sharpner?

oge14

oge14

Joined
Jun 14, 2007
Messages
8,515
hi ya'll,

i am trying to set some edge's on a few knives. i'm using a friend's gatco(swing hone) clamp system, this thing suck's!:thumbdn: the knife dosen't stay in the clamp, it move's side to side in the clamp, and if you have anything over 1/4" thick. FOR-GET-IT!:grumpy:

now i can free hand with the best them. my edge's have been known to split fart's in half. but sometime's you need to re-set an edge though. alas no matter how hard i try i'm off just a little when doing this by hand.

i really like the wickededge system. but it's kinda hard to do a zt301, or spyderco captain, with the curves and all. the flat stones seem ackward, any suggestion would be great. thank ya in advance.
 
Good luck with recurve knives. That concave curve isn't an easy thing to sharpen no matter what.

Otherwise, I'm a HUGE fan of the Edge Pro if you are looking for a regular V bevel on your blades.
 
Hand Sharpening is the most accurate and reliable system for every kind of knife.. once you use the hand sharpening system, you will find that you only have to improve your self to fix a broken system :)

when you are stuck in the woods, you always have the means to sharpen your knife.

I really wonder what people do if they can only sharpen using a modern expensive system if they have a knife failure in the field.. You said you are good at free-handing, so setting the edge shouldn't even be an issue.. either the blade is sharp and stays sharp.. or it doesn't.. it doesn't matter what the edge angle is.. it only matters that its performing within parameters you set.

Honestly.. I reccomend some sandpaper, and leather strops and a lot of practise. you will never have a dull knife again, and you'll never worry about what angle you are supposed to sharpen a knife to.

EDIT:- forgot to add.. for recurves I make myself a strop leather with wood backing about 1/2" to 1" wide and place the sandpaper on top.. this allows you to hug the recurve nicely.
 
On my Wicked Edge I don't set the "stone" (diamond or ceramic) flat on curvy edges. I cant the stone so I am using one edge of the stone.
 
awesome guy's, thank's for the help.

morimotom something's heading your way.
 
The more knives you get the harder it is to find the time for touching up the edges .... but for a relatively small sum you can buy a cheap harbour freight belt sander and then some good belts and it is a lot quicker than any other system ..... particularly good on recurves if you have the 1 inch belts ....

When you say "set the edge " I take it you mean "re-profile" to a finer angle .... I have done tasks like this with stone systems and lost the hours and hours it takes .... the belt sander system is a doddle in comparison ....

For the right type of belts to use and where to get them there are some good threads done on the Scrapyard site by Horn Dog and a few others ..... Lee Valley springs to mind as one location for them ....
 
thank's peter, i thought about a belt sander. yes, i ment re-profile for the edge angle.
i worry about getting a little to rambunches with sander. start out with an ash, end up with a lazer toothpick that will take the spot's off a ladybug. swing hone's are a little safer for me i think. thank's for the info on it.
 
oge14 said:
thank's peter, i thought about a belt sander. yes, i ment re-profile for the edge angle.
i worry about getting a little to rambunches with sander. start out with an ash, end up with a lazer toothpick that will take the spot's off a ladybug. swing hone's are a little safer for me i think. thank's for the info on it.
Click to expand...

with the sander, its simply a matter of easing in gently.. not ramming the knife into it.. the best thing to do is start with a higher grit belt like a 400grit that wont chew off a large chunk of steel.. use that to get familiar with the belt and pressure required.. Also.. Get some cheap scrap steel and just practice grinding a bar into an edge... then you will feel quite comfortable doing a little reprofile on the existing blades. The 1x30's are excellent for sharpening and reprofiling.

Typically I just use 120grit and 400grit and then a scotchbrite wheel on the bench grinder.
 
I also have an edge pro and have had great success with it. The 120 grit stone reprofiles really well, and you can sharpen all the way up to 7000 grit polish tapes for a mirror edge that splits hair. You can get 1/2" stones that work for recurves. I've used them on a small recurve knife that i have and they work great.
 
It's less about getting a handy by-hand "working" edge in the field and getting a very very very sharp hi-polish edge at home in 1/10th the time. Hence my desire for hte Edge Pro. I can't tell you how many knives I've had that needed some work on it.

Careful on that belt sander. Esp. with a cheap Harbor Freight sander. You might desire a V edge and get some sort of convex in the process. That, and I think a fresh 400grit belt is pretty aggressive for a beginner. (Altho I'd have to go back and look at my belts to see. It SOUNDS low, but I could be wrong. Those sanders take off metal FAST!)
 
any higher than 400 and beginners are going to burn their edges..
i started with 80 and 120 grit belts. my first blade i reprofiled was a custom 17" edge blending a full convex on 5160 steel.. steady hands is the trick.

lower than 400 and you will take off more than you want. i've made and reprofiled about 400 blades in the last year on a 1x30 so i could just be used to it.. but i dont recall the first one being too hard.. just start on junk knives not infi
 
Try wrapping some sandpaper and leather/padding around a bottle or wooden dowel. Also, can just use a ceramic rod and do it freehand.
 
resinguy said:
:eek:

How about some pics of your work?
Click to expand...

i would also lkie to see them.:thumbup:

i usually do use a ceramic rod freehand. i don't have a good rep with power tool's and sharp edge's.:o

i just seen were wickededge has a rounded stone to do the curve's. anybody use one of these yet?
 
You can get 1/2 " stones from Edge Pro and then round the edges off, either with a tool, a belt, or simply by putting some of their stone resurfacing powder in a pipe, glass or other hard round tube and running the 1/2" stones on it, which takes down the edges and gives it enough curve to work.

But Peter is right, the best is with a 1" belt (whatever a "doddle" is-- come on Peter what does that mean?)
 
resinguy said:
:eek:

How about some pics of your work?
Click to expand...
OKay.. twist my ARM! lol..

I have a website, but i tend not to market on the forums. my youtube channel has all my stuff on it.. I tend to convex every blade I buy nearly.. lol..

plus I make a knife called the ckc Hiker and ckc belt, which I did about 330 over the last year or so.. Shows that a crappy 1x30 can do the business (if a little slower)

my new design is called the forrester.
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I love my NMSFNO, and SAR8, but this is a lightweight 13.7OZ blade in similar size package.. 5/32" thick O1, soon to be D2

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D2 Test Cutting sword. 24" blade
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2 of my designs I had SVORD NZ cut and treat the blades for me in bulk.
hence the logo
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Some NZ scenery :)
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ckcPendantBrochure.jpg
 
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