SR101- questions.

P

PayetteRucker

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Aug 4, 2009
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I understand that SR101 is an altered 52100 with a proprietary heat treat, but what is the hardness? I've put about three hours total into the edge of this thing and haven't scratched the surface with hardstones or wet and dry sandpaper. Am I going to need to invest serious money into daimond systems to thin out my edge? I'm a little perturbed about it... I was hoping that this knife would be easily maintained in the woods...
 
I have 2 Howling Rats and I recontoured and sharpend mine with just the standard Lansky stones-------not the diamonds. It's pretty tuff stuff but I didn't find it to be unreasonable. And.........The really hold their edge!
 
I just thinned out the edge on my ratweiler over the weekend and it was tough. I used a foot long rough wet stone to thin out one side one day and the other side the next. Once I got a good bur, I polished it off using varying grades of sand paper and it is real sharp now. That SR101 is some tough stuff. Even the bur was solid. But it will pay off in the end with a very durable and sharp knife edge. Keep the faith!

JT
 
That's really odd. I tried out my buddies Edge pro and was moving metal instantly. I didn't like how it was working around the curve so I ditched it and went to 320 emery paper. Then 400 then a strop. Done in just a few minutes.

Maybe inconsistent heat treat?
 
I know for sure its much harder to sharpen than SR77. I thinned it out a good bit so I had a lot of material to remove. May be why it took so long.

JT
 
Apply more pressure maybe.

Same story here as everyone else. It is tough stuff, but great and easily sharpens with my lansky stones.
 
OP,
I've been working on re-profiling my Warden on a DMT X-Coarse 8" stone, its taking quite a while, but its removing quite a bit of steel. This stuff is HARD. Also, of the 4 SRKW's I've handled, 3 have been quite obtuse in their grind. My warden was in the 45* range according to my Edge Angle Guide!

If you aren't trying to re-profile it then you shouldn't have a huge issue. If you are trying to re-profile it, i can say i put more than 3 hours into my warden on the diamond stones and I'm still not done. I wouldn't assume that this means it will be unreasonable to maintain in the field. I just wouldn't want to try to re-profile it in the field ;).

Your other option is to send it to one of the many forum members who does regrinds/re-profiling.

I have used Richard J on a kitchen knife and he did a fabulous job with a very quick turnaround, not sure what he would say about re-profiling a coated blade though.

-- Adam
 
I use sandpaper anyway, why would I pay someone to convex a knife that I can convex myself? I don't want a convex grind. At this point I just want to take the current flat microbevel down from about a 30 degree angle to 15 degrees. In the future depending on use, wear and maintenance I may convert the saber grind to a scandinavian grind by buffing out the microbevel, that is, if I can find sharpening implements that can efficiently maintain this steel... Tried applying pressure, tried using honing oil, all I've managed to do is remove less than a millimeter of the blade finish along the edge. Real consistant, but again, not seeing any sort of material removal. I haven't attempted a bastard file-I think it would probably just destroy my 11 dollar nicholson, and I don't want to use anything that rough on this brand new blade anyway. I REALLY don't want to have to spent 50-60 bucks on a set of daimond sharpeners specifically for this knife.... noone knows exactly what Rockwell hardness this steel is? I use knives WAY too much to spend so much time sharpening them in between uses... as much as I love this knife, it may not work.
 
Depending on the blade and what's it's purpose is will determine what I do. Usually the larger chopper blades I don't mind a bit of meat on the edge but my smaller blades that I like to do fine work with always get sent off for a convex job. They are easy to maintain and extremely sharp. As for the factory edges sometimes they come razor sharp and useable other times not so much but I find that with a lot of knife companies. Shoot Eric an email, I am sure they have some form of sharpening they can offer you. Once you get the edge where you want it general maintenence is simple.
Good luck
 
When I got my Battle Rat a few years ago it took several couple hour sessions on diamonds to reprofile the edge.It came butter knife dull,but is like a big scalpel now.Yeah,SR101 is really tough steel.
 
silverbullets said:
Depending on the blade and what's it's purpose is will determine what I do. Usually the larger chopper blades I don't mind a bit of meat on the edge but my smaller blades that I like to do fine work with always get sent off for a convex job. They are easy to maintain and extremely sharp. As for the factory edges sometimes they come razor sharp and useable other times not so much but I find that with a lot of knife companies. Shoot Eric an email, I am sure they have some form of sharpening they can offer you. Once you get the edge where you want it general maintenence is simple.
Good luck
Click to expand...

