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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
What Did You Sharpen Today?
- Thread starter kreisler
- Start date
Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,427
Just got in these 'plates' they have a rubber pad on the back but I wanted to have them resting on something a bit higher up and that would support the thin plates, the grits go from 400 to 1200 and they seem to work pretty nicely, some youtube reviews of them also spoke highly of them and being less than $20 it was a fairly safe gamble for a pack of diamond plates that you can easily tote along.
I cut out a thin section of some maple so the plates will stay in place and I could hold the block of maple with my stone holder. I put screws in on each side and I adjust the height so the spine of the blade rests so I have a reference point to start the sharpening, helps keep the angle of the bevels better.
Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr
The knife was a Rosecraft kayak model I picked up from
DavidZ
it arrived today, thanks again David!
Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr
G2
I cut out a thin section of some maple so the plates will stay in place and I could hold the block of maple with my stone holder. I put screws in on each side and I adjust the height so the spine of the blade rests so I have a reference point to start the sharpening, helps keep the angle of the bevels better.
Untitled by GaryWGraley, on FlickrThe knife was a Rosecraft kayak model I picked up from
DavidZ
it arrived today, thanks again David!Untitled by GaryWGraley, on FlickrG2
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2017
- Messages
- 1,923
I've been using my Buck 119 (1991 model, bought new about then, 425M steel) a bit lately for some light tasks so I thought I would touch up the edge. I have a Smith's Diamond Combination Sharper that I bought several years ago and that I'm not sure I've ever used 
, so I thought I'd give it a try. The original edge appears to be about 20 degrees per side (or maybe more?), certainly more obtuse than my newer Buck fixed blades. Didn't take much to get it "tuned up."
, so I thought I'd give it a try. The original edge appears to be about 20 degrees per side (or maybe more?), certainly more obtuse than my newer Buck fixed blades. Didn't take much to get it "tuned up."
Dutch87
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2024
- Messages
- 135
I sharpened my ESEE 6 on my TS Prof.
It took two multi-hour sessions to profile to 20 degrees because the new CBN 6x1 stone I am trying out cut slower and finer than the grit spec would suggest. I was okay with that as an experiment, because I'm trying to upgrade over using cheap diamond plates to profile. The cheap plates always cut too deeply for my polishing stones to ever get the scratches out in a reasonable amount of time, so I was hopeful that the slower and shallower-cutting CBN would transition to polishing better. This was not the case, as there were still lots of scratches from the CBN profiler that my Matrix 250 stone was never going to get out in the time I still wanted to invest. So I only went one stone further to the Matrix 650, as there wasn't any point in going for a mirror polish.
Low spots in the heel and belly of the factory grind were the reason that the profiling took so long. These low spots hung around forever as my profiler took baby bites pass after pass. I used a 2 minute timer to flip the blade over to keep the work as even as possible. In the this third picture against the white background you can see how this low spot right smack in the middle of the blade became so small that I could barely see it without fresh marker and good lighting. If I wasn't diligent in checking it I might have stopped grinding and left a dull spot in the middle of the blade.
Another new thing I am experimenting with is using 3D printed stencils or jigs to locate the knife in the clamps in a repeatable way. The stencil locks on the handle of the knife using the same screws that would fix the handles, and then there are perfect cut-outs for the TS Prof clamps. This way, I have a repeatable mounting for any ESEE 6 with the same rotation and clamp depth. As long as I dial in the same angle as the original profiling, then a future touch-up will have the knife in the exact same location and allow me to touch up the blade with minimal grinding and re-profiling of the belly and tip.
I've got stencils for all my ESEEs and I plan on making a stencil for every knife that I have multiple versions of or that I touch-up frequently. The stencil pictured is engraved "5" because is has the cutouts for the clamps rotated 5 degrees off of 90 from the top straight edge of the stencil.
It took two multi-hour sessions to profile to 20 degrees because the new CBN 6x1 stone I am trying out cut slower and finer than the grit spec would suggest. I was okay with that as an experiment, because I'm trying to upgrade over using cheap diamond plates to profile. The cheap plates always cut too deeply for my polishing stones to ever get the scratches out in a reasonable amount of time, so I was hopeful that the slower and shallower-cutting CBN would transition to polishing better. This was not the case, as there were still lots of scratches from the CBN profiler that my Matrix 250 stone was never going to get out in the time I still wanted to invest. So I only went one stone further to the Matrix 650, as there wasn't any point in going for a mirror polish.
Low spots in the heel and belly of the factory grind were the reason that the profiling took so long. These low spots hung around forever as my profiler took baby bites pass after pass. I used a 2 minute timer to flip the blade over to keep the work as even as possible. In the this third picture against the white background you can see how this low spot right smack in the middle of the blade became so small that I could barely see it without fresh marker and good lighting. If I wasn't diligent in checking it I might have stopped grinding and left a dull spot in the middle of the blade.
Another new thing I am experimenting with is using 3D printed stencils or jigs to locate the knife in the clamps in a repeatable way. The stencil locks on the handle of the knife using the same screws that would fix the handles, and then there are perfect cut-outs for the TS Prof clamps. This way, I have a repeatable mounting for any ESEE 6 with the same rotation and clamp depth. As long as I dial in the same angle as the original profiling, then a future touch-up will have the knife in the exact same location and allow me to touch up the blade with minimal grinding and re-profiling of the belly and tip.
