Tip sharpening/profiling

[JD Spydo]

This is a subject that I saw a thread on just shortly after I joined Bladeforums. I have not seen or heard much on the subject since. I was looking at my Spyderco "Yojimbo" this morning and I am ready to do some sharpening and fine tuning of it and I noticed the geometry of the tip. I also summized that this tip on this blade is going to take some special care to keep it in perfect form as it came from the factory.

Ok with all that being said I was wondering what special protocol you sharpening gurus or any sharpening enthusiast/hobbiest do in regards to taking special care of sharpening the tips on some of these blades where the tip is an extremely important part of the blade geometry.

Another tip sharpening problem I would like some feedback on is how some of you sharpen tips on Hawkbill blades. I myself sharpen the last 1/2 inch of a hawkbill tip with a Spyderco 701 Profile ceramic file with a radius before I ever proceed to sharpen the rest of the blade. So what if any special attention do you all give to the tips of some of these tactical and utility blades where the tip is a very important part of the overall geometry of a blade? I personally like my blade tips as needle sharp as I can get them. I bet there are some tricks to getting tips perfect

 

[gud4u]

I have no blades with a 'hook' curvature, so I can't comment on that.

I use the small hand-held Spyderco DoubleStuff dual-grit ceramic hone for final formation of the tip portion of my blades. DoubleStuff in my left hand, blade in my right hand, up close and personal.

Hope this helps!

 

[JD Spydo]

I have no blades with a 'hook' curvature, so I can't comment on that.

I use the small hand-held Spyderco DoubleStuff dual-grit ceramic hone for final formation of the tip portion of my blades. DoubleStuff in my left hand, blade in my right hand, up close and personal.


Hope this helps!

Very interesting. I have 3 of those Spyderco "Double Stuff" sharpening stones. I use one of mine doing certain types of machine tool work. They are an extremely handy item as is the Spyderco "701 Profile" that I made mention of. I can see how you would have very accurate control with a stone of that size.

I think that is part of the key to it. Having a small stone to do more precise work with. I almost overlooked how handy the "Double STuff" stone would be for a job like that.

 

[Nick Hyle]

JD, on hawkbills, I have no good answer, I just do the best I can. My most consistent results have been with cylindrical diamond sharpeners (rods). I want to get some wider-chord curved diamonds, like the ones DMT now sells for woodcarving tools, to try. Sharpmaker is OK too.

But for me, sharpening by hand on diamond benchstones or on my 2x72 Burr King, a double-ground straight edge like the Yojimbo or Ronin is one of the easiest blades to keep a clean tip on - you just keep the same angle all the way out. I find it much easier, in terms of mental and physical expenditure, to maintain the edge on my Yo than on a 'standard' blade with a belly, like a BM Ares or whatever.

But then I am more and more convinced that hand sharpening is a highly individual physical process, and we all have out quirks in it that affect what we find easy, hard, intuitive, etc.