Sharpmaker for touching up cold stee kukri?

H

Hermit_Knight

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Mar 19, 2018
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Hello I recently got my gurka kukri in 01 steel and it’s great for chopping. When the edge needs touching up all i have is a sharp maker is this ok to use? Thanks
 
its fine to use it, but its not going to be ideal
given the size of the blade vs the size of the sharpener - its going to be a long tedious process
 
The Kukuri is kind of a hard shape to sharpen because it has a recurve at the heel and a bulbous outward curve at the front. If you've watched SharpMaker videos or illustrations, you'll be familiar with the operator rotating the handle of the blade *down* as he goes through outward curves. Inward (recurve) curves require the opposite: As you go through the recurve you should move the handle *up*. To do this correctly you need to start the recurve portion with the handle nearly all the way down, then rotate up as you go through that portion.

Then, as you do the outward curve, you reverse your rotation and go back down. It's kind of a weird "S" motion and that's kind of a long blade. You can get it done, but if the blade requires more than touchups, you will probably want to use something else.

If you do this motion wrong, you will probably ride up onto the shoulder of the blade, or come WAY down on the edge creating a small micro bevel. So, if you do this wrong for a good number of passes, you will be creating a new bevel in "the wrong place" wandering around on the blade. I don't say this to discourage you. Rather, I noticed that this is quite an expensive blade, so I thought I'd caution you about what might happen. You might consider practicing on something else kukuri shaped (that's cheap) or seeking another method that you can control more precisely.

Good luck.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
The Kukuri is kind of a hard shape to sharpen because it has a recurve at the heel and a bulbous outward curve at the front. If you've watched SharpMaker videos or illustrations, you'll be familiar with the operator rotating the handle of the blade *down* as he goes through outward curves. Inward (recurve) curves require the opposite: As you go through the recurve you should move the handle *up*. To do this correctly you need to start the recurve portion with the handle nearly all the way down, then rotate up as you go through that portion.

Then, as you do the outward curve, you reverse your rotation and go back down. It's kind of a weird "S" motion and that's kind of a long blade. You can get it done, but if the blade requires more than touchups, you will probably want to use something else.

If you do this motion wrong, you will probably ride up onto the shoulder of the blade, or come WAY down on the edge creating a small micro bevel. So, if you do this wrong for a good number of passes, you will be creating a new bevel in "the wrong place" wandering around on the blade. I don't say this to discourage you. Rather, I noticed that this is quite an expensive blade, so I thought I'd caution you about what might happen. You might consider practicing on something else kukuri shaped (that's cheap) or seeking another method that you can control more precisely.

Good luck.

Brian.
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Thanks mate im glad I read this before getting the sharpmaker out as I would have just used the same technique as my normal fixed blades. Cheers.
 
For sharpening a Kukri I use a Sieger Long Life, a synthetic ruby rod. It's very fast and leaves around a 2000 grit finish.

Three to five edge leading passes on each side and my Kukri was shaving arm hair.

It's available on amazon. One amazon reviewer wrote: "Tried it quickly on my four knives and the ruby coating came right off, exposing the metal beneath."

He is wrong, there is no metal underneath. What he was seeing is the removed steel from the blade which was loading up on the road. You can clean it easily with some washing detergent and a sponge.

You have too be very careful with the Sieger, make the strokes only very lightly keeping the right angle. Definitely for people who are a little experienced.
 
Mr.Wizard said:
C ckdexterhaven Functionally how is that different from an Idahone?
Click to expand...

I didn't know about the Idahone but from what I can see the Idahone is ceramic similar to the Sharpmaker stones. I think the ruby is probably much faster similar to diamond. Each stroke removes visibly a lot of steel, it looks like the knife "paints" the rod. Also, you would only need one instead of two. Did you read the reviews at amazon. There is also a very favourable pass-around at the German "Messerforum": https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.messerforum.net/showthread.php?47974-Passaround-M-4-Carson-und-Sieger-LL

(google translates "Sieger" as "winner")

Btw, the Sieger LL is by Böker.
 
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Idahone does have some very coarse rods (rated 100 - 200) in a pink alumina ceramic material, sold with their V-crock style sets; maybe they're ruby, or maybe not. They also offer those rods separately as replacements. Point being, they do have an option that's much coarser than the standard ceramic offerings from Spyderco for the SM.
 
ckdexterhaven said:
I didn't know about the Idahone but from what I can see the Idahone is ceramic similar to the Sharpmaker stones. I think the ruby is probably much faster similar to diamond.
Click to expand...
Hi,
They're all aluminum oxide , ceramic, just different colors, essentially same hardness, less than diamond
 
Hermit_Knight said:
Thanks mate im glad I read this before getting the sharpmaker out as I would have just used the same technique as my normal fixed blades. Cheers.
Click to expand...
Hi,
here are some visual aids,
sharpen in sections,
the karambit portion like this,
and belly portion like regular knife ,
pivot to maintain green sight picture

spydercosharpmaker.pdf


https://imgur.com/a/kIiMVWF
https://imgur.com/a/kIiMVWF


sharpening-maintainangle-pivotblade-tiltedstone.gif
on an inclined/tilted sharpening stone, pivot when you reach belly/tip so it sharpens at same angle as the rest of the blade
Sharpmaker view its vertical

sharpening-maintainangle-pivotblade-tiltedstone-16-sharpmaker.png



grind in sections

rub stone on the blade sharpening recurves - Joe Calton
rub blade on stone Sharpening a convex recurved blade on a bench stone : Forester
grind behind the edge on beltsander in one loopy motion (raise handle up down to maintain sight picture ) Regrind : Cold Steel Kukri Machete
 
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