Trouble sharpening a Tanto

[kriller1217]

I had purchased a cheap Kershaw Brawler a few months back, and it is my first tanto blade. I can get the main edge hair popping sharp without a problem, but the smaller edge I can not even get sharp enough to cut paper.

I am using a sharpmaker and have very good results on the rest of my knives, which are comprised of all different blade styles, except tanto.

I also attempted to free hand the smaller edge (not very good at free hand, but can usually get a shaving edge), with no success.

Tried the sharpie trick, gets cleaned off in a few swipes... I cant figure out what I am doing wrong.

I have searched around, re watched the DVD with the sharpmaker... The concept of it essentially being 2 separate edges makes perfect sense, yet for some reason I can not get a decent edge on the smaller one.

Am I missing something completely? Anyone have any tips for this type of issue? Kershaw does do free sharpening, however I like sharpening my knives, and until this one i'm actually pretty good at it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[cbwx34]

I'd double check the angle, the smaller edge is usually sharpened at a much higher angle than the rest of the blade. Kershaw's are often buffed at a higher angle too, so, even though it looks like all the Sharpie mark is gone, there may be a very thin line that hasn't quite hit the edge.

 

[kriller1217]

Thank you for the reply! I will double check the angle with the sharpie tonight. That seems very possible