Two Sharpening Questions

ndeezl

ndeezl

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Sep 18, 2008
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I'll start by saying I use a Sharpmaker for my sharpening. The majority of my knives have S30v steel. I do not have diamond rods, only the medium and fine that came with the set. I can usually put a pretty sharp edge on my knives, sharp enough to slice paper or pop hair off my arm. But sometimes it seems as if I'm getting one "side" (dont know the proper term) of the edge sharper than the other. Meaning if I hold the knife in my right hand and shave the hair on my left arm, moving up the arm, it will not shave as sharply as when I do the opposite (hold the knife in my left hand and shave hair on my right arm). Any ideas why this is happening? I can't tell that I'm doing anything different to either side when using the Sharpmaker but obviously I am. Secondly what is the best way put a sharper/pointier tip on my knife using the Sharpmaker? Thanks in advance me foine buckos.
Nathan
 
Stop at the tip do not drag it off the stone this will keep your tip nice and pointy. The other problem you are having is a burr, a burr is a small piece of metal on the edge of the knife created by the sharpening process. Using light pressure on the fine stone will reduce it and getting the UF stones will help to remove it. You could also strop the blade but you will need a strop and compound, using thing like plain cardboard or paper to strop with will get you no where fast with such high wear resistant steels.
 
Thanks for the reply knifenut. I do stop at the tip when sharpening my knives. All of my knives that I have purchased new and have sharpened have nice pointy tips. I have a few knives that I have purchased here on the forums however that don't have the tip I'm looking for, that's why I'm wondering the best way to put a nice new pointy tip on them. And after I use the Sharpmaker I always strop my knives on a thick leather belt, however I don't use a compound. What would I use?
 
knifenut1013 said:
Complete your stone set with the sharpmaker and you will be able to do everything you need including making those tips sharp again.
Click to expand...

Lol I know I'll be able to...I just don't know how :D Just sharpen them as normal? How will that put a point on them? I feel like I've read that you can flip the knife upside down and grind the tip on the stone to get a point again. Just looking for some technique advice I guess. Thanks again.
 
There is no need to grind the spine of a knife unless more than 1/8in of the tip is missing. If you reprofile the blade with a coarse stone and stop at the tip it will come back. Its all I did for this knife.

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ndeezl said:
I'll start by saying I use a Sharpmaker for my sharpening. The majority of my knives have S30v steel. I do not have diamond rods, only the medium and fine that came with the set. I can usually put a pretty sharp edge on my knives, sharp enough to slice paper or pop hair off my arm.
Click to expand...

I think that's very interesting. I've put off buying any S30V knives because I was under the impression that steel was really hard to sharpen. All I have is the basic Sharpmaker set and I have enough difficulty with D2. Guess I need to think again about S30V.
 
Another thing to reduce burrs and increase sharpness beyond even the UF stones while using your sharpmaker is getting 3M PSA backed lapping film. Cut little strips of it, stick it to the rods, and use a reverse motion where you start at the bottom and bring it backwards up the stone from choil to tip (stropping) on the stones to refine your edge as fine as .05 micron. I did that last night on my P'Kal, a knife where I have to use the corners of the sharpmaker rods to sharpen rather than my benchstones that I use on my non-hawkbills and SE knives. The result is a burr free edge very close to the sharpness I get off of my benchstones and lapping film on glass. It really takes the sharpmaker to the ultimate if you don't want to learn how to use a strop, though i highly recommend learning to strop at some point in your life. I have had no issues with S30V, D2, CPM D2, M4 or many other steels on my Sharpmaker, so it is quite capable of sharpening modern steels. ZDP 189 has been hit and miss, and Super Blue and all hard M2 are the only steels to ever give any issues (micro chipping), I believe due to the 65ish RC of those steels more than anything, as you would think M4 would give you more trouble than M2, though my M4 is 62-63 RC.

Mike
 
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