpening the ground side, then only swiping the other side to unbur it
 
I've tried that, and no luck it seems like the sharpening system or something isn't cutting through the steel. It's almost rounding everything over and smoothing it down, making it useless in cutting, lemme go take some pictures.
 
Sounds like the stones are dirty. They need to be cleaned with AJAX or similar powder abrasive to get the metal out of the voids. Otherwise the stones just basically glide over the edge. Sharpening an Emerson should not be too difficult, knifeguy101 is right. You sharpen on one side and deburr the other. There are a lot of in depth instructional threads and discussions in the Maintenance, Tinkering, and Embellishment section here.
Wash the stones and let them dry completely, then wash them again using an old toothbrush or green/blue scotchbrite pad. That should clean them up well enough. Next grab a sharpie marker and paint the cutting edge (primary bevel) of the knife and as you start sharpening you can check to see where your angle is in conjunction to the marker colored area. The stones will remove the marking on the cutting edge and give you more accuracy. Beats buying a $300+ system.
 
The Sharpmaker won't work unless the stone angle matches the edge angle. Paint the edge of your knife with a Sharpie, then do a dry pass over the stone. You'll probably find that you're removing ink only at the edge shoulder, not the apex.

I don't know what angle Emerson puts on its chisel grind, but it needs to match the stone angle on the Sharpmaker. Because you're sharpening only one side, you could raise or lower one side of the Sharpmaker so that a vertical stroke allows the stone to match that edge angle.
 
Yep, Twindog nailed it, use a magazine or something to elevate one side of the Sharpmaker, while keeping your technique vertical.
 
Awesome, I'll definitely try all of these suggestions, starting with cleaning it. Thanks a lot for the help guys. Here is a link to a photobucket album with some pics.

Emerson Knives
 
Using sandpaper and mouse pad I just put a razor sharp convex edge on an ESEE-4 which had a dull and abruptly angled edge. I used a Sharpie and colored the edge where I wanted it to began and starting at the tip with 220 grit worked my way down the blade in increments, turned it over and did the same on the other side, recolored it with Sharpie and repeated with 300 grit, finishing with 400.
 
If you don't like tilting your sharpmaker you can adjust the angle in your hand and use it like that. Ajax, Comet, and products like that work for cleaning the stones but I hear barkeepers friend works the best and is fairly cheap.

If the angles don't match up with the sharpmaker your options are what we already mentioned or to reprofile the knife to match the sharpmaker if you want to continue using the sharpmaker.
 
Emersons chisel grinds will have a lot more obtuse angle since its only sharpened on one side. I'm not sure what angles the sharpmaker is set for but you'll need to match your
edge angle to the angle of the stones. Sharpie trick works best for this. If theres still sharpie at the edge than your not apexing the edge.
Once you do apex the edge and you an feel a burr along the other side of the edge all you need to do is one or two swipes on the other side to knock the burr off.
 
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