What Did You Sharpen Today?

Letoff said:
Wow ! Hedonizmdan, how long did it take you to sharpen that monster ? Looks like some fine work you have done there.
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A couple hours on that one, it was very heavily used. Thanks for the kind words.
 
Yes they worked out perfect 👌. I think I need a coarser stone to start out with. The set I ended up getting starts at 150. Feels like I need something a little coarser. Thanks for the recommendation by the way 👍
 
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Hedonizmdan said:
Yes they worked out perfect 👌. I think I need a coarser stone to start out with. The set I ended up getting starts at 150. Feels like I need something a little coarser. Thanks for the recommendation by the way 👍
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Was the 150 stone breaking down and making a little mud, or was it holding its shape and loading up? If the latter, did you dress the stone with loose grit in the range of #46 to #60 mesh?
 
Got the bess tester out and the factory grind was averaging 418. After a lot of grinding including a deep gouge near the tip it is down to 218.
 

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Mr.Wizard said:
Was the 150 stone breaking down and making a little mud, or was it holding its shape and loading up? If the latter, did you dress the stone with loose grit in the range of #46 to #60 mesh?
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Yes the 150 stone was making slurry, it didn't load up at all. I have not dressed the stones yet, plan on doing that over the weekend. I have some 60 grit sic powder that I use for my cbn stones that I plan on using.
 
Hedonizmdan said:
Yes the 150 stone was making slurry, it didn't load up at all. I have not dressed the stones yet, plan on doing that over the weekend. I have some 60 grit sic powder that I use for my cbn stones that I plan on using.
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You should have been getting its natural speed in that case. If you find something significantly faster that doesn't also leave really deep scratches please let me know.
 
Civivi Stormridge fixed blade in Nitro-V it arrived pretty sharp, but after some time on Extra coarse, coarse and fine diamond plates, 8" ones, and a light stropping on leather it cuts a great deal better. Hand sharpening so precise angle isn't known, the stone holder I use I screwed in a screw on each end and adjusted them to the same height so when sharpening I put the spine on top of the screw as a reference when initiating the start of the sharpening.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Using a modified wood working marker to set the height of each screw
Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Then I rest the spine of the knife at the top of the screw just for reference as I start to sharpen. This is also quite handy if I need to use different stones that are not the same thickness, I adjust the height of the screw that was already set and get the height to the right spot on the new stone

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
I bought SAK Hiker as a present for my dad. He loves SAK knives. You know... those overloaded things with screw drivers, saws, can openers and all the other accessories.
Otherwise I usually don't do such edges but anyway, before I give it to him I just had to put a new edge on this thing.... to impress him and to see, up to where can I push it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BD2e6KUp08Qkkz0HzY-xSERj5op2H6Ji/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BDykWU_nafbsRakZwN6oA_oRYRsc-C_V/view?usp=drivesdk
 
Sometimes an otherwise normal fellow might form a relationship with a knife, and over time and after a few adventures, the knife is given a name. The elegant and fashionable green-and-orange knife's name is The Shovel. It gets hard use, and that is all I will say about that.

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The 20 degree per side edge was nicked and flattened, especially around the curve. Again, it is none of anybody's business how it got that way. This was not deliberate abuse. like when a YouTube person deliberately drags an edge across a brick twenty times. I'll settle for semi-deliberate.

I first tried a couple of soft Arkansas stones. 1095 on an Arkansas stone, who can argue with that? But the Arks were not up to this job. Twenty to forty edge leading strokes per side did not reach an apexor grind out the divots. That's too slow, for non-guided sharpening by someone at my skill level. Too many strokes lead to an ugly, unevenly convex bevel, and puts too much wear on a stone that is inadequate for the particular job. A touch-up or normal sharpening would be different, but this rose to the level of repair, so more serious measures were called for.

I broke out the 10x4" DMT Fine diamond stone pictured in the photographic photograph, below. Six hundred thingies, 25 micron per the manufacturer. I lubed it with soapy water, set it atop the same stone holder many guys use, and got religious. Blue plastic 16 degree angle guides help me establish a pretty flat, consistent 20 degree per side bevel. The DMT stone, which I consider a bargain at $100-115US shipped and taxed, leaves a smooth, even scratch pattern on even the hardest steel that is ready for another stage of sharpening or ready to cut hair and receipt paper straight off the stone.

I wasn't intending to further polish a knife named The Shovel, so I used a new favorite one-stone-one-strop formula: One 600 grit or mesh stone, and one strop at about twice that grit. I followed the 600 grit diamond stone with a DIY strop consisting of flattened balsa wood charged with 12 micron Jende diamond spray. I charged this strop with a light treatment of the Jende solution just one time, and I have been extremely pleased with it. You can feel and hear the coarseness as you gently drag the bevel over the firm surface, it feels like it is cutting rather than polishing. How many strops can you hear grinding?!?!

I don't think I am raising a burr at the apex by using edge-leading strokes, so I don't think I am deburring anything, but no more than 5 strokes per side on the balsa strop noticeably improved hair-shaving and receipt paper cutting performance. Not that The Shovel will be used to shave or show off with Paper Tricks, but it is an almost-fancy-sharp 20 degree edge on 1095, which I consider reasonable. I originally sharpened this one to about 17 degrees per side, and a few minutes with cardboard dulled the edge way too much. I think 20 is more responsible and mature for this knife. Maybe try 25 somewhere down the road.

Here are all of the tools used. I am stripping down the process and getting good, efficient results using one stone and one strop for most sharpening.

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I usually would include a felt-tipped pen in the process, but I didn't bother in this case. I don't remember why.
 
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Wanted to sharpen up my new mega RMD that just arrived today. Damn thing is soo thick won't quite fit I'm my clamps. Going to try longer clamp hardware tomorrow 👍20240403_202251.jpg
 
Touched up an Ontario sk4 and worked some on a handmade tanto fixed blade wife had made for birthday/anniversary present.
 
My REC Spyderco PM2 in 204p was getting dull since my last sharpening and stropping wasn't doing anything anymore, so decided to give it a full sharpen since I wanted to get rid of that small unsharpened area that most Spyderco's have at the heel. Freehanded on my Venev benchstones going from F240 through F1200, then stroppy stuff 4 micron and 1 micron on leather. Sharpened up nicely and whittles hair no problem.
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Shot of the plunge after removing that unsharpened section. I'd always mistakenly damage my resin bonded stones on that little unsharpened section while freehanding, so I opt to just sharpen it out these days since I'm not a fan of sharpening choils.
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