Touching Up VG-10

C

CutNup

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Mar 13, 2010
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I just got my first Spyderco - a SS Delica 4 - for EDC. I haven't used it for much of anything yet and it's still hair poppin' sharp.

I don't plan on giving it much heavy-duty use (I've got a fixed for that) and was wondering I need to touch up the blade in the future, can I use my a kitchen knife steel or would that completely destroy the knife and/or steel? I have a high-end sent of Henkel's kitchen knives and have used the steel effectively to keep them razor sharp.

For some background, my fixed blade is a D2 (BM Rant) that I don't sharpen at home but I was kinda hoping I could get away with it on a VG-10 blade.

Thoughts?
 
When i had one, i used the white rods on my sharpmaker to touch it up. It's easy to sharpen but don't use a steel, it's a good knife. I would recommend buying a sharpmaker, it will make you feel that you have more control over your knives and once you learn how to use it, sharpening will be simple and probably become something you do to all knives lol.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
When i had one, i used the white rods on my sharpmaker to touch it up. It's easy to sharpen but don't use a steel, it's a good knife. I would recommend buying a sharpmaker, it will make you feel that you have more control over your knives and once you learn how to use it, sharpening will be simple and probably become something you do to all knives lol.
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Agreed.

If your into knives at all you should at least have a decent sharpener.

Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a sharpmaker.:thumbup:
 
Sharpmaker would do a great job on VG-10. If your D2 blade is not super thick at the edge, the Sharpmaker can also easily take care of that blade steel as well. It will make your kitchen knives very sharp when it comes time to touch them up.
 
Don't let your knives near a steel. Get some benchstones or a Sharpmaker.
 
My Endura VG10 is easy to maintain with the sharpmaker. I agree with the earlier responses, keep the steel away from it. Think of the steel as a way of realigning the edge on your chef's knives in between proper sharpens.
 
The Sharpmaker should work fine with both of your blades. VG10 and D2 both do very well on a Sharpmaker for me. VG10 will take a very nicely polished edge so you may want to invest in UF rods for the Sharpmaker. D2 takes a bit longer on the Sharpmaker than VG10, but I keep my D2 BMs sharp with the Sharpmaker.
 
If you don't mangle the edge you can get by with occasional stropping. I use a coarse and fine strop. The coarse is 1200 grit Clover silicon carbide grease compound, and the fine is Norton diamond paste....very fine.
You may want to get a decent sharpener. I like Spyderco ceramic stones in medium and fine. I also have the ultra fine, but you may not need that with a strop.
 
THG said:
Don't let your knives near a steel. Get some benchstones or a Sharpmaker.
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+1.

A steel has a selective use (and I'm not really sure what that is) but it is not something I would recommend for any knife. Give kitchen knives a 40* edge and they should hold it fine. Same for your VG-10 knives. If you're looking for a keener angle you can try 30*.
 
Ok, I used the steel on my Persistence and will stop. Did I do something bad?

So Sharpmaker for that and the kitchen knives. Do I have to get the strop? Will just the basic Sharpmaker kit let me keep the edge I have now on my Spydercos and bring my kitchen knives up?
 
VG-10 sharpens very nicely on a strop with some green compound (if you don't let it get too dull).
 
Steels are not bad, but many people do not understand the proper use and technique for them. Further there are very few true steels available (many are textured steel rods which are not performing the same function).

It is my opinion that many users here would rather resort to sharpening equipment to "touch up" their edges instead of acquiring a proper steel and learning to use it effectively (that sounds pompas...I mean to say that they perhaps figure, "why bother with a steel that seems to give lesser results than my current methods?"...and I do not entirely disagree with their logic). In the end, whatever you prefer is the way to go....really. I won't go into the rationale of a steel...suffice to say they have their place.

I doubt you did anything bad, and if you did, you can fix it easily enough when you sharpen.

Edit to add:
A skilled user of a steel will maintain an edge thus extending the time between "touch ups", require fewer "touch ups" as a result, realize longer blade life as a result, and get FANTASTIC results. When it comes to pocket knives, you will probably never wear the blade out anyway, sharpening/touching up is fun (I consider it stress relief/hobby), and you usually do not use the edge that much that maintaining the edge is all that important throughout the day.
 
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LawyerSam said:
Ok, I used the steel on my Persistence and will stop. Did I do something bad?

So Sharpmaker for that and the kitchen knives. Do I have to get the strop? Will just the basic Sharpmaker kit let me keep the edge I have now on my Spydercos and bring my kitchen knives up?
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Yes. Stropping won't hurt though.

Steeling the edge won't kill it. You just might have to work a bit with the brown rods to get the bevels back.
 
What I did is I went to a knife shop that sells razor strops bought one and use green rough on it when I strop. The razor strop is made for stroping. My vg10 does really well on it.
 
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