Sharpening Thick Knives

[ricklee4570]

Have any of you come across knives that are so thick at the edge that it makes it really hard to put any kind of decent bevel on the edge without completely re-profiling it? I have a couple of Cold Steel Tanto's that are so thick that on a Lansky or any other guided jig type of sharpener, even a 30 degree setting puts the stone back almost 1/4 of an inch behind the edge!!

 

[Kwon Kwang]

Interestingly enough, I also have a couple of cheaper Cold Steel knives with this very same problem. The nicer ones have much better edges.

I've gotten a lot better at sharpening since the last time I tried, so I'll report back after I take another crack at it.

 

[cbwx34]

That's what this thread covers...

Insane-performance-boost-in-cutting-ability!

 

[REK Knives]

If you don't go w/ a regrind on those then I would suggest getting some sort of belt sander to do the heavy reprofile work, then you can finish up on the normal sharpening system you use. It will save you hours of work Just don't stay too long in one spot on the belt and dip it in water often.

 

[Gaston444]

Hello Josh, what is the range of hollow grinds diameters that you could thin the geometry on?

I'm guessing that a hollow grind over 1.7-2.0" tall on a 1/4" stock would be a bit too tall?

Gaston

 

[REK Knives]

Hello Josh, what is the range of hollow grinds diameters that you could thin the geometry on?

I'm guessing that a hollow grind over 1.7-2.0" tall on a 1/4" stock would be a bit too tall?

Gaston

Yes with a 14" wheel grinding the edge to .020" thick the online calculator is showing that the grind height (with the specs you gave me) can only be taken up about 1.26 inches. I would need something like Nathan's hollow grinding platen to do that, which hopefully I will get in the future =)

 

[HeavyHanded]

Have any of you come across knives that are so thick at the edge that it makes it really hard to put any kind of decent bevel on the edge without completely re-profiling it? I have a couple of Cold Steel Tanto's that are so thick that on a Lansky or any other guided jig type of sharpener, even a 30 degree setting puts the stone back almost 1/4 of an inch behind the edge!!

For a fast method of getting them up to speed you can convex edge them well up the primary grind. Again, some sort of powered belt is going to be the easiest but can be done by hand with patience. Should you ever want to go back and regrind it to a flat primary, the older convex won't be an issue anyway.

One of my most used EDU is on older Tops knife that came so overbuilt it couldn't cut an apple without exploding it into pieces. The convex helped tremendously, then over time I thinned it out at the spine and redid it to a more traditional grind.

From the factory:

Convexed by hand and clipped:

Currently: