Spyderco DragonFly 2 reprofiling vg-10 with the KME help

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bmblades

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Dec 27, 2015
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Hello friends, I am trying to reset the bevel to a 20 degrees angle on the spyderco dragonfly 2 with vg-10 steel. This is my first experience with vg-10 and spydercos. This is a very small blade and came with a very uneven factory bevel. Don't know if all spydercos are like this, this model in particular or I was just unlucky to get one like this. Anyway.. the original angle was somewhere between 10 to 15 degrees which got dull very fast.

THE PROBLEM:

after working on one side for about 2 hours with the 100 grit diamond I finally got really close to the factory bevel and im touching the edge really well (the marker on the edge is from the big burr that formed). The problem is the heel, where sincerly, I have no ideea what happens and how should I fix it, alltrough it has formed a burr... the bevel is soo acute and i'm afraid that insisting on re-shaping that as well.. will affect the rest of the blade. Also, I touched the ricasso or plunge line or whatever is called... with the side of the diamond plate of the KME and grinded a bit of steel which I don't like (see photos). It's impossible to sharpen the heel without grinding off steel from that ricasso...

Please help me out ... what should i do now??? I have read about adding a choil... or should i leave the heel like this ??





This is where I think the blade got affected from insisting on the heel:




This is where the ricasso got touched / scratched from the side of the KME diamond plate:

 
bmblades said:
Hello friends, I am trying to reset the bevel to a 20 degrees angle on the spyderco dragonfly 2 with vg-10 steel. This is my first experience with vg-10 and spydercos. This is a very small blade and came with a very uneven factory bevel. Don't know if all spydercos are like this, this model in particular or I was just unlucky to get one like this. Anyway.. the original angle was somewhere between 10 to 15 degrees which got dull very fast.

THE PROBLEM:

after working on one side for about 2 hours with the 100 grit diamond I finally got really close to the factory bevel and im touching the edge really well (the marker on the edge is from the big burr that formed). The problem is the heel, where sincerly, I have no ideea what happens and how should I fix it, alltrough it has formed a burr... the bevel is soo acute and i'm afraid that insisting on re-shaping that as well.. will affect the rest of the blade. Also, I touched the ricasso or plunge line or whatever is called... with the side of the diamond plate of the KME and grinded a bit of steel which I don't like (see photos). It's impossible to sharpen the heel without grinding off steel from that ricasso...

Please help me out ... what should i do now??? I have read about adding a choil... or should i leave the heel like this ??





This is where I think the blade got affected from insisting on the heel:




This is where the ricasso got touched / scratched from the side of the KME diamond plate:

Click to expand...

Yeah, those diamond stones are no joke... I'm glad I used a cheap ganzo knife to play with first. Do you have any of the Arkansas stones? They are much less aggressive. The scratches on the knife might polish out with a dremel and some polishing compound. Going from 10° to 20 is going to be challenging. I would just make a micro bevel for 20° and call it done...
 
Don't get me wrong.. I have nothing against the diamond agression...It would take ages to reprofile steels like this with something else... Anyway... the problem is the heel... and the fact that working on that would affect the rest of the blade which now seams to have a more even bevel (i should have taken photos of how this thing came from the factory). Also, the sides of the KME diamond plates have diamond particles on them which hit the ricasso when sharpening the heel and don't know how to avoid that... anyone else had this problem ??
 
What I would do is just sharpen it to 20 each time I sharpen and it would eventually just become 20


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Right now I am more concerned about that ricasso that get's grinded bit by bit (by the diamond leftovers on the sides of the plates) when i sharpen the heel... Did anyone experianced this with the KME on knives where the is no choil ? Should I put a choil on this so I can sharpen all the way?
 
I believe you need the notch. This video gives very good explanation:
[youtube]VMvE-b4259A[/youtube]

Another option is to stop right before the plunge but you'll have more pronounced plunge over the time as shown on the video.. If it's my knife, I'll create a sharp choil right after the kick, some kind of one mini serration tooth there, so I have a full sharp edge throughout.
 
Last edited:
Chris "Anagarika";16135281 said:
Another option is to stop right before the plunge but you'll have more pronounced plunge over the time as shown on the video.. If it's my knife, I'll create a sharp choil right after the kick, some kind of one mini serration tooth there, so I have a full sharp edge throughout.
Click to expand...


