What am I doing wrong? (Sharpening Sandvik 14C28N)

lodestone

lodestone

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Apr 3, 2015
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What am I doing wrong?

First off, I am SUPER NEWB at knives. I want to get that out of the way. So if this is a moronic question please forgive me!

OK - I have a Kershaw Knockout with Sandvik 14C28N and after cutting up some boxes it lost its edge. I'm trying to start out easy so I'm using the Smith's oval-shaped sharpener. Everything I've read on the forums says this steel is easy to sharpen but I'll be damned if I can't get it sharp.

What in the %^&* am I doing wrong?

Cheers.
 
instead of trying to figure out what you're doing wrong or getting someone to try and figure out what you're doing wrong. May I suggest going to the stickied threads at the top of the Maintenance Forum (where your thread got moved to) and read up on how to sharpen correctly? Then you can compare it to what you're doing. Just my suggestion.
 
Sounds like a plan. Still making my way around here. I didn't know that sub-forum existed. Thanks.
 
lodestone said:
What am I doing wrong?

First off, I am SUPER NEWB at knives. I want to get that out of the way. So if this is a moronic question please forgive me!

OK - I have a Kershaw Knockout with Sandvik 14C28N and after cutting up some boxes it lost its edge. I'm trying to start out easy so I'm using the Smith's oval-shaped sharpener. Everything I've read on the forums says this steel is easy to sharpen but I'll be damned if I can't get it sharp.

What in the %^&* am I doing wrong?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

I would recommend using a bench stone and not the oval rod. It is very difficult to hold a good angle on those.
 
Oval stones are for speciality sharpening like recurves, Fishhooks etc.
As Heavyhanded said, start with a regular plain jane stone
 
I think the 'oval' sharpener is a rod-type 'steel' with an oval cross-section (or I'm assuming so). He mentioned the Smith's brand, and they do have them in diamond and ceramic configurations. Should be OK for plain-edged blades, as with any other 'steel' or rod-type sharpener.

I have an Eze-Lap 10" diamond 'steel' of similar configuration (oval cross-section). I used it yesterday in an experimental 'Sharpmaker' fashion, with the rod propped handle-up and supported to hold it at a ~10° angle (from vertical). I used it to thin the edge grind on a Case Hawkbill Pruner knife (the oval cross-section is perfect for this severely recurved edge), and it works surprisingly well. The diamond grit is roughly equivalent to DMT's 'Fine', though maybe just a bit coarser. With a rod-type sharpener, the 'Sharpmaker-ish' setup might be worth a try, if only to assist in keeping the held angle within reasonable limits. Use it just as with the Sharpmaker, holding the spine of the blade at 90° (vertical), and drawing the blade edge down along the rod; then turn it around (left-to-right) to do the other side of the edge's bevel.

If the 'oval sharpener' is diamond, that would be best for resetting the edge bevels, assuming some means is used to maintain the correct angle (as described above). If not diamond (if it's ceramic), the edge bevels and apex may likely be rounded off if the sharpener was used freehand, without the requisite 'touch' needed for maintaining the angle on a rod-type sharpener (it takes some learning and practice).


David
 
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