Sharpening & Maintenance

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hypothetically29

Gold Member
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Feb 10, 2019
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Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on their preferred sharpening system or method, general upkeep and storage.

Context: historically, I've done a mediocre job sharpening my kitchen knives on a cheap double sided whetstone + strop, and my harder super steels on a fallkniven DC4 diamond + ceramic mini stone, + strop. I've been able to keep things relatively shaving sharp, but don't think I'm doing myself any favors with long term edge retention, stability or geometry.

In addition, I recently bought an FK2 second hand from the forum, with some very minor edge issues (a few small nicks in the belly that you can catch your finger nail on, but only see upon close inspection). The seller said the knife was unused and wasn't sure where the edge issues came from, so I'm guessing this was corrosion from improper storage? I also have another CPM 3V field knife (not CPK) that developed similar nicks in the belly after one feather stick and a few years of sitting in its leather sheath.

Disclaimer: I am not questioning the seller (all of the above was disclosed upfront) or CPK's quality (I have an FK3 on the way direct from their last sale and am looking forward to acquiring more CPKs in the future). I'm questioning my own skills and knowledge on knives.

What I want to know is - how do you maintain your knives? Do you oil the blades when in storage? What's your favorite guided sharpening system? Any other tips and tricks from the hard users as well as collectors on here?
 
For my kitchen knives and slicier folders, I reprofile to 15 dps on a Wicked Edge. I keep a Spyderco Sharpmaker (fixed 20dps) handy, and whenever they stop being sticky-sharp, a couple gentle pulls on the fine sharpmaker stone brings them right back. I don't have to re-sharpen more often than once every year or two with this system. Carbon-steel japanese knives get a hot-water rinse, towel dry and touch of oil before going back to the rack.
 
Yeah, you know… I feel like the true answer is the annoying, uncool one which is to just use what you have and get good with it. Technique is really everything, isn’t it? I know really experienced sharpeners who only use a DC4. I like the kme to start because I mainly bought old, used knives and it’s nice, again just for me, to start with a specific angle that I tune for the steel and grind. Not that you need that, but I find it fun to nerd out with my knives.
 
I have moderate to severe OCD when it comes to keeping my knives shaving sharp. I've been using the Work Sharp Ken Onion Elite for several years now on all of my knives. Works fantastic and very fast. I typically only use the 220 and 800 grit belts for general sharpening, and then several passes on the 6000 grit belt just for deburring followed by a few passes on a hand strop. I'll use an 80 grit belt for reprofiling or to take out any blade damage. I buy the belts from industrial suppliers since they are way cheaper than buying them direct from WS. It's the best sharpening system I have found (for me) and I have tried almost all of them. Takes a little practice to get used to it, but it all becomes second nature pretty quick. I actually used these professionally for a couple years during covid when I had a small fab shop with a store front. Offered knife sharpening to walk-in customers to make a little extra cash when business was slow. Most customers were blown away with the edges. They didn't know knives could be that sharp. I always had to warn them when they picked them up.

KO-Elite.JPG
 
I use a KME system with diamond stones if I have to do serious repairs. It just takes less effort/concentration for me.

I've been able to bring my CPK blades back to their original sharpness and repair small rolls and flat spots using a leather strop with diamond compound (gunny juice).

Freehand sharpening on my larger knives, which the kme system doesn't accommodate very well, is done using diamond stones. I think they're DMT or Sharpal brand.

My user experience with CPKs has been excellent. Below are the examples I can think of off the top of my head with very little sleep:

1. I used an SDFK to process a red stag in New Zealand. The blade had no edge damage, no flat spots, there were no noticeable changes to the edge at all.

I wanted to test the Delta 3V corrosion resistance, so I didn't clean the blade. It stayed dirty and sheathed for a few days with no corrosion whatsoever. Keep in mind that New Zealand is a temperate rainforest and I was there during a particularly humid period with abnormally high amounts of rain/precipitation.

2. I was building a gravel pad in my back yard. The soil is incredibly sandy with some small rocks mixed in.

I had to remove some large-ish tree roots. I should have used an old reciprocating saw blade to do it, but I didn't. I used an SDFK. The edge dulled significantly and had some minor rolls, but it was easily fixed.

3. During the process of constructing the gravel pad, I needed to lay down a significant amount of weed cloth. The cloth had been impregnated with tiny rocks and sand.

