What angle to sharpen my brand spankin' new TSEK at?

mat · Oct 23, 2003

Yes it is true i have finally decided to believe all the hype at this forum and have exchanged my trusty voyager for a BM TSEK and i have to say its lives up to everything said over here. In my (very) limited knowledge it seems to be the perfect folder, 'nough said!

I however have one gripe, its not sharp enough! Nowere near as sharpe as my voyager came. Ive got a Lansky sharpening system what angle do you guys recommend? Any tips on maintaince etc? (ie oil- wd40 any good?)

Thanks,
MAT

knifenerd · Oct 23, 2003

I generally like to keep my actual using blades at a 40 degree overall angle (20 degrees each side). I find the edges stay sharp longer than when sharpened at a lesser angle. I'm not familiar with the Lansky system, so I don't know about lubrication of the stones.

slices · Oct 23, 2003

Lanskys come with their own bottle of oil. if you've used it up, you can probably use any light oil like 3in1 or mineral oil.
Check their website for specifics.
40 degrees is definatly a good edge for all around use. Thinner than that & you may get edge chipping.

longbow · Oct 23, 2003

Mark both sides of the edge with a magic marker of some sort. A sharpie works fine. Then match the edge to the angle on the jig for your honing stone that takes off the most magic marker in one pass. a trick to remember when using these systems is to alternate which side you start on when you use the Lansky system. This will keep both angles pretty much the same after each sharpening. Otherwise without alternating at each sharpening one edge will get wider than the other. Keepe'm sharp

mat · Oct 24, 2003

Cheers guys, good tip longbow, i'd never though about that!

About the oil i was meaning what oil/methods do you use to keep the blade and lock happy and working? Ive only got WD40 and gun oil at the moment, are they any good?

Thanks,
MAT

maximus otter · Oct 24, 2003

Mat,

If you prefer liquid oil, almost any one, e.g. your WD40, will work fine.

For dry, long-term protection I have come to trust Tuf-Cloth.

For lubing joints and pivots, I now use only White Lightning.

maximus otter

Joe Talmadge · Oct 24, 2003

You didn't say what you're using your TSEK for ...

There's no exact right or wrong answer here, at least until you try out the advice and see which works best. But I strongly disagree with the recommendation for 20 degrees per side (40 degrees total) -- it is way too obtuse, and you're giving up way too much performance, unless you're really using the knife hard enough to justify it.

At a bare minimum, I'd suggest you do a full re-profiling at 15-degrees per side, then you can put a light 20 degree edge on top of that. That will get you a lot of the robustness of a 20 degree edge, but way increase cutting performance due to the thinner bevels. In actuality, my real recommendation would be to go to a straight 15-degree edge, maybe with a very light (say, 3 strokes per side) double-grind at 20 degrees on it. If you see problems with that edge (chipping or edge rolling), then slap a full 20 degree edge on top of your 15 degree edge.

So, the summary of the process is: start off with a high performance edge, and only back off to a lower performance edge if you see edge damage (chipping or rolling). The steps are: start at 15 degrees w/ light double-grind, then go to a full 20-degree grind on the 15-degree bevel if you have to. By double-grind, I mean after you're done with your 15-degree edge (raise the burr, move to finer stones, etc.), you take 2 or 3 very light strokes at a higher angle, specifically to finish off the burr.

The performance difference will be drastic enough that you'll be glad you tried it. Bet it'll work out just fine.

The other thing I recommend on knives this long. If you decide to polish your edge (fine stone or strop), go back to a medium-coarse stone and take a few light strokes at that last 1.25" of the blade nearest the handle -- the part where serrations would be if this were a partially-serrated blade. That'll give you enhanced slicing ability at that part of the edge.

Joe

knifenerd · Oct 24, 2003

Originally posted by mat

About the oil i was meaning what oil/methods do you use to keep the blade and lock happy and working? Ive only got WD40 and gun oil at the moment, are they any good?

Thanks,
MAT

WD40 is really not the best lubricant. Try Tuf-Glide or Militec or Break-Free CLP.

As far as the sharpening angle, I defer the Joe Talmadge. He is absolutely the "Master of Sharp". My recommendation of 40 degrees was based on a heavy-use scenario. For fine slicing, a lesser angle is clearly more appropriate.