Sharpening newbie

[WIKNIVES]

Hi all.


Just bought a 5.1 as part of the Starter campaign. It's my first Survive knife.

Quick question. What do you use to sharpen your GSO knives? I have a Lansky System and a Work Sharp. Also, does anybody happen to know what angle I should shoot for, when sharpening.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

-WIKNIVES

 

[Poromenos]

I use a sharpmaker and it works great. 20 degrees per side or 40 degrees inclusive should do the trick

 

[chambelona59]

Hi all.


Just bought a 5.1 as part of the Starter campaign. It's my first Survive knife.

Quick question. What do you use to sharpen your GSO knives? I have a Lansky System and a Work Sharp. Also, does anybody happen to know what angle I should shoot for, when sharpening.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

-WIKNIVES

If it's the 'electric' model Work Sharp, don't use it... you'll ruin your S!K knife.
I haven't had to sharpen my 4.1, when it will eventually need to be sharpened I send it to Guy Seiferd.
I use DMT products for all other knives.

 

[RUNIT]

If it's the 'electric' model Work Sharp, don't use it... you'll ruin your S!K knife.
I haven't had to sharpen my 4.1, when it will eventually need to be sharpened I send it to Guy Seiferd.
I use DMT products for all other knives.

How would a work sharp ruin a knife? It would convex the secondary bevel but that is fine. Why have a knife if you cannot sharpen it? It is not magic, whatever works.

 

[dynamicmoves]

If it's the 'electric' model Work Sharp, don't use it... you'll ruin your S!K knife.
I haven't had to sharpen my 4.1, when it will eventually need to be sharpened I send it to Guy Seiferd.
I use DMT products for all other knives.

As long as you make sure to keep the edge from overheating and ruining the temper, you'll be fine. I like to keep a glass of water next to my 1x30 when messing with knives.

 

[Unterholz]

I am using ordinary waterstones. You will need a bit of routine if you have no experience in using but my knives got razor sharp and the secondary edge is polished.

 

[Armalite Native]

I also use a Sharp maker but if I could afford it, I would get an Apex Edge Pro. Have friends who swear by them. I have heard they are almost foolproof.

 

[chambelona59]

How would a work sharp ruin a knife? It would convex the secondary bevel but that is fine. Why have a knife if you cannot sharpen it? It is not magic, whatever works.

What do you use RUNIT.... is there anything you prefer other than anything that works?
Tell us.

 

[RUNIT]

I have a KME system. It is a poor man's Edge Pro. It work just fine for me. I need to get the diamond stones for it though. I have made a few strops but I have gone away from the convex grind but will still use em for maintenance.

 

[bladeflana]

I have a 7/7 and use my Wicked Edge at about 22 dps backbevel then 25 micro bevel. I do not sharpen past 1000 grit stones as I am not looking to shave with it, but do more cutting and slicing.

Be sure not to ruin your knife's tip when sharpening....that is one of the key features of a knife; most sharpening systems do not consider this, so you need to develop a technique to protect the tip and also reshapen it if you ever break it off.

 

[rjedoaks]

EdgePro's work great, but there is definitely a learning curve. As pointed out, the tip can be destroyed easily. Buy a clone off Amazon but purchase the original Edge Pro stones.

 

[WIKNIVES]

Thanks for the advice, everybody. MUCH appreciated!

-WIKNIVES

 

[chambelona59]

Thanks for the advice, everybody. MUCH appreciated!

-WIKNIVES

There are all kinds of "systems", if as you mentioned you feel you are a Sharpening newbie (so was I once upon a time) you choose what will do what you want to accomplish, if you simply want to 'touch up' your newly purchased 5.1 then there's no need to "re-profile" it which is what the Lansky System and an electric Work Sharp accomplish.
If when you receive your knife and are happy with the way it performs then there's no reason to "re-profile" it, just touch it up and strop it when you feel it has started to lose it's bite.

Since you mentioned you are a Sharpening newbie, I personally would not use the electric Work Sharp on it as you don't want to concern yourself with overheating and ruining the temper and accidentally ruining the new knife.
The best home system I have seen and used is the 'Wicked Edge' Precision Knife Sharpener, but it is an advanced system with a learning curve.

Simple suggestion for what you seem to be interested in: a Spyderco sharpmaker or DMT products.
Also YouTube is full of many informative videos.

