Sharpening.....

I

immolatus

Joined
Aug 25, 2013
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132
I know I could have posted this in the general discusion forum but I wanted to ask you guys this question as I think you know the edge type I'm looking for a little better.

What sharpening methods and or tools are the majority of you using to the the beautiful polished edges that I see so often here?
 
a lot of these mirror polished edges come from 1600 grit or better. probably get the best response in the maintenance tinkering and embellishment sub forum.
 
There are many different methods that end in the polished edge...in most cases, these methods remove little-to-no actual metal and the purpose of it is to provide that finishing razor hone in which the edge aligned ideally...most sharpening in and of itself does not accomplish this, and this end polishing can fix some of the natural deformation that comes with the actual sharpening. The real world outcome is a edge that cuts with less effort and by realigning bent/stubble metal, it can actually prolong sharpness/usefulness of the edge.

Methods that can result in the polished edge can include polishing tapes, stropping, stropping with a paste, steeling, buffing, using a rotary device with a polishing backing and possibly paste, hand polishing, ultra-ultra-fine ceramics (as noted above the 1000 grit and often much higher, which most standard kits have nothing near this fine), among others. As my knowledge of sharpening is limited, chances are there are many other ways to do this.

The steel itself affects polishing potential as well. For example, D2 is not a very good polishing steel at all...it's a pain to do and the ultimate outcome is usually not as good as many other steels. On the contrary, Bohler's M390 MicroClean is one of the best polishing steels and despite its supersteel performance it is very easy to achieve a high-polish on (on my EP, it starts to polish and reflect even at only 600 grit which most steels do not, and by 1000 grit it's a very reflective polish. Once you do the polishing tape, it looks like liquid chrome!) M390 polishes so easily that I would not be that surprised if the stopping motions on a pair of blue jeans or piece of cardboard cause the edge to begin to shine! Benchmade uses both of the above mentioned steels, hence the reference to them.
 
the sharpeners that Benchmade makes work very well on their knives, and theyre pretty cheap. i highly reccomend them. Brad
 
Really? I was led to believe the pull through sharpener would remove too much metal. I'll look in to it.
 
I use DMT diamond stones and dia-paste on leather strops to put mirror edges on some of my knives.

Here's a couple minutes on S30V

943_zpshheknp0v.jpg
 
immolatus said:
Really? I was led to believe the pull through sharpener would remove too much metal. I'll look in to it.
Click to expand...

They will if you get ones with carbide inserts. Find one with ceramic and they work well. I use a Lansky mini croc for quick touchups.
 
immolatus:
The Benchmade "Field Sharpeners" use ceramic blades - but as the name implies they are really designed for field and touch-up sharpening, not full-time sharpening. They are preset at a 60-degree inclusive angle (30-degree each side).

The "Edge Pro" sharpening system is expensive, but a very nice sharpener that will easily give you a "beautiful polished edge".
 
Depends what you want and how aggressive the actual sharpening material is. More coarse stones will remove more metal than fine stones. Ideally, you want a sharpener that you can select which stones when given there is no reason to use aggressive cutting stones for touchup as it unnecessarily removes metal which will eventually wear the blade down to where it is visibly seeable and will affect performance if the edge isnt thinned correctly to account for this. Most sharpeners in themselves will not yield the mirror results you seek.

The sharpeners that Benchmade produces I have heard good things about, but alone they will not produce a high-polish edge on most steels. Personally, I find the SharpMaker to be the best reasonably priced sharpener and one of the best choices for minimizing the amount of metal removed. I own an EP, but the cost is generally too much for most despite its excellence.

The best way to keep a knife blade lasting for decades of usage is, more or less based on what I have learned here, to not let it get dull. By doing so, usage of the fine/ultra fine stones which remove almost no metal are used the most compared to coarse or medium grits which remove a lot of metal. In many cases, once that scary sharp edge starts to fade, stropping alone will reset the edge to its razor hone. Stropping does not remove any metal. Stropping, especially with a very fine paste that is lightly abrasive (Bark River bar, for example), will get you the shiny results you want with most steels. Additionally (based on what I have learned here), stropping realigns metal that would otherwise accelerate edge deformation and hence a stropped edge will have a razor edge longer than one without this final finishing. Allowing the knife to get super dull or the edge to roll/chip badly will require the use of materials that will remove significantly more metal than more frequent light touchups will; plus, you'll always have a super sharp knife!


