Sharpening Sebenza on KME System - Sharpie question

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Kurniadion

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Sep 30, 2013
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Hello,

I just got myself a KME system with gold series diamond stones. I have successfully sharpen a few knives to a scary sharp level. I just love this system! Well, this works for me.

Now I'm trying to sharpen my sebenza on it however I fear that I will widen the edge bevel too much. I don't want to ruin a $400 knife Because for some reason all knives that I sharpen with this system have that. I saw similar outcome with other guided system as well. Is this unavoidable?

If you have experience in sharpening with this system, I hope you can share them to me so that I can get better results (Clamp position, method, etc.). Appreciate your help.
 
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I don't have the KME, but I do have the Lanksy kit, here are my tips.

Tape the knife to prevent scratches while clamped
mark the edge with sharpie
use the finest stone to find the best angle before starting with the coarsest
the best angle is one that takes the most sharpie off the bevel. ( so you'll take off the least amount of steel )
 
Rappy said:
I don't have the KME, but I do have the Lanksy kit, here are my tips.

Tape the knife to prevent scratches while clamped
mark the edge with sharpie
use the finest stone to find the best angle before starting with the coarsest
the best angle is one that takes the most sharpie off the bevel. ( so you'll take off the least amount of steel )
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply man. Yes very good points. I did all of those.
 
If you widen the bevel, it simply means you put a shallower angle on the bevel than came from the factory. That should improve cutting performance, I don't see why it would ruin the knife in any way.

If all you are concerned with is how it looks and are having trouble matching the factory angle, you could put a steeper bevel/micro bevel on instead, and this would avoid increasing the visible bevel but it will slightly diminish cutting performance.
 
What I have found with the Sebenza along with any other knife is that the placement of the blade in the clamp is critical. I try to put the clamp as close to the tip as I can. Putting the clamp toward the back of the blade, changes the angle drastically when you sharpen the tip area of the knife. I try to have placement toward 70% of the blade behind the clamp and including the clamp area. I have found by doing this, I can keep close to the factory bevel and not widen it toward the tip.
I've always taped the blade to help prevent blade wiggle, it does help.
With the Sebenza, I don't apply a lot of pressure on the stone. The diamonds are aggressive and it doesn't take much to get the Sebenza back to hair popping sharpness.
 
Ajack60 said:
What I have found with the Sebenza along with any other knife is that the placement of the blade in the clamp is critical. I try to put the clamp as close to the tip as I can. Putting the clamp toward the back of the blade, changes the angle drastically when you sharpen the tip area of the knife. I try to have placement toward 70% of the blade behind the clamp and including the clamp area. I have found by doing this, I can keep close to the factory bevel and not widen it toward the tip.
I've always taped the blade to help prevent blade wiggle, it does help.
With the Sebenza, I don't apply a lot of pressure on the stone. The diamonds are aggressive and it doesn't take much to get the Sebenza back to hair popping sharpness.
Click to expand...

Awesome tips!!! Appreciate it.

Like suggested by Ron and most of experienced people, I started with the sharpie trick. I noticed with some knives, if I erased the sharpie perfectly (bevel and edge) on the flat edge, the stone won't be able to erase it that well on the belly, which then requires me to reset the bevel completely on the belly.

I wonder if you have faced similar situations and if this is normal? I assume this is also related to placement issue as you have mentioned.
 
FlameCycle said:
If you widen the bevel, it simply means you put a shallower angle on the bevel than came from the factory. That should improve cutting performance, I don't see why it would ruin the knife in any way.

If all you are concerned with is how it looks and are having trouble matching the factory angle, you could put a steeper bevel/micro bevel on instead, and this would avoid increasing the visible bevel but it will slightly diminish cutting performance.
Click to expand...

I guess so. Thanks for chiming in.
 
Thanks for the inputs so far guys.

Like suggested by Ron and most of experienced people, I started with the sharpie trick. I noticed with some knives, if I erased the sharpie perfectly (bevel and edge) on the flat edge, the stone won't be able to erase it that well on the belly, which then requires me to reset the bevel completely on the belly. I wonder if you have faced similar situations and if this is normal?
 
Kurniadion said:
Awesome tips!!! Appreciate it.

Like suggested by Ron and most of experienced people, I started with the sharpie trick. I noticed with some knives, if I erased the sharpie perfectly (bevel and edge) on the flat edge, the stone won't be able to erase it that well on the belly, which then requires me to reset the bevel completely on the belly.

I wonder if you have faced similar situations and if this is normal? I assume this is also related to placement issue as you have mentioned.
Click to expand...

I have done it. Thanks for the inputs. My new edge looks nice and crazy sharp.
 
Sebenzas are made to be used, put a great edge on it and put it through its paces :) what edge angle were you putting on the knife?
 
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