sharpening rat knives

M

mbiraman

Joined
Jan 27, 2010
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So I'm pretty new here and i apologize if you've seen this a hundred times before. I just got my RC4, love it , and i want to keep it very sharp the way i do my plane blades etc. I don't mind the angle of grind on the knife and its pretty sharp right outta the box. So is there any easy, sharpening system out there that seems to lend itself to the Rat knives or does it matter. I've looked at the DMT guide system, spyderco, Russel, lansky, edge pro, belt sanders. I end up doing all my chisels and plane blades by hand with guides so i think i'm gravitating to that which means Russel, spyderco DMT, edge pro but really i can't afford the edge pro right now . What do you guys think. I realize this is pretty wide open but maybe there's something i haven't thought of that will come to light and help me make a decision. Thanks
 
If you use bench stones or sandpaper on glass the DMT aligner clamp for about $15 would be a very good choice or you could just do it by hand.
 
I use a Lansky set for the initial profiling then use a Spyderco for touch up and maintenance followed by a strop.
 
I have the Spyderco Sharpmaker and love it. Stupid easy for making very sharp edges. I believe the ESEE knives are all ground to 40 degrees inclusive, which works perfectly on the sharpmaker.
 
Honestly, materials dont really matter that much. I have seen someone shave with a knife sharpened on a cinder block and stropped on cardboard. Its all about technique. Best slow method: I use Arkansas Whetstones. Best fast method: belt sander. Just my .02 Ive heard good things about the sharpmaker though.
 
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Seems to me like Rat Pack, survival, jungles, hiking, camping, downed pilots, and free-hand-knife-sharpening all go together.
But then again, I guess the Edge Pro would work fine on the kitchen counter as you prepare to slice cucumbers with your RC 4.:thumbup:
 
I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker with the brown rods. The angle seems to match the edge angle on the HEST, IZULA and RC-3 perfectly. Once you break through the tough outer shell of the brown rods and get to the more aggressive core, they really work great.
 
I use a Lansky to reprofile and strop to maintain the RC4 also. If a knife is really bad I'll touch it up with the fine or medium then fine before stropping.
 
fallen1 said:
Honestly, materials dont really matter that much. I have seen someone shave with a knife sharpened on a cinder block and stropped on cardboard. Its all about technique. Best slow method: I use Arkansas Whetstones. Best fast method: belt sander. Just my .02 Ive heard good things about the sharpmaker though.
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Do you remember if that guy used water or oil with those cinder blocks...and which grit size he used for finishing/polishing?
 
I use a spyderco sharpmaker Its small enough to fit in my assault pack but versatile enough that i have sharpened 12 inch blade on it and 2 inch folders. Truly a versatile sharpening system capable of sharpening pretty much any knife to a shaving sharp edge.
 
are the brown rods a special order? mine has gray and white,plus i have a set of the diamond rods. :)
 
I personally prefer using benchstones and freehand sharpening. As mentioned above, 1095 sharpens easily with man-made or natural stones.

I use a Norton combination stone, course-fine (grey-orange), then a soft arkansas, and then finish with a translucent/arkansas. Stopping with green compound on a piece of leather glued to a flat chunk of wood puts that final mirror polish on it.

For an RC-4 length blade, I recommend getting the 8" long stones. They are much easier to work with for that blade length.
 
If you might at all be interested in putting a convex edge on your blades, all you need is some sandpaper and a leather strop, which is all much cheaper than a sharpening system. You can even go to knivesshipfree and they have some videos on how to do it, it's REALLY easy. There's also a ton of videos all over the web and on YTube on how to convex grind. Give it a look, you might just go that way.
 
I did look at those video's on convex sharpening . They were interesting and i like the fact that its cheap and easy and you get results but we'll see . I'm not really familiar with convex edges. At the moment I'm kind of leaning towards the Spyderco system in part because so many folks like it.
 
Moengo said:
Do you remember if that guy used water or oil with those cinder blocks...and which grit size he used for finishing/polishing?
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Not sure on the grit. He only used one block, with no oil or water. You have to worry about heat, but you dont really need either on such a porous surface if youre careful. In fact, ive recently read an article stating that if you buy whetstones and dont use any type of lube, it works better. But if you use oil or water just one time, you have to keep using it because the oil will grab the particles and clog the stone. This is true in my experience. They claim that, when using oil or water, youre basically pushing your knife through a pile of sand. I havent been able to fully test this with new "dry" stones, but its very interesting. Anyway, yeah, just one block and a piece of cardboard. Here is a well-known maker/sharpener doing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=KEJ5NgEpy74&v=oG2QqhCTqT8
 
I Personally use the Razor Edge system but substitute diamond hones for dust free use as I sharpen a lot of knives in the kitchens I work in. When I want a razor I will use the guides but most often I use the stones free hand. It is the method of sharpening not the choice of tool that is important.

1. Use course (extra course - black DMT hone is better) - Lay blade flat and lift back edge slightly off of stone and grind any way you want till you get a burr on the whole length of edge (lift tip up as you near point of knife). Repeat on other side.

2. Use fine (red DMT hone) - alternating one side then the other, lay blade flat on hone and raise back of blade slightly higher than used on course stone (not more than 25 degrees) and stroking from heel to tip (again raise tip up as you near it to be effective) draw knife edge across hone 12-15 time each side (after 8 or so times use only the weight of the blade when stroking edge).

3. Finish using knife weight only on a knife steel (smooth one or you will ruin your edge and need to start over) once or twice each side.

4. This will give you a hair shaving edge even free hand (better with hone guide).

6-8 inch stones work good. I take DMT's folding pocket hones in xcourse and fine into the field for touch ups and what not for all sized knives.
 
Even if you do not want to try convexing, take some of the shoulder or steel right behind the edge so 1/8 in of coating comes off.

Really helps reduce cutting friction and will get you started on convexing. Looks better with all that shiny edge too.

to lee valley and get 2 water stones a 1200 and a 4000, should only be around 60$.
Your hand sharpening with a guide so this is the next step, freehand will convex everything a little unless you are a robot.

I pack a little diamond rod and a 1.5x5 in leather strip charged with green compound for camp. Only need the rod if I catch a rock.
 
Thanks everyone for the further advice. This is just to let you know that i just ordered the spyderco set up and also a set of ceramic rods from LV to make a small rig for the field. Its not over and we'll see what the future brings. I won't reshape the RC4 shoulder just yet . Its a bit too new to me and i'll wait a bit.
 
jack lowe said:
are the brown rods a special order? mine has gray and white,plus i have a set of the diamond rods. :)
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Well, to be honest, my sharpener is about 17-years old. I bought one and my dad one as well. Mine came with white and brown. The white is for polishing an edge and went straight into the trash, the brown was called "medium" so maybe you can go to their site and see what they are callling "medium" now.
 
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