Super polished edges

Spyderco Southard. During sharpening, I messed up and chipped off the tip pretty badly & had to reshape it. This is my first attempt at reshaping a tip. This CTS 204P took more time to sharpen than any other steel I've encountered yet...aside from the work on the tip. Glad this one is finally done!Southard mirror reshaped edge.jpg
 
Scrim said:
Spyderco Southard. During sharpening, I messed up and chipped off the tip pretty badly & had to reshape it. This is my first attempt at reshaping a tip. This CTS 204P took more time to sharpen than any other steel I've encountered yet...aside from the work on the tip. Glad this one is finally done!View attachment 793254
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I just did my Southard yesterday as well! 16 dps on this one. What angle is yours at?

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I dropped down to 13º once I realized the steel was so hard, just to experiment with it. I'm curious how it'll hold up. Right now it's a razor blade. It's only going to get light edc use anyway, so I think it's going to hold up pretty well.
 
Scrim said:
I dropped down to 13º once I realized the steel was so hard, just to experiment with it. I'm curious how it'll hold up. Right now it's a razor blade. It's only going to get light edc use anyway, so I think it's going to hold up pretty well.
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Very interesting. I did the Southard and a 204p Domino yesterday and for me the edges came up rather readily. Although that might be because I also did a GB2 in M4 yesterday that took FOREVER. So maybe it just felt faster by comparison. Do you use diamonds or aluminum oxide for reprofiling?
 
Diamond 120 grit to reprofile, then Edge Pro 120, 220, 400, 600, 1000, 2K tape, 3k tape, 6k tape, green Strop Block, then .5 micron diamond paste strop and .25 micron diamond paste strop. Reshaped the tip with a Worksharp I recently picked up. It's a pretty cool, versatile little belt sander. I have the day off today and started this little project about 3 hours ago. I think I'm done with this stuff for the day. Time for sushi! PS. Halden, I don't think I've done any M4 yet. Based on your description...and my morning with CTS 204P....I'm not looking forward to it. :)
 
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Scrim said:
Diamond 120 grit to reprofile, then Edge Pro 120, 220, 400, 600, 1000, 2K tape, 3k tape, 6k tape, green Strop Block, then .5 micron diamond paste strop and .25 micron diamond paste strop. Reshaped the tip with a Worksharp I recently picked up. It's a pretty cool, versatile little belt sander. I have the day off today and started this little project about 3 hours ago. I think I'm done with this stuff for the day. Time for sushi! PS. Halden, I don't think I've done any M4 yet. Based on your description...and my morning with CTS 204P....I'm not looking forward to it. :)
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Yeah, I think M4 is the hardest stuff I've had to sharpen yet. Elmax took pretty long as well. I kinda wonder if the vertical orientation of the WE might help with the reprofiling time. And of course, 13 degrees means removing a lot more steel than 16, lol.
 
What do you mean by "aggressive"? Hard steel to sharpen? Takes an insane edge? Threatens you as you sharpen it? What? Now I gotta know! :confused:
 
Scrim said:
What do you mean by "aggressive"? Hard steel to sharpen? Takes an insane edge? Threatens you as you sharpen it? What? Now I gotta know! :confused:
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I'm honestly still kind of mystified by it. Not hard to sharpen. Stock removal was not bad on it at all. Definitely easier than M4. It got very sharp very quickly, and took a very five edge, even at the lower grits. Then when I took it to the ultra fine ceramics it seemed to get even sharper (i.e. more aggressive) but in this really interesting way. Almost like it was superfine, but somehow toothy in how it was biting. Not sure that makes sense, I'm still honestly a little fascinated by it. It's hard for me to describe.

And yeah, I literally cut myself immediately upon finishing sharpening.:D
 
Funny. I cut two fingers working on that Division (not kidding). That needle-like tip got me good. Ahh, the price we pay for our lust for the sharpest edges we can get, I guess.:rolleyes:
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Damn, we let the thread get bumped to page 2! Better fix that...

Ahh a 940 with an edge! I finally marshaled the self control to finish an S90V blade with a toothy rather than polished edge. I gotta tell you, it was a good decision. Screaming sharp at 400 grit, finished with 0.5 micron strops.

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How did you guys get started? I think what I’m most envious about is you guys have a steady flow of knives coming in the be sharpened. I find producing these edges to be almost therapeutical, so much so that if you reference my previous post I even sharpened a 3 dollar knife to this “caliber”. I’ve sadly only been able to 7 edges.
 
Aquaholicc said:
How did you guys get started? I think what I’m most envious about is you guys have a steady flow of knives coming in the be sharpened. I find producing these edges to be almost therapeutical, so much so that if you reference my previous post I even sharpened a 3 dollar knife to this “caliber”. I’ve sadly only been able to 7 edges.
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I'm really still getting started. I've been doing my own knives on the Wicked Edge for about two or three years now to get to the point where I feel like I'm somewhat competent with it. I'm just now starting to actually take on customer jobs. I still need to get a post going in the "services offered" forum.
 
Aqua...I find it Zen & relaxing too. I don't do any "client" knives, only knives from my (ever exapnding) collection. I started "sharpening" a couple years ago with a Sharpmaker, just because I wanted to try sharpening, then quickly added a Lansky system, to see if I could achieve my own mirror polished, razor sharp edges...then pretty quickly upgraded to an Edge Pro Apex (about a year and a half ago) for even better control & refinement. It's all just a hobby for me...inspired by Josh at Razor Edge Knives and The Apostle P. Once I saw what they could do, I was impressed and decided I had a new challenge to take on.

Looks Like halden.doerge has gone pro, and good for him. He does meticulous work. Your work, Aqua, is looking really good these days as well. I just keep working on my knives as I'm seeing results I'm increasingly happy with...and I find disassembly, cleaning, lubing, improving action by tweaking lock bar tension and overall set up of pivot action...ocasionally polishing internal parts, and now cutting my own detent ball ramps...and of course sharpening, all kind of fascinating...how much you can effect and improve an off the shelf knife...be it production, mid tech or even some customs I've done all this kind of work on. And as they say, practice makes perfect.
 
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