I still have the knife clamped on the KME hehe... guess I will do a small choil with a triangular diamond file and sharpen all the way.

This guy did it:



it's small enough so even if I cut rope, starting from the base, which i rarely do..., to be able to do it...

I have still not decided but the choil is an option.
 
bmblades said:
Hello friends, I am trying to reset the bevel to a 20 degrees angle on the spyderco dragonfly 2 with vg-10 steel. This is my first experience with vg-10 and spydercos. This is a very small blade and came with a very uneven factory bevel. Don't know if all spydercos are like this, this model in particular or I was just unlucky to get one like this. Anyway.. the original angle was somewhere between 10 to 15 degrees which got dull very fast.

THE PROBLEM:

after working on one side for about 2 hours with the 100 grit diamond I finally got really close to the factory bevel and im touching the edge really well (the marker on the edge is from the big burr that formed).
Click to expand...

I'm not understanding this part... you went from 10-15 deg. to 20 deg., and spent 2 hours on one side? :confused: What does the other side look like? I'd think you'd have a chisel grind at this point. Perhaps just needs clarification.

It does sound like a small sharpening notch would be the option for you to help with the problems you're having.
 
cbwx34 said:
I'm not understanding this part... you went from 10-15 deg. to 20 deg., and spent 2 hours on one side? :confused: What does the other side look like? I'd think you'd have a chisel grind at this point. Perhaps just needs clarification.

It does sound like a small sharpening notch would be the option for you to help with the problems you're having.
Click to expand...


Ok, so the factory bevel was about 16 deg., I don't remember exactly but I did test this with a sharpie and anglecube. So I set the KME angle to a 20 deg. and started doing one side until I touched the top of the bevel (i want a v-edge not a double beveled edge) now I need to work the other side until the bevel has the same size and bring the blade edge back to center. I know it's better to sharpen using a certain number of strokes on alternative sides so that the centering of the cutting edge of the blade always remains centered but I don't see any problem with doing each side at a time and not having to count strokes or whatever. Also, it took soo much time because of this damn steel and because i'm new with the KME... I still don't know how much pressure I should put on the diamonds... I barely touch the blade so i'm grinding very small amount of steel.
 
I have this problem on nearly every spyderco knife I sharpen on a jig . Check out apostle p he grinds the crap out of the Ricasso/choil area to get it to match the rest of the bevel .

If you don't grind it your left with an uneven bevel IF you do grind it it may not look all that great but you'll have an even bevel . Personally I just went through this issue this weekend with a s110 manix.

I cut a notch with a diamond file and just grind to make the bevels Match . I would start out grinding this part because you get a flat spot in your bevel from grinding the same spot over and over. Once you get your flat spot at the heel match the rest of the bevel . It sucks to do it and it's a PITA but it's necessary on spyderco IMHO.
 
bmblades said:
Ok, so the factory bevel was about 16 deg., I don't remember exactly but I did test this with a sharpie and anglecube. So I set the KME angle to a 20 deg. and started doing one side until I touched the top of the bevel (i want a v-edge not a double beveled edge) now I need to work the other side until the bevel has the same size and bring the blade edge back to center. I know it's better to sharpen using a certain number of strokes on alternative sides so that the centering of the cutting edge of the blade always remains centered but I don't see any problem with doing each side at a time and not having to count strokes or whatever. Also, it took soo much time because of this damn steel and because i'm new with the KME... I still don't know how much pressure I should put on the diamonds... I barely touch the blade so i'm grinding very small amount of steel.
Click to expand...

I was hoping the clarification was in the numbers. (Just to clarify, this has nothing to do with alternating sides or keeping the blade centered, or counting strokes, or how much time you spent).

It's your knife, but in your initial post you said you were changing the angle because 10-15 degrees "got dull very fast", yet what you're doing now is counter to making it "sharper". You're putting a higher angle on a blade, and at the same time grinding into thicker metal. The only way that is an advantage is if whatever you were cutting was actually damaging the edge.