I know exactly where I want it, already decided on the profile... It came with a rather obtuse angle, but shaving sharp. I want to maintain that shaving sharp edge but take the angle down to about 15 degrees, versus 30. Since this is a 4.5 inch knife, it's kind of an allarounder, and a 30 degree inclusive edge should be plenty of material to offer a strong edge, while being plenty thin to be a performing slicer. I guess Eric is the go to guy on this one.
 
Not sure what the RC is on the differentially heat treated waki's, but when I reprofiled mine I tried to start off using a 12" bastard file.... it hardly made a scratch in the steel no matter how much pressure I used!

XXcourse diamond stone worked a little better, but I ended up using several sheets of 120 grit sandpaper for most of the reprofiling. I guess I have a lot of patience because I spent somewhere around 16 to 20 hours, over the course of several days, working with the sandpaper (NOT EXAGGERATING) ,before getting the edge mostly how I wanted it!

A beltsander would have made it sooo much simpler I think.

So yes the reprofiling sucked, but the good thing is that once the edge is set it REALLY holds it like no other blade I've used! Simple touch up and edge maintenance is super easy though ounce youv'e got your desired bevel set, so I wouldn't worry about that part of it. :)
 
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O.P., Get some diamond stones, they're handy to have anyway and they'll take you where you need to be with your grind. You will be happier for it. As to field maintenance, SR-101 stays sharp for a very long time. Unless you're out in the field for a year with extended daily use, you'll be fine. Enjoy your rat :D
 
Terry Newton said:
Invest in a large DMT diamond hone.
Click to expand...

That's what I was looking at, but they are 78 dollars cheapest-per grit. I've tried daimond stones before, but they seem to be incredibly abbraisive even at the finer grits. For reprofiling that isn't as huge of a problem, but I've been using arkansas stones for 4 years now, and there is a MAJOR difference between the two....
 
It's not that the steel is harder but more to the fact it has a proper HT. When a steel is well heat treated it will feel very hard on the stones, even with diamond stones it will feel this way. Diamonds are good but something I'm finding more and more is they are not your best choice for carbon steels. Diamonds are my top choice for harder/more wear resistant metals but with the carbon classes of steel I feel they are better sharpened with a different abrasive. Sandpaper is one of my top choices for this steel but for major stock removal emory cloth or a norton stone do very well.

Arkansas stones are good but very slow and not the best of choices for a well HT'ed steel or modern alloys, if you would like to be budget minded pick up a norton Sic or india stone and some finer grades of sandpaper. Also remember to not use excessive pressure when trying to sharpen it will only cause more problems.

Take your time and don't force the process, pick up some more sandpaper or a new stone and forget about the arkansas stones for a minute. let us know how it goes.
 
If you are trying to reprofile or bring an edge back that is long gone with steels like SR101 you want a more abrasive stone or you won't get anywhere, or it could take you a very long time. When you get the angles you want then you can move to the smoother stones and polish up the edge.

The amount of pressure is dependent upon what you are doing and your technique. Pressure is neither good nor bad. You have to decide for yourself. There are times when I use varying pressures. I have seen top knifemakers lay into a diamond hone like they were trying to push it into a bench for a couple of licks like someone might use a strop and bring back that razor edge.

There is no right or wrong way. Practice will help you determine how you need to do it.
 
Great advice in this thread!

Even though I am not the OP, I would like to say thanx to those who
have posted advice... Your advice has helped me with a couple issues I
was having...:thumbup:
 
I never 'force' the process-sharpening is both an art and a science, neither of which pay off if you rush it. I'm no noob when it comes to freehand sharpening high carbon, I've reprofiled all my outdoors use knives at least once- but it's usually in the neighborhood of about RC48 to RC59. But at this rate it's pretty ridiculous-after last night I have about five hours into it with no noticeable steel removal. As far as arkansas stones not being ideal for "high carbon steels or modern alloys...." I'm a high carbon nut. I also believe that if the blade is too hard to be sharpened by hand in the field, it's too hard to be a practical outdoors use knife, which instantly writes off alot of the stainless steels out there, your "modern alloys". I have no desire. Too hard, too brittle. I have plenty of "properly heat treate" high carbon blades-Kabar, ESEE, Koyote Knives and various others-this blade isn't in the same ballpark when it comes to hardness. Not even comparable. I guess dropping big bones on daimond sharpeners it is...
 
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