sharpening kershaws

B

Bookworm

Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
484
well, I'm still waiting on my bump's arrival (UPS ground is killing me!) and I know people have posted questions about sharpening the blade type.
1) How much more difficult is it to sharpen the bump style blade?
2) All I have is one of those kitchen knife sharpeners (the cylindrical kind that come in the kitchen knife sets). It works fine for keeping up the blade on my leatherman. How urgent is it for me to invest in a quality sharpener (i.e. spyderco sharpmaker)?
3) what type of oil should I get for keeping the speedsafe mechanism running smoothly?
4) What problems will I encounter disassembling and reassembling this knife? I guarantee it will see beach sand, sandstone, fine dirt, and just about everything else I run into. Cleaning the inside of the knife is straightforward? Open and wipe down, or is there anything I should check specifically for?

I know I'll learn the answers to all of my questions fairly quickly, but I'm hoping to avoid mangling my first kershaw as much a possible.
 
Heres my .02...


1. Not that hard with a Sharpaker, especially if you never let it get dull in the first place.

2. Get a Sharpmaker ASAP, its great!

3. I would recommend Militec-1, but anything other than WD-40 should work OK.

4. It not that hard, the hardest part for me is lining up the torsion spring with the hole in the blade when putting the 2 halves together.
 
Any recurve is best sharpened on a Sharpmaker. Just remember to not drag the tip off of the edge of the Sharpmaker. The butcher's steel you refer to doesn't actually sharpen the knife, it merely helps to re-align the thin cutting edge (some high end kitchen cutlery pieces have very thin edges for slicing, and the edge can be pushed from one side to the other by hitting bone, cutting boards, etc.).
 
Exactly! As you pull/draw the knife down the ceramic stick, be sure to stop before the tip rolls off. At the end of the pull/draw movement I usually give the blade a tip down curve with my wrist just as I reach the tip, making the movement against the ceramic all the way to the edge of the tip. But remember, the knife stays vertical at all times, even at the tip.

The key to successful sharpening with the Sharpmaker is slow, deliberate movements...a light touch (not a lot of pressure), always keeping the knife at a 90 degree angle to the surface your Sharpmaker rests upon (to get the desired inclusive angle of 40 or 30 degrees) and keeping the stones cleaned frequently with Comet...take your time and you'll see.

Hope this helps..........

SPX
 
Agreed...You can't (at least I can't) control the tip edge correctly on the corners of the ceramics. I can't remember the last time I used the corners for a touch up...flats only. Now, when sharpening for a friend who's knife has no plausible sharp edge left, the corners do come in handy. They seem to cut faster than the flats and restore the proper angle. Then to the flats for finishing the edge.
 
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