Someone Help Me! (to sharpen my Glock 78)

D

Dieselashi

Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
98
Hello everyone,

I've been tinkering around with my Glock 78 field knife that I've had for a while and have already dulled and sharpened and re-sharpened a few times with my SharpMaker. The other day after putting what I thought was a clean new edge on it, I noticed only one side was getting sharpened from the start of the bevel to the edge, the other was only being ground from the top of the bevel maybe midway to the actual cutting edge.

I figured the blade was ground a little off center and have spent a LOT of time trying to reshape the off edge so that the SharpMaker is actually removing metal in the right spot when I use the 40 degree edge setting.

Now, I've gone and re-beveled the heck out of this thing on both sides so that the edge is indeed meeting in a nice V without any flat spots, wire-edges, micro-bevels, or what not, but I can't for the life of me get it to even roughly cut through a piece of paper.

What's going on? The knife has been sharp before, but now that I've "fixed" it I can't make any progress; after what must have been a couple of hundred strokes on the stones I can still run my finger across the edge without feeling anything resembling sharpness.

Any ideas? I know it's not a high-grade knife and I've heard the steel isn't capable of taking a really keen edge, but for all my effort the thing's no better than a butter knife!

Can anyone help out? Tools I've got to work with are the SharpMaker with medium and fine stones, and a coarse/fine DMT Diafold. Thanks to any and all edge gurus who have an idea!
 
how are you finishing off the edge? i can possibly help you out but i have been swamped with emails from people wanting their knives sharpened and i'm tired of typing. would it be possible for me to call you? email me your number. i have free long distance anywhere in the states or canada. rje196021@gmail.com
 
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Not quite sure what you mean by "finishing".

Usually what I do for any of my knives is to do 3x20 passes on the edge of the brown stones, 2x20 passes on the flat, and 1x20 on the edge of the white stones on the 40 degree edge setting.

If necessary I'll first go 3x20 on the corners of the brown stones on the 30 degree back bevel setting first.

Used this way with my SAK, my kitchen knives, and my s30v Paramilitary, the SharpMaker regularly gives me what I consider an incredibly sharp edge. On the Glock it doesn't seem to be doing anything no matter how many times I re-bevel on the 30 degree setting and hit it again on the 40 degree.

I've even zip-tied my DMT stone to one of the rods on the 30 degree setting to see if it would help remove metal faster but after 60 passes on each side of the blade that doesn't seem to be doing anything either.

I'm stumped and am starting to worry about how much wear all this sharpening is imparting on my brown SharpMaker stones...
 
you need to remove any burr you might have formed. that is what i meant by finishing your edge. a buddy gave me his glock 78 tonight to sharpen again after some hard use and i get it shaving sharp with the wheels. he said it held up to a lot of abuse since i sharpened it last. i'll put a v edge back on it again which should be good for another few years. i suggested a convex edge but he wanted to stick with a v edge.

if you would want to try another system for sharpening that would be a lot easier check out the paper wheels. there is a thread about them here in the maintainance section. you can maintain an edge with just the slotted wheel when you notice when your knife starts to get dull. just give it several passes over it and the edge will come back. you can get set up with the wheels for around $100. and i have a set that are going on 19 years old.
 
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The glock knife is very thick behind the edge, its also not hardened very high giving it rather poor edge retention. Its not a bad thing but trying to get it razor sharp is not usually worth the effort.

I used a belt sander to convex grind mine and Ì keep it touched up with a coarse bench stone or a diafold. A good bench stone would be a helpful addition to your sharpening gear, a norton Sic or india C/F bench stone would work and won't break the bank.
 
The Glock M78 Field Knife is basically a sharp pry bar. I am not dissing your knife at all...I own one too. I tried like crazy to get it as sharp as any of my other knives and could not do it. Basically the thing is meant to use as a soldier uses a bayonet (when not attached to the rifle of course)...rough service tasks like punching holes in thin metal (think fuel drum or a C-ration), prying open ammo boxes, sometimes even digging a little bit. I really think these were designed for that kind of use as presumably an Austrian soldier probably also has a SAK or some other thing for sharpness.

I would get 'er sharp in some form or fashion (maybe with a file, machete style), throw a Spyderco Para and an SAK in the pocket and go for it.

I have ground mine down so far that it looks like an old butcher knife, just trying to get it sharp...won't happen. Most recently I put a fairly obtuse convex edge on it and that's pretty servicable.
 
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dieselashi, i spent a little over a minute on my buddys glock that he used to dig holes when planting his garden hitting rocks and whatever else was in the dirt. its now sharp enough to shave with so its possible to get it sharp. if you want help, send me an email.
 
richard j said:
dieselashi, i spent a little over a minute on my buddys glock that he used to dig holes when planting his garden hitting rocks and whatever else was in the dirt. its now sharp enough to shave with so its possible to get it sharp. if you want help, send me an email.
Click to expand...

I just ordered a G78 and a G81. I think I'll be sending them your way when they arrive!
 
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