Sharpening new SOGs

R

Rower

Joined
Nov 26, 2003
Messages
22
Hi, all.

I have in my humble collection a Trident Bowie, a Government Agent, an AirSOG and a Powerlock. They all came, in my opinion, razor sharp out of the box. After giving the fixed blades and the AirSOG a treatment on a Spyderco 204 sharpener, though, they became scary sharp! They are now capable of removing hair on my arm without touching the skin!

The knives saw some use before I had them sharpened, but there is no doubt that the Spyderco made them even more sharp than what they were out of the box.

Have any of you folks had any experience with the Spyderco 204? I just borrowed my brother's Spyderco for sharpening my knives, but have ordered one for myself. Patiently awaiting it's arrival.

Cheers,

Rower
 
No, I don't own one, nor have I ever used one. But all I have ever heard is really good things about it. ;):thumbup:
 
I've no experience with Spyderco's or Lansky's or the like......

but always looking for the easiest solution (i.e., cheapest & least labor intensive) a few months ago I found a Smith's knife sharpener plastic thingie for $5. You know the kind, it has carbide cutter blades, and you grab the handle and drag it down the blade.

well, I put the Smith's thingie in the vise and using a very firm grip on the knife handle and applying heavy pressure.... I drug the blade across the cutters. I tell ya, I was getting chips coming off !! After a few drags I had a nicely re-profiled edge that was sharp enough to cut some arm hair. Then after wailing away on my leather strop (with lots of green micro-fine honing compound) I now had an edge that was arm hair de-foresting S-H-A-R-P !!

I use the Smith thingie & stropping method on all my knives, SOG's and Kabar's and everything.... I discovered a $5 solution to re-profiling and razor sharp.

And of course, there's always the exception to the rule and that is the SOG Recondo: that BG-42 steel just laughs at those carbide cutters.

Cheers,

Carl
 
I just re-conditioned two TF-3's in two days and working on a Benchmade Reflex right now..... It just amazes me that people buying these folders can't sharpen them to save their lives. It's brutal. By the time I finish a refurbish, I usually have had to reprofile the darned things-- that's how bad they are...the really scary thing is that most of these guys "Think" that their blades are "sharp"!!!
Once they get them back from me, I usually get a call saying that they had already nicked themselves on my edge.
I use a Diamond Jewel Stik w/ great results (available through Cabella's).

After vacation, I'm picking up an Edge Pro Professional series sharpening setup and I'll use the Jewel Stik for "touch-ups".

~Jay
CT Specialty Knives
 
ratinator sure describes me perfectly when he says, "..... people buying these folders can't sharpen them to save their lives." I was laughing out loud when I read that, I just knew he was talking about me.

of course I'm a fixed-blade kinda guy, but he's right on target about the sharpening part. Back in the good old days my pals used to give me their knives to sharpen, which of course made them so dull they wouldn't even cut hot butter, much less soggy Cheerios.
It took me a while to catch on that what my pals really wanted was a dull edge so they could then practice their own sharpening skills. But they just couldn't bring themselves to actually dull their own knives so that's why they gave 'em to me. And I tell ya, I was the best anti-sharpener around town, I had everyone's business.

Well, like I didn't mention below, I tried the sticks and stones that can break your bones and I sure said some words that did hurt me. But after trying several different tips & techniques I got lucky and discovered a method that works well enough for me.

So I guess the moral of this sea story is that when you find something that works, you've discovered one of the secrets of the universe. Happy Journey !!

Cheers,

Carl
 
Sharpening............... :eek: does this mean doing something to the blades that would make them............ un-shiny ? :rolleyes:


Robbie Roberson :cool:
 
Robbie Roberson said:
Sharpening............... :eek: does this mean doing something to the blades that would make them............ un-shiny ? :rolleyes:


Robbie Roberson :cool:
Click to expand...

I'm afraid so.:(..:rolleyes:
 
if you're very careful careful, sharpening makes the edge shiny !!

it is touching any part other than the edge (with the sharpening implement) that can have disastrous consequences to "shiny" ......

