Sharpening the point with EdgePro

A

Abe

Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Messages
37
Hi All,
Since I started using EdgePro a few years back I have come to realize just how many blades have edges that are not ground at the same angle from handle to tip. Usually the angle steepens over the last inch or so as the edge sweeps up to the tip, often by two or three degrees.
By ignoring this and sharpening the entire edge at the same angle as the straight part closer to the handle inevitably leads to a widening (and often unsightly) bevel towards the tip.
If I understand the terminology correctly this is a feature of blades that lack full distal taper and the edge is moving across thicker steel as it sweeps to the tip.
I'm curious as to how other EdgePro users deal with this issue: suffer the widening bevel, sharpen the tip seperately at the slightly higher angle which tends to leave a noticeable border where the two angles meet or has anyone devised a clever method for retaining that gradual transition between straight angle and tip?
 
I actually like the widening bevel, both from performance and aesthetics! My bevels are generally quite wide anyway...
 
As the edge on the tip without a distal taper as you noted sweeps up through a constantly increasing thickness of steel as it moves up the width of the blade, the angle needed to keep the edge width constant would also have to keep increasing. This is one of the reasons that people have difficulty sharpening tips, because knives that come with this type of profile are fairly difficult to maintain. For most knives do you really want an edge which thicken and the angle increases through the tip which usually does precision work? I always just recut mine.

-Cliff
 
I agree with the sentiments above especially in relation to smaller blades and folders. I do tend to wonder then why so many maufacturers finish their blades with this increasing angle. Aesthetics? Or a perceived gain in tip strength?
The blades that pushed me into tackling this subject though are a couple of Scandinavian knives from Karesuando. Given there is no taper here, just flats to the start of the main bevel, it would seem easier just to keep the same angle all the way to the tip and the width of said bevel would be the same at the tip as at the handle. Yet each blade shows a narrowing of the bevel towards the tip and when measured, an angle that is 3 degrees higher than the staight edge. This appears to be a deliberate design and does tend to suggest a stronger tip. I have seen this on other Scandis too. Would you advocate recutting the angle at the tip on these knives to match the rest of the blade?
 
A lot of people buying knives don't intend to sharpen them, how a knife looks makes more of a different than how it actually works. If the angle was kept constant the widening tip may be visually a problem as it isn't symmetric. For large blades, machetes and such, often the tips are left fairly thick because that part of the blade gets rough work, on some they are not even sharpened. But for small cutting knives generally the tip gets a lot of precision work. I free hand my scandinavian blades and sharpening the entire profile at a constant angle, this allows ease of touchups by applying a microbevel if necessary after rough work when resetting the entire edge would take too long.

-Cliff
 
I think once you have a constant bevel, then subsequent resharpenings are much easier. They might be weaker in the tip, but I like them cutting well. I can see keeping a big chopper a little thicker at the tip (or one you expect to be prying a little with), so YMMV.
 
Kudos to Spyderco on this issue. Each one of their knives I've had have had perfect distal taper and have been a joy to cut with. I do however occasionally see them criticised for weak tips.....life's a compromise I guess.
I just picked up a mint 'used' small Sebenza with what looks like the factory edge. The tip is awfully thick in comparison to the rest of the blade.....have to summon up the courage to start a little thinning:eek:
 
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