I aim for 15 degrees on my KME, but with different blade-widths, thickness, and profiles the end result varies from knife to knife for sure. And I don't use a measure to make sure each and every knife is sharpened at the same angle, I just set the angle on the KME once, and use that setting for everything. If you really want to sharpen at an exact angle, you should measure, there's devices you can use to measure the angle as you sharpen. There's also phone apps that can do that, but take those measurements with a grain of salt.
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Should I buy Hinderer with CPM-20CV or CPM-S45VN
- Thread starter tillias
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You really can't go wrong with either...
But just to be sure: buy both!!
But just to be sure: buy both!!
Yes, I have Angle Cube
Thanks! I'm asking cause it looks like there is no consensus here. Some people say 18 degrees is perfect, some use 20 or 22... XM18 has such a thick blade and I have zero experience with sharpening it...
Thanks, I will. I have ordered slicer grind in s45vn. Sadly there are no slicers in 20cv over there... Only recurve and I'm not sure I can live with it...
There's really no right answer to that, largely depends on the knife, steel and what you're typically cutting. I cut mostly food, packaging, zip ties, and wood - so for me a thinner bevel makes more sense. If I needed to cut harder and tougher materials I'd probably go for a thicker edge in hopes of preventing chipping/rolling.
tony281sc2
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18° will give you a huge bevel tho because it is such a thick blade, if you want to keep it looking relatively normal, I’d start with 22° and see how you like that…
Plus you can always go lower if you change your mind. I never set my WE below 20°, not sure how accurate it is tho…
jjg6319
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...
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and have never had a problem with any of hinderers steel choices.
ferider
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First we need to know what you have. There are (a) Skinny, normal and Fatty, (2) Wharnie, Slicer, Skinner, Spear, Bowie, Harpoon, Spanto and Tanto; (1) and (2) sorted by increasing primary angle. Not all XM18 are thick.
Idk, if that happens I'd just replace the screw lol. I have spares for both CRK and Hinderers just in case, but both have held up nicely over the years so I probably wasted my money there.
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My XM-18 Skinny Harpoon Spanto in 20CV would chip occasionally, while my fat/standard XM-18 Spanto in 20CV didn't have that happen yet. Eventually I sent it to Father and Son Traditional Sharpening to turn it into a lazer cutting edge, since I planned to alternate that one with with my S45VN XM-18 from Monkey Edge for heavier tasks. They put a very laid back 14 degree toothy 600 grit edge, with a 20 degree micro-bevel on the very apex of that. I think that micro-bevel has not allowed the knife to chip again.
But I am also not baton'ing the knife through wood, or cutting through staples, or prying with it since I've bought a couple of prybars. I made a few feather sticks camping last year with it, and it performed very well; as well as cutting rope and paracord, and some kindling. I've been able to strop it back with green compound, 1um, and 4um diamond spray and strop from DBK, but have avoided polishing the edge to keep it toothy. I did put it to ceramic at 20 degrees at the end of summer last year for the microbevel, and have only used it around the house since then for opening boxes.
I'm not saying their 20CV is bad or anything, it's just that the S45VN seems to be easier to maintain. As others have stated, it's more likely to roll than chip.
But I am also not baton'ing the knife through wood, or cutting through staples, or prying with it since I've bought a couple of prybars. I made a few feather sticks camping last year with it, and it performed very well; as well as cutting rope and paracord, and some kindling. I've been able to strop it back with green compound, 1um, and 4um diamond spray and strop from DBK, but have avoided polishing the edge to keep it toothy. I did put it to ceramic at 20 degrees at the end of summer last year for the microbevel, and have only used it around the house since then for opening boxes.
I'm not saying their 20CV is bad or anything, it's just that the S45VN seems to be easier to maintain. As others have stated, it's more likely to roll than chip.
steels that chip if you look at them the wrong way!Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but have you considered a Skinny in magnacut? Pretty nice balance of qualities, in a blade geometry that will be a much better slicer. I had mine reground with a hollow grind, and it's an absolute laser now. The bonus was that the feedback I got from the regrind was that it ground about as he would have expected for a magnacut in the 62-63 range, so that made me feel better given some of the concerns I had read about their magnacut being especially soft...doesn't seem to be the case at least for mine.
I have slicer.
Sadly I don't have a possibility to choose from a wide variety
In fact slicer grind was only available in CPM-S45VN. I have few Recurved in CPM-20CV still available for sale too, but that was it...I'm pretty happy with the CPM-S35VN on my CRK. Also there was only one possiblity to buy a slicer for me -- in CPM-S45VN. All other steels offer exotic blade grinds: recurve, harpoon etc which I don't like. Probably recurve is fine, but I'm not sure I like sharpening it. I had ZT 0302 in the past and it was quite a challenging task to sharpen it properly.
May I ask if this grind is ok for daily cutting tasks?
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Well if you're not in too much of a hurry I'd say stay patient and you might be surprised how much variety pops up for sale here on BF! Or buy one now, while keeping your eye out for something you may like more in the futureSadly I don't have a possibility to choose from a wide variety
Well, I have some crazy idea to buy recurved blade and regrind it to something more practical...
ferider
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The slicer is the best cutter of all normal thickness XM18s. Good choice.
tony281sc2
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All that fuss about low HRC was blown way outta proportion IMO….
The dude that claimed that had also supposedly tested about 10 other RHKs, and they were all within spec except for like 1….
It is red one with working finish and battle bronze. Yes, I was particulary looking for slicer grind. Let's see if it will rust as easy as some people claim...
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Absolutely - I use it around the house all the time, along with several other knives. I think the Hinderer Skinny blade is better for cutting geometry than the standard, although a slicer grind would improve on that; but with the edge laid back to 14 degrees with a 20 degree micro-bevel it performs very well.
Because the "spanto" blade is thicker in one spot half about an inch from the tip, the edge bevel gets wider there IF you keep the edge laid back at a steady 14 degrees. I had to the option to make the edge angle closer to 20 degrees at the point where the blade gets fat, but that would have only made the bevel cosmetically straight and not improve performance.
The Hinderer Harpoon Spanto doesn't get nearly as thin behind the edge as something like my McNees PM MAC2 3.5 with Magnacut and hollow ground bevel, but this edge does bite into things better than the 20 degree hollow grind McNees. I believe the blade stock on my McNees is also a little thicker than the skinny harpoon spanto. (Both of these knives had slight rolls in the edge that I stropped out tonight, with green stropping compound)
