Sharpening Success

[jvan]

I have knives with blades made from several different steels 12C27, 440, D2, and 5160 etc. I do not understand the composition differences between the steels all that well so I am curious to know why I can get a better edge on my Ivan Campos HBS knife that is made from 5160 than I can on any of my other blades. Is 5160 the Sharpening For Dummies steel or is all of this in my imagination? I use a SharpMaker and leather strop on all of my knives but my Campos is the only one that I can get to the "scary sharp" stage.

Thanks, John

 

[Alberta Ed]

High carbon steels sharpen more easily than most stainless and semi-stainless (D2) steels. S30V seems to be an exception as it sharpens very easily, almost as good as high carbon. 12C27 is fine-grained and will take a very fine edge. D2 has a larger grain structure and responds well to coarser hones. So don't be surprised if Campos' 5160 sharpens better. (I have his American Standard Tanto in D3, which seems to be a fine-grained, very hard steel, which I don't think he uses much any more due to its difficulty in grinding. Its chisel edge is BSS -- Beyond Scary Sharp.)

 

[Jeff Clark]

A big difference in sharpenability is how thinly the maker or manufacturer grinds the edge bevel. Ivan probably helped you out with a good thin grind.

5160 is not stainless steel, it is basically a carbon steel. Carbon steel has a fine grain structure and does not have a bunch of extra alloying metals that interfere with sharpening. D2 does not have enough chrome in it to be fully stainless, but it has high amounts of other alloying elements that make it hard to sharpen. 440 series stainless has extremely high amounts of chrome which interferes with it taking a really sharp edge at a low honing angle.

I bet that if you work at it long enough you can get your 12C27 blade just about as sharp as your 5160 blade. The 12C27 stainless has less chrome than the 440 series and is very fine grained.

 

[StretchNM]

I have knives with blades made from several different steels 12C27, 440, D2, and 5160 etc. ........
Thanks, John

You mentioned four steels and only one is carbon. I have at least one knife in each steel except 5160. Instead, I have 1095 and A2.

So naturally John, at least in my experience, that 5160 is going to sharpen easier than the others and then make the others seem harder to sharpen than they are. The 440 and 12C27 should sharpen up with just a little more effort than your carbon. The D2? Ha! Have fun and keep at it. I've all but given up on D2 steel. No more for me until I discover the magic it takes to sharpen it. I mean....to a scary sharp edge, anyway.

As someone else said, make sure you're honing at the correct angle. You could be honing too deeply and hitting the shoulder instead of the edge. Use the magic marker on the edge to make sure your honing correctly.

 

[Ben Dover]

. The D2? Ha! Have fun and keep at it. I've all but given up on D2 steel. No more for me until I discover the magic it takes to sharpen it. I mean....to a scary sharp edge, anyway.

My Dozier and BM 710 are D-2, and both have a truly SCARY sharp edge on them. It takes a little more work (actually, quite a bit more work ) to get that edge, but that D-2 seems to stay sharp forever. Don't give up on it!:thumbup:

 

[StretchNM]

Well, thanks for the encouragement Ben. I can get the D2 sharp, shaving sharp, but that's where it ends. I am giving up though...not on the knife, but on attaining a scary sharp edge with D2... at least until I can get some diamond rods for the Sharpmaker.