If you don't want a double bevel that's up to you, but if you needed a bit stronger edge that would have been the better way to go. Minimal metal removal, and a stronger and probably sharper edge (since edges from the factory often need a bit of work anyway).

I know it's not your reason for starting this thread, but what you're doing is grinding away a good portion of the knife, and is actually creating or at least adding to the problems you're having at the heel, and will doubtfully create a sharper edge.. Just comparing your pictures with the picture of the other knife you later posted, it looks like you've removed a lot of edge, and you've only done one side. That to me is what's causing the problems you're now seeing.
 
You are right by all means and maybe I should have not jumped into doing the reprofile as I did it. I hated the factory bevel when I got it... So uneven... I own lots of Benchmade and cold steel and they didn't came perfect but this spyderco (my first one) has been a total disappointment. Also, another reason for going with a lot steeper angle was because I accidentally hit metal and did a nasty chip on the blade. What are your thoughts now... I have no way back hehe... Should I just put that small choil and finish the other side ? Not much I can do now I gues.... Would you leave the heel as it is now ? How would you "fix" this...
 
bmblades said:
You are right by all means and maybe I should have not jumped into doing the reprofile as I did it. I hated the factory bevel when I got it... So uneven... I own lots of Benchmade and cold steel and they didn't came perfect but this spyderco (my first one) has been a total disappointment. Also, another reason for going with a lot steeper angle was because I accidentally hit metal and did a nasty chip on the blade. What are your thoughts now... I have no way back hehe... Should I just put that small choil and finish the other side ? Not much I can do now I gues.... Would you leave the heel as it is now ? How would you "fix" this...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think you're committed on this one. I would do what you said... add the choil and work on the other side. Since you'll be removing metal primarily from the edge anyway you should be able to correct some of the issues you first described... just by paying attention to the progress.
 
cbwx34 said:
Yeah, I think you're committed on this one. I would do what you said... add the choil and work on the other side. Since you'll be removing metal primarily from the edge anyway you should be able to correct some of the issues you first described... just by paying attention to the progress.
Click to expand...

Ill post photos once i'm done. Thanks everyone.
 
Ok, here are some photos. Sorry for the bad quality (close-ups with a smartphone) but please zoom in on the photos (they are very large). I have also included in the photos, another dragonfly 2 with the edge untouched just for comparision. The knife is now a single 20 deg. bevel done with the KME from 100 grit up to 1500 and stropped with 4 micron emulsion. It is shaving and glides trough phonebook paper.

Sincerly I am not happy with the result just because as "cbwx34" said... I sacrified a lot of steel from such a small blade. I just had to sharpen at 20deg on the existing micro bevel and call it done. Less work and less steel removal. I am probably too excited to test the KME on everything i get my hands on, but lession learned...

Thanks everyone for your support and please let me know your thoughts after seeing the photos.









 
bmblades said:
Ok, here are some photos. Sorry for the bad quality (close-ups with a smartphone) but please zoom in on the photos (they are very large). I have also included in the photos, another dragonfly 2 with the edge untouched just for comparision. The knife is now a single 20 deg. bevel done with the KME from 100 grit up to 1500 and stropped with 4 micron emulsion. It is shaving and glides trough phonebook paper.

Sincerly I am not happy with the result just because as "cbwx34" said... I sacrified a lot of steel from such a small blade. I just had to sharpen at 20deg on the existing micro bevel and call it done. Less work and less steel removal. I am probably too excited to test the KME on everything i get my hands on, but lession learned...

Thanks everyone for your support and please let me know your thoughts after seeing the photos.
Click to expand...

Looks good! Don't be unhappy... it was a learning lesson, and you did a lot of things right: kept a great profile, caught and fixed mistakes, and sounds like you've got a great edge. I'm sure you'll have a knife that will serve you well for a long time.

Another nice thing it'll be easy to touch up and maintain with the KME... so in the long run it'll pay off.
 
cbwx34 said:
Looks good! Don't be unhappy... it was a learning lesson, and you did a lot of things right: kept a great profile, caught and fixed mistakes, and sounds like you've got a great edge. I'm sure you'll have a knife that will serve you well for a long time.

Another nice thing it'll be easy to touch up and maintain with the KME... so in the long run it'll pay off.
Click to expand...

Thanks man.
 
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