Wanting advice on a sharpener

C

CT951

Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
10
I've just purchased a RAT cutlery RC-3MIL-p knife and am wanting a suggestion for a sharpener. In the past I've just used a pull through sharpener from Wal-mart for my Benchmade knifes and it's always worked OK, however I feel that this knife deserves a little better treatment. I've tried flat stones and have never had any luck with them. A pull through sharpener would probably be preferred, but I am open to other options. I am unaware of the blade angle because it's not listed on the website. I know there are a lot of options out there, but could anybody give a good suggestion?
(for those unfamiliar with this knife, there are no serrations)


Thank you for your time,
CT
 
STOP using the pull through sharpeners they are horrible for your edge! A couple months ago we had a discussion about them they are HORRIBLE for your knife anything that produces metal shaving when sharpening is remove to much metal.
Since you seem new to the scheme of sharpening I would recommend a lansky, DMT aligner (probably the most preferred), or a sharpmaker. If you want to start reprofiling your edges go with the lansky or DMT as the sharpmaker is for touch ups. Once you ge tmore advanced, but still want a guided system go with an Edge Pro.
 
I actually have a Lanskey that came with three stones that I have not used in many years. Maybe I'll give that another go around. I could practice on my dad's pocket knife that he always sharpens with a carbide pull through. The blade on that thing is atrocious.

Is anybody familiar with the blade angle on the Rat cutlery RC-3MIL-p? What blade angle should be used for a general utility knife?
 
I got a DMT aligner less than a month ago - now my knives are so sharp they scare me! Also after spending Christmas day at Mum's place her kitchen knives are actually sharp enough to cut stuff (food and everything).

Value for money the DMT Aligner is hard to beat! (I paid $46 for the aligner with 4 diamond hones and a serration sharpening rod).
 
CT951 said:
I actually have a Lanskey that came with three stones that I have not used in many years. Maybe I'll give that another go around. I could practice on my dad's pocket knife that he always sharpens with a carbide pull through. The blade on that thing is atrocious.

Is anybody familiar with the blade angle on the Rat cutlery RC-3MIL-p? What blade angle should be used for a general utility knife?
Click to expand...

I read in another thread where someone said it was 20 degrees per side.
 
CT951 said:
I actually have a Lanskey that came with three stones that I have not used in many years. Maybe I'll give that another go around. I could practice on my dad's pocket knife that he always sharpens with a carbide pull through. The blade on that thing is atrocious.

Is anybody familiar with the blade angle on the Rat cutlery RC-3MIL-p? What blade angle should be used for a general utility knife?
Click to expand...

Since you use to use pull through sharpeners it is going to be a bit harder to remove the damage the carbides did. Also, if you can try to get a diamond lansky set of stones.
 
I have tried most everything including Edge Pro and I like my Wicked Edge the best. It makes it very easy to get consistent clean edges.
 
keep your lansky stones clean to keep them cutting metal. They do load up fast, so I would use Bar Keeper's Friend *(similar to a comet) comes in a gold colored cylinder found in your kitchen abrasives at the grocery store, and scrub with that after every session. I never oiled my stones, so they cake up quicker. Also, purchase the pedestal holder for hands free use about $7 to 9 with shipping. I taped the spine with blue masking tape because my knives tended to jump out of the clamp on me, which can be dangerous if you catch a sharp knife in mid air. Do not push down on the stone, let the stone cut, not your weight plus the stone. I also like using the Sharpie to indicate where the metal removal occurred, more importantly, where it had not occurred, so you can see when to switch over to the other side, or change stone grits. Hope this helps, do a search, Lansky has been talked about quite abit. It is not the best, but it works. I learned on a Lansky and I now do free hand, and getting better at it!
 
20 is about standard for factory, drop it to 15 or less and you will gain cutting performance without loosing durability in the edge.
 
The Lansky stones should be moving from the blade edge towards the spine, as if you were trying to slice an edge off the stone with the blade edge. Stropping is the opposite, you should strop with pad moving from spine toward blade edge. I hope that makes sense. I do recall doing some reprofiling with the coarse stone, when I had to remove a lot of metal, I would actually reciprocate back and forth, to save time. This was before I was even at the edge, during a radical re profile. I do not recommend this, because there may be a very good reason that I am not aware of, so my only recommendations are the factory recs. Once you are in contact with the actual blade edge and ready to raise a burr, make sure you do only blade to spine direction with the stone.
 
Ok, so I think I've got it down now with the exception of removing the burr. Should I use a steel or mousepad strop to remove the burr?
 
I would develop a burr on each side of the blade, and then step down to a finer stone, remove burr again, (absolute best scenario is stop at the time a burr starts to occurr, but this is almost too tough to do, so raise burr, entire length of edge, but do not waste metal in making a big burr. I find I may have to work near the tang longer than the tip. If I have a burr at the tip, but not at the tang, I stop working the tip and only work to raise a burr where needed. Once your initial profiling stone is done (this will take the most amount of time- me about 75% of total time is in coarsest stone reprofiling stage), then each successive stones will form a burr, (a smaller one, in relatively shorter time now that your profile is set, so feel for it with your finger nail frequently). If you cannot feel the burr, use a sharpie and a magnifying glass through each stone to be sure you remove the metal in the right places. At the final stages, light stroping to remove the final burr will bring you to your happy place.....For now that is.......
 
You can remove the burr with each sucessively finer stone . Then when you go to your strop your refining the edge and polishing . If theres still some burr left it "can" be removed then as well . DM
Excuse me CJ .
 
Make sure you remain consistent with where you set the rods in the relationship to your thumbscrew on the stone. It has to be the same for each stone, in order to maintain a consistent bevel. I push the rod through the stone, and then lay the whole assembly flaat on a table and then tighten the thumb screw, all stones will have the same angle if you do all that way.
 
David Martin said:
You can remove the burr with each sucessively finer stone . Then when you go to your strop your refining the edge and polishing . If theres still some burr left it "can" be removed then as well . DM
Click to expand...

I wish I was concise and as eloquent as you are in your posts, it would limit my key pounding....:thumbup::D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top