I used DEK1 in D3V to cut the cloth. The blade lost its fine edge, but still had a working edge; it didn't experience any rolling. When I did the same thing with a DEK1 in magnacut on a different project, the edge dulled the same way, but also had minor rolling.

4. During construction of the shed, I used an EDC1 in D3V to pry some staples out of boards (using the spine, not the edge) and to "plane"/trim areas of the 2x4s.

The edge of the blade didn't dull or roll through any of that. However, when I accidentally cut into a staple with the blade edge, which caused severe lateral stress, a decent size roll occurred. Initially, I thought it chipped, but when I repaired the blade it became apparent that it only rolled.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Powered grinding can easily burn the very apex of the edge. Delta protocol is more sensitive to this than most. It does not take much to lose the structure that gives us the properties that we want at the very leading edge which is where it really counts.

I do sharpen powered, but the belt is moving slow enough you can read it, and it is dripping wet. Places that sharpen with powered grinders will tell you "don't worry the edge doesn't even get hot". They don't know wtf they're talking about.

I did the math once and I found that you could raise the temperature of the leading .005" edge to 1,000° and it would cool off into the blade before you could touch it and it would not raise the temperature of the blade by 1° . You would never know that you burned it, and you wouldn't understand why your edge retention isn't right.

So I strongly encourage people do not use powered grinding on Delta 3V. I do it, but I'm doing this in production. I'm doing it at low speed and under flood coolant. Most places doing powered sharpening are not doing it right. And it's perfectly fine for a production knife with a shit heat treat, but you do not want to subject a CPK to that.
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20yard said:
I have moderate to severe OCD when it comes to keeping my knives shaving sharp. I've been using the Work Sharp Ken Onion Elite for several years now on all of my knives. Works fantastic and very fast. I typically only use the 220 and 800 grit belts for general sharpening, and then several passes on the 6000 grit belt just for deburring followed by a few passes on a hand strop. I'll use an 80 grit belt for reprofiling or to take out any blade damage. I buy the belts from industrial suppliers since they are way cheaper than buying them direct from WS. It's the best sharpening system I have found (for me) and I have tried almost all of them. Takes a little practice to get used to it, but it all becomes second nature pretty quick. I actually used these professionally for a couple years during covid when I had a small fab shop with a store front. Offered knife sharpening to walk-in customers to make a little extra cash when business was slow. Most customers were blown away with the edges. They didn't know knives could be that sharp. I always had to warn them when they picked them up.

View attachment 2860360
Click to expand...
 
Hapstone r2 with venev diamond stones

Been using Nathan's schmoo to finish with (I
really like using this stuff... took me some experimenting with )

Magnacut DEK1 finished with 400 grit venev and 6 micron diamond emulsion
Screenshot_20250427_163223_Gallery.jpg
Hollow cruwear BFK 800 grit venev and 6 micron diamond emulsion


Screenshot_20250427_163303_Gallery.jpg

D3V DEK1 400 grit venev and schmoo

Screenshot_20250427_163202_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20250427_163450_Gallery.jpg
 
hypothetically29 said:
Appreciate the feedback everyone! While I'd love to get good with freehand stones I don't see that happening, so I think I'll do some research and get one of the mentioned guided sharpening systems. Any thoughts on oiling CPM 3V?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't bother oiling it. It's pretty close to stainless with the Delta heat treat.
 
I use a Work Sharp Guided sharpening system. Its just the diamond plates with the wedged guides that sit on the end that gives you a reference. Once you do it for awhile you don't need the guides. I have knives from 20* down to 13* and put a little sharpie on one edge to remind my hand what that is like. My diamond plates go to 800 then I use ceramic then strop. They come out very sharp. I'm sure there is much sharper but they work for me. I can push it through a piece of note paper super smooth. Thats what I use to see if there are any burrs or rough areas.
 
hypothetically29 said:
Appreciate the feedback everyone! While I'd love to get good with freehand stones I don't see that happening, so I think I'll do some research and get one of the mentioned guided sharpening systems. Any thoughts on oiling CPM 3V?
Click to expand...
I use a wicked edge to sharpen.
I use mineral oil to wipe them down before they go back to the super secret place I keep my CPK’s.
 
Bonus question: any tips and tricks for removing the scales on a CPK? I was able to get the shorter "male" screws off my FK2 with some elbow grease, but the longer tubes are stuck. I don't * think * the scales are epoxied on (not sure as the knife is 2nd hand) because the screws do spin, but I can't seem to pull them out.
 
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