Enjoy your S!K 5.1

[video=youtube;zJnmVS_0B4g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJnmVS_0B4g[/video]


I get excellent results using DMT diamond sharpening systems only a few passes and some stropping and that's it, don't spend 15-20-30 min. sharpening.

 

[Lozza]

Just bought a 5.1 as part of the Starter campaign. It's my first Survive knife.

Congrates, you'll love it I'm sure.

What do you use to sharpen your GSO knives? I have a Lansky System and a Work Sharp. Also, does anybody happen to know what angle I should shoot for, when sharpening.

Like RUNIT said.

I have a KME system. It is a poor man's Edge Pro.

I have a KME with diamond stones and a Black Arkansas. I wouldn't say it's a poor mans Edge Pro, I'd say it's a realistically priced clamping system that performs just as the others. I also have normal wet stones yet don't use them as much. 20° is the factory edge which performs great.

The biggest thing to maintain the edge however is a strop. Buy some strop leather, glue it to some timber or a nylon block like I do, coat it in a green metal polish, or buy one....

After you use your blade strop it, every time. If your out messing about for an afternoon, ya might beat it up a little, strop it. Or if you use it in the kitchen.... clean it up and strop it. Once the edge is blunt, i.e. damaged, chips or a rolled edge then it needs to be put over a stone. If you maintain the edge it will be easier to sharpen when you do need to and you can do it less frequently.

There are many different views on sharpening, so take all to read with a grain of salt and you will ultimately figure out what works for you.

 

[Hard Knocks]

Excellent post Lozza.

 

[ncrockclimb]

There is a lot of great info here. In my experience, your best friend in learning to sharpen his Google and a lot of practice.

 

[Gaston444]

I use a sharpmaker and it works great. 20 degrees per side or 40 degrees inclusive should do the trick

40 degrees... I don't know, but I could never figure this one out... 20 degrees inclusive is more like it for heavy tasks, and yes it is inclusive and for tough work (chopping most woods hardly counts as tough for 20° inclusive)... I think 40 degrees is for Popeye or something... I have a Randall Model 18 at 16° inclusive or less, and being carbon it behaves like it is not overboard at all... 440B Stainless at 20° inclusive will very, very lightly chip under brutally abusive side loads, while twisting and carving pressure-treated wood, but that is under the actual duress of an emergency, at minus 20°C, and even then only on the straight edge portion, the curved belly being a lot tougher...

Gaston

 

[Alchemy1]

I use my wicked edge. I can't remember the angle. 20 degrees inclusive is 10 degrees per side. I would not go down that far.

 

[Gaston444]

Try it, you will see nothing bad happens: On the contrary...

From what I have read, the 20° per side/40° inclusive standard is often supported by comparison work done on the durability of professional chisel blades for wood carving: Chisel blades showed markedly greater durabilty at 40° than at any lower angle: What is not measured here is that the wood grain understates the effort needed for separating materials: The lower effort on many other materials, that a 20° inclusive edge will require, could more than compensate for the more fragile edge holding that shows up on wood carving... Even if it did not, I find the cutting effort is far too high at anything above 12° per side, and even 10° is rather minimal: I have experienced this in brutal abuse, and the edge held up.

I've found the biggest issue with such thin edges is getting rid of the wire edge properly, without resorting to a more open micro-bevel. Even then, a tiny 15-20° micro-bevel will make the 10° edge stronger, with no real apparent loss of sharpness, if it is microscopic enough...

Gaston

 

[Shotgun]

How would a work sharp ruin a knife? It would convex the secondary bevel but that is fine. Why have a knife if you cannot sharpen it? It is not magic, whatever works.

As long as you make sure to keep the edge from overheating and ruining the temper, you'll be fine. I like to keep a glass of water next to my 1x30 when messing with knives.

Some people think that there's no way of getting around ruining an edge with an electric tool. The very edge is an extremely thin piece of metal which will heat up fast. You won't ruin the knife, but some believe the edge won't perform like it could when using hand sharpening methods. I don't know if I believe that fully but to me it makes enough sense to shy away from power tools. Plus, I don't really need power tools to sharpen my knives. I'm not going to set up a "system" because by the time I do I'd be done already sharpening freehand. But that's me and my use.

OP, I use a strop with bark river compound. I'm thinking of going to a super fine wet stone. Free hand is the way to go for a "survival" knife. If you can sharpen freehand you can sharpen anywhere there's a hard enough object to use on the knife. Use a sharpie to paint the edge bevel and then sharpen. Wherever the sharpie remains on the knife is where you missed the edge. Start at a low angle at first.