SK-5 flaking and breaking off while sharpening?

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The guy I used to work with has also gotten himself Recon Tanto in SK-5, and recently he complained he can no longer get it sharp as the blade keeps flaking away, the pieces of edge literally break off as he is trying to sharpen it. He's sharpening by hand on stone, he tried with coarser stone to take out the chips, but he created even more.

I've noticed the opposite on my Recon Tanto, since parts of the blade that were sharpened more frequently no longer hold the edge as the parts that have less material taken off.

Regardless, what do you think this is?

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This is how his edge looks like right now.
 
Hmm. Looks like warranty replacement time. That's pretty goobered-up for a simple sharpening job.
 
Bevel too acute for that steel would be my guess. I'd also try for a warrantee replacement but wouldn't count on it - you broke, you own it - is the likely response.
 
CAP55 said:
Bevel too acute for that steel would be my guess. I'd also try for a warrantee replacement but wouldn't count on it - you broke, you own - it is the likely response.
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He has such edge on it for over a year, and he never hit anything harder than alive wood with it. He mainly uses it to sharpen sticks and for gardening.

He noticed something that seemed like glinting, and the more he tried to sharpen, the more the edge breaks off, it's even more visible IRL he said. I don't know what to say. He did not abuse this thing tho.

My take on it would also be to try and claim the warranty, but I don't know how's that going to work with GSM...
 
If the original edge angle, or something close to it, was maintained then it shouldn’t be doing that. Seems like a bad heat treat to me. I would send it back for warranty replacement. I’ve had a few Cold Steel knives in SK-5 and have never had that issue
 
Nothing to do except return if factory HT is really bad . :(

But if edge was just "burned" slightly in improperly cooled , power sharpening : you might be able to carefully grind down to good steel .

Might be worth a try anyway before trashing the knife . :confused:
 
The problem may lie with the stones he's using and his technique. That edge looks way too acute. He might try honing that bevel back, using an angle guide to keep a consistent angle.
 
Any idea what kind of stones he’s using? And how hard he presses while sharpening? It’s so bad that it looks like damage caused from use.

Is this the same friend that said they think their mora was counterfeit based on the way the edge took damage while cutting steel wire or something?

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/beware-fake-morakniv.1763925/
 
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I was sharpening a friends Buck 119 once and had that happen too. Not sure why it kept crumbling off.

It kept on it after an hour of removing steel, as even after removing more and more metal it kept flaking off.

I am interested to see what others offer to see what causes this. My first thought is poor heat treatment.
 
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Not a horrible tragedy as an SK5 Recon Tanto is what? a $40 knife?

Send it back to CS and see what they say, but be aware they can be had from any of several reputable (SMKW, BHQ, I got mine at Midway) dealers for well under MSRP
 
Allan DeGroot said:
Not a horrible tragedy as an SK5 Recon Tanto is what? a $40 knife?

Send it back to CS and see what they say, but be aware they can be had from any of several reputable (SMKW, BHQ, I got mine at Midway) dealers for well under MSRP
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op is in eastern europe. if I remember correctly? makes all that much harder and more expensive.
 
Allan DeGroot said:
Not a horrible tragedy as an SK5 Recon Tanto is what? a $40 knife?

Send it back to CS and see what they say, but be aware they can be had from any of several reputable (SMKW, BHQ, I got mine at Midway) dealers for well under MSRP
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Still NOT OK , IMO . :mad::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

Maybe for CRKT etc ... but not Cold Steel ! :rolleyes:
 
No it is not OK but it isn't the end of the world. It isnt a Priceless historical relic or a rare Bob Loveless...

Now that Bob Loveless has been mentioned, a friend of a friend brought one of his Grandfather's knives to be to be "sharpened" I looked at that knife and I felt cold chills and told the owner it should be displayed behind glass and told him if he EVER wanted to sell it, I was interested, but that it was a $1000 knife any day of the week.

I feel honored just to have held it. I did Carefully did touch up the edge with 440 Emery paper backed up with a 1/2" thick sheet of glass. I was afraid to do anything more, but it'll field dress a deer now...

I also told him to keep it away from his "Cub scout" aged kid that it really was a "Historical Artifact"!
I suspect that telling him it was worth a grand accomplished that more than my other words did!
 
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I'm willing to accept certain flaws in a knife, but if the blade is crumbling and cannot be sharpened, then it isn't useable as a knife. I would consider that unacceptable at any price.

And for some people, $40 is a lot of money. Especially if it's $40 completely wasted.
 
I hope this does not repeat, as I have a couple of CS knives on order, but thankfully NONE in SK5, (what I ordered are in one in CPM-3V and one in S35VN))\
 
Allan DeGroot said:
No it is not OK but it isn't the end of the world. It isnt a Priceless historical relic or a rare Bob Loveless...
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Yeah, for the Cold Steel brand that still has "Carbon V " selling at at a premium at auction , almost entirely because of their excellent HT of a not very special steel formula ...this is the start of death , if true . Not convinced that this is factory HT deficit . o_O
 
I'd love to have another Master Hunter in Carbon V, buy as you say, their prices at auction are... WOW!!! Beyond my limited means.
 
jux t said:
Any idea what kind of stones he’s using? And how hard he presses while sharpening? It’s so bad that it looks like damage caused from use.

Is this the same friend that said they think their mora was counterfeit based on the way the edge took damage while cutting steel wire or something?

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/beware-fake-morakniv.1763925/
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He has some stones he uses on other knives with no issues, he ordered them from Knives and Tools as far as I remember.

And no, that's not the same guy.
jbmonkey said:
op is in eastern europe. if I remember correctly? makes all that much harder and more expensive.
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Yeah, that complicates everything.
MolokaiRider said:
I was sharpening a friends Buck 119 once and had that happen too. Not sure why it kept crumbling off.

It kept on it after an hour of removing steel, as even after removing more and more metal it kept flaking off.

I am interested to see what others offer to see what causes this. My first thought is poor heat treatment.
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This sounds identical to what this guy told me, he said he could grind it on a stone for hours, and he wouldn't accomplish anything but sore hands and smaller knife. He did said it was OK for first while when he was using it and then suddenly he started to notice parts of the edge that reflect light, and as he tried to get it sharp again it kept getting worse and worse. It's like the edge had layer of steel that was fine, and then problems started once he sharpened past that part, he never really hit anything hard with it, but if he does - his knife would probably break from what I see.
 
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