sharpening question...kinda

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siguy

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Aug 26, 2006
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mods, before you move this over to the tinkering/embellishing subforum, i promise that this has to do with the traditional forums

i notice in most of the photos of those beautiful old used slipjoints (and based on my grandpa's old knife and a knife my uncle found in the woods and gave to me) it seems that most knives used to be sharpened down to a zero flat grind, with no bevel or very little. based on the number of knives sharpened this way that i have seen, i wonder if maybe we are a a little paranoid in this day and age about edge stability and retention.

so my question for you guys is; do you sharpen your traditionals with a bevel or do you sharpen them down to a full flat with no bevel?
 
I generally sharpen mine with a bevel rather than zero grind, mostly because

a) I'm too lazy to remove that much steel

and

b) I use my knives hard, and it takes between two and three weeks to use up a zero grind blade, not to mention having to sharpen it eleven times a day (or more).

But that's just me :D
 
I don't think they were going for a zero grind blade at all (that's just too weak for any real use) -- they were basically going for a shallow convex grind using a flat stone. They could strop the blade after that to bring the edge up if they wanted (and make the blades last longer). I have several really old knives that have been done this way - they have obviously seen years of use and some of the blades are at 60% or less, but the blades still retain their basic original profiles and the edge geometry is still great (by occasionally whetting the whole blade they prevented the edge geometry from thickening until it became useless). I do a similar thing - I'll work on setting up a very shallow secondary bevel, with a less shallow primary bevel at the edge (I try to keep the edge bevel very small). You don't have to set the shallow secondary bevel up all at once - just do a bit more every time you sharpen.
 
Zerogee, that's what I do. I put a shallow convex grind on my knives. I don't know if it's the best, but it works.
 
i once took my opinel to absolute zero, and it dulled after a few slices of clear maple. i thickened it up the tiniest bit with a bevel, and it hasn't had issues yet.

i just got rid of the bevel on the pen blade of my oldtimer minuteman, and am about halfway on the clip blade. i noticed the cutting ability jump several times when i did it. it cuts better and cleaner. it also seems like i can get it sharper.
 
My slipjoints have a bevel (as opposed to full flat grind no bevel whatever). I sharpen freehand, and since I'm not a piece of precision machinery (human... go figure), the bevel winds up being a shallow convex. This works on blades that are flat ground, hollow ground, whatever.
 
from the nail care section of the local CVS. Various grits/colors for a buck and change each. I don't know the exact angle but I try to keep it just off the flat of the blade. I'm a suburbanite and don't beat up my folders so I haven't had any chipping/ retention issues. I find I can convex the edge easier with the emery boards than I can with sand paper and a mouse pad. YMMV

Frank
 
I tend to put on a convex with a stone. But because of my trade (chef) and working 6-7 days a week I finally purchased a 1x42 belt sander for all my knives. I just couldn't devote time to an hour on the stone after all day and night. Gotten pretty good at it too. Took it to a queen d2 whittler the other day and got it crazy sharp in about 1 minute.
 
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