Cheers,

Carl
 
OK, thats it............I'm sellin out, everything is going........ SOGS for sale.........cheap ! :p


I'll start makin signs tonight, I must not forget my balloons to hang on the mailbox to show a sale going on............. :p :eek:


I'll probably put 20 or 30 knives in each box, priced at about............well lets just say pennies on the dollar.


Robbie Roberson :D
 
Robbie Roberson said:
OK, thats it............I'm sellin out, everything is going........ SOGS for sale.........cheap ! :p

Robbie Roberson :D
Click to expand...

Even your revolvers.:p
 
Well...........maybe not them, but everything else is out........ :cool:
Well...........maybe not everything................ :rolleyes:


Robbie Roberson :D
 
After reading New Pig Hunters story about doing it on the cheap and easy, I started searching for the Smiths sharpening tool he described. Lo and behold, found one at my local WalMart. And, boy, does it work. Tested it with an old, nearly worn out kitchen knife. Brought it back to life like it was new. Then, being the daring sort that I am, did my Flash IIs and Trident. Scary sharp they are. Just a couple of strokes and done. Thanks NPH, you saved me a lot of work.
 
Richard,

glad to hear the Smith's worked out for you as well as it has worked out for me !! Yessir, that's the same place I found my Smith's-brand sharpener.

I've read varying reports re. using one of the handheld sharpeners because some folks don't like the edge angles that the fixed-position carbide cutters give you. Some folks prefer less angle, some folks prefer more angle.
-- as for me: I can't see it, much less measure it, so I don't worry about it. The "generic" compromise angles of the Smith work just fine for my SOG's, they don't complain at all, and probably don't even know the difference anyway. Besides, they're not the boss of me......

Now, if you'd like to have more "cheap & easy" SOG fun, make up a mousepad strop. Here's what I did:
1) get a mousepad.
2) glue onto it (fuzzy side up) a piece of leather, whatever size you'd like the strop to be. Mine is about 8" x 3".
3) cut mousepad/leather to finished size.
4) duct tape to the workbench, right along the workbench edge so you won't whap your fingers while stropping.
5) buy some green micro-fine honing compound, I use this:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=32984
6) rub in a heavy coating of the green compound into the leather.
7) grasp the knife handle Very Firmly with both hands and wail away upon the strop !!
8) Please let us know if your SOG's are any sharper.
9) after a time, use a wire brush and scrub the leather to clean it up a bit. Then reapply more green compound.

Cheers,

Carl
 
Richard,

I used my mousepad-strop this morning quite a bit. The SOG Nite Tech was really dull and stropping alone wouldn't bring back the edge.
I Smith'ed it quite a bit to get the really sharp edge, then stropped it to get the scary sharp edge. So I'm quite pleased my method still does the job.

At the Lee Valley website I mentioned the green stuff is 0.5 micron. If you want to really really mess around with "sharp" here's another website to explore:
The Museum Of Woodworking Tools in New York City.
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com

Somewhere in the "Sharpening" section they talk about "3M Micro Abrasive Film For Scary Sharpening." They have several micron-size varieties of abrasive film, the smallest being 0.3 micron. So I said "why not" and bought a few sheets of the 0.3. And to my shame, I haven't tried it yet..... go figure.

Will the 0.3 film get your SOG's sharper than the 0.5 green stuff ?? I have no personal experience clue.
But there are people out there who will say "yes" .... some will say "no" ...... and most will say, "you have too much time on your hands."

But Hey, knowledge and experience comes at a price.... and as long as you're having fun paying the bill, then I say Go For It !!

Cheers,

Carl
 
Glued down the leather to the pad. Found some polishing compound left over from my motorcycle days. Figured it was a mild enough abrasive to give it a try. All I can say is that after about 10-15 minutes of work, the back of my hand is a bald as the top of my head. Beyond scarey sharp is my Flash II.
 
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