These are terrible pictures but this is a Benchmade 705-707-custom parts hybrid in M390 steel done on an EdgePro finishing with 2000 and 3000 grit polishing tape. The shine isn't nearly as good as it was as I've since cut cardboard with it which will reduce the reflectiveness, but it still shows the general concept

2014-04-28035250_zps2e3038ac.jpg



2014-04-28035347_zpsdd9fbb70.jpg



2014-04-28035403_zps94ba6d36.jpg
 
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If you are not sharpening professionally, you can save a lot of money by buying the Edge Pro "Apex" model. The link below is to the manufactures website and has some good information and videos about both models and sharpening in general.

http://www.edgeproinc.com/
 
I use a Lanksy Diamond system. I'd like an Edge Pro, but I'm struggling to find a reason to buy one. I mean, I can sit on the couch and use my Lanksy while watching the tube and still produce scary edges.

A few words of wisdom:

Polished edges look neat, and can be extremely sharp, but it's all in what you want to do with your knives. A highly-polished edge will be good at push-cutting (shaving hair), and any amount of edge damage, no matter how slight, will be noticed.

A coarse edge will enable the knife to not only push cut, but draw-cut as well. The advantage of draw-cutting is a reduction on the pressure needed to overcome the initial resistance of the starting cut.

Imagine a piece of rope or other tough material... If you tried to push-cut rope, it takes a relatively significant amount of force to send the blade through the rope, and once it finally does push through, that force is then transferred into whatever the rope was sitting on, or into thin air (hopefully in a safe direction). Now imagine a draw-cut on the same material... Less pressure needs to be applied to the material in order to cut through it, creating a safer more controlled cut. There are some materials that a polished edge will glide across because the edge just doesn't have enough "bite".

A coarse edge will also see less pertinent damage from use, and be vastly easier to sharpen back to where you want it. I ran into issues with my M390 knives when I ran polished edges. All of my knives are users, and cardboard is one of the easier things that gets thrown at them (cardboard is notoriously hard on edges). I asked the maintenance forum about this, and it was unanimous that a coarse edge will last longer.

The finest stone I use on all but one of my M390 is 600 grit diamond. It can still drop-cut hairs, but it can also slice through denim and rope like it's not there. I keep my 480-1 Shoki stropped to a mirror finish, as the only thing it seems to ever cut is errant threads on my suits, or the occasional envelope.
 
Cypress said:
I use a Lanksy Diamond system. I'd like an Edge Pro, but I'm struggling to find a reason to buy one. I mean, I can sit on the couch and use my Lanksy while watching the tube and still produce scary edges.
Click to expand...

Speaking of the Lansky system... I recently talked (via phone) to a representative at Lansky. He explained for 2014 (this month) they are shipping their Sharpening systems with an improved clamp. Seems as though the biggest complaint from users was Lansky had changed the clamp to a cheaper version that didn't work as well as the original. Lansky listened to the complaints and redesigned the clamp to be better than even the original. It now has a rubber boot on the clamp, uses two thumb screws, and the clamp has been strengthened too.

So those of you who want a less expensive option to the Edge Pro/Wicked Edge, but disliked the Lansky clamp design, maybe now is the time to reevaluate the Lansky Sharpening system. I've never owned a Lansky, so out of curiosity I ordered one to see how well it works.
 
I bought my boss a Lansky for his birthday and he loves it. Sure what he loves most about it is that now he can just hand me a knife and say "Hey, sharpen this" but he loves it nonetheless. Being the primary user I like it myself, the setup is simple and effective. The only thing I would recommend is some tape to keep the clamp from marring the blades finish. It does simplify the learning cure over learning to freehand on a stone and there are a ton of different grit stones which are easily and cheaply (relatively) replaced and or upgraded. I also suggest shipping around for the oil, I managed to find big 2 or 3 oz bottles of it in the neighborhood of $3 or less a pop.
 
harris2 said:
Speaking of the Lansky system... I recently talked (via phone) to a representative at Lansky. He explained for 2014 (this month) they are shipping their Sharpening systems with an improved clamp. Seems as though the biggest complaint from users was Lansky had changed the clamp to a cheaper version that didn't work as well as the original. Lansky listened to the complaints and redesigned the clamp to be better than even the original. It now has a rubber boot on the clamp, uses two thumb screws, and the clamp has been strengthened too.
Click to expand...

That is good to know! Now if only they can do something to make the guide rod/stone interface a bit more reliably true, that'd be wonderful.

LegionPrime said:
I also suggest shipping around for the oil, I managed to find big 2 or 3 oz bottles of it in the neighborhood of $3 or less a pop.
Click to expand...

That stuff is just mineral oil. Or it has all of the same properties/smell as mineral oil.
 
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