I've got stencils for all my ESEEs and I plan on making a stencil for every knife that I have multiple versions of or that I touch-up frequently. The stencil pictured is engraved "5" because is has the cutouts for the clamps rotated 5 degrees off of 90 from the top straight edge of the stencil.
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I've decided that it doesn't matter the brand, price tier, or nation of origin, factory edges can be weird. Is your CBN stone resin or metallic bonded?I sharpened my ESEE 6 on my TS Prof.
It took two multi-hour sessions to profile to 20 degrees because the new CBN 6x1 stone I am trying out cut slower and finer than the grit spec would suggest. I was okay with that as an experiment, because I'm trying to upgrade over using cheap diamond plates to profile. The cheap plates always cut too deeply for my polishing stones to ever get the scratches out in a reasonable amount of time, so I was hopeful that the slower and shallower-cutting CBN would transition to polishing better. This was not the case, as there were still lots of scratches from the CBN profiler that my Matrix 250 stone was never going to get out in the time I still wanted to invest. So I only went one stone further to the Matrix 650, as there wasn't any point in going for a mirror polish.
Low spots in the heel and belly of the factory grind were the reason that the profiling took so long. These low spots hung around forever as my profiler took baby bites pass after pass. I used a 2 minute timer to flip the blade over to keep the work as even as possible. In the this third picture against the white background you can see how this low spot right smack in the middle of the blade became so small that I could barely see it without fresh marker and good lighting. If I wasn't diligent in checking it I might have stopped grinding and left a dull spot in the middle of the blade.
Another new thing I am experimenting with is using 3D printed stencils or jigs to locate the knife in the clamps in a repeatable way. The stencil locks on the handle of the knife using the same screws that would fix the handles, and then there are perfect cut-outs for the TS Prof clamps. This way, I have a repeatable mounting for any ESEE 6 with the same rotation and clamp depth. As long as I dial in the same angle as the original profiling, then a future touch-up will have the knife in the exact same location and allow me to touch up the blade with minimal grinding and re-profiling of the belly and tip.
I've got stencils for all my ESEEs and I plan on making a stencil for every knife that I have multiple versions of or that I touch-up frequently. The stencil pictured is engraved "5" because is has the cutouts for the clamps rotated 5 degrees off of 90 from the top straight edge of the stencil.
Dutch87
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2024
- Messages
- 135
Hybrid I think. It's a lower grit so maybe more metallic? Or fully metallic? I think the bond type is listed on the stone, but I don't know what it all means.
I do know that the last 1/2" on either end of the stone feel rougher to the touch than the rest. Makes me suspect that the face of the stone could be uneven and the rougher sections are where my deeper scratches came from.
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Thanks for the info. I believe the "Premium" stones are metal bonded. I was wondering because I've ordered a few of their resin bonded versions to try.
Dutch87
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2024
- Messages
- 135
Sharpened a GEC 94 on my K03 + magnetic table. This is the first of my GECs that I've sharpened, and this one really didn't have an edge at all from the factory.
I sharpened at a conservative 22 DPS, but since the flat-ground blade is laying flat on the table, the effective sharpening angle is a bit shallower then that. Maybe I should have set the K03 at 24 DPS instead.
This is my standard surgery prep for a traditional folder. The entire handle is mummified in plastic wrap to keep water and shavings out, then over-wrapped in painters tape. Orange electrical tape is stretched tight around the kick to protect against the stones. Finally, a layer of kapton tape in the blade flats protects the mirrored finish and slides easily on the double layer of kapton coating the magnetic table.
I started with 1/2" Hapton Premium CBN 150 grit stone from this set, seen here in a handsome stone case that I modeled and printed.
The 1095 steel profiled quickly, at first, with back and forth strokes. Due to the magnetism, long strands of shavings built up on the underside of the blade.
The 150 grit stone was maybe a bit coarse for this soft steel, and I began to have trouble seeing if there was a sliver a un-apexed edge is a few areas.
I switched to the next stone in the set, 400 grit, and suddenly I could no longer hit the last few mms of heel on the show side. Now I believe this was because a bit of kapton was spanning the choil was angling my narrow stones crooked and the finer stone revealed that it was no longer contacting the bevel all the way at the heel.
So I switched to my 1" EP Matrix 250 stone and it had no trouble hitting all of the heel. With the Matrix stone I did edge trailing heel-to-tip passes until the last stubborn spot was apexed. Then did several sets of passes with a Matrix 650.
Stropped with basswood on a 1/2" blank mounted in the K03, but under good light I still saw bits of burr so I went freehand on smooth leather.
I sharpened at a conservative 22 DPS, but since the flat-ground blade is laying flat on the table, the effective sharpening angle is a bit shallower then that. Maybe I should have set the K03 at 24 DPS instead.
This is my standard surgery prep for a traditional folder. The entire handle is mummified in plastic wrap to keep water and shavings out, then over-wrapped in painters tape. Orange electrical tape is stretched tight around the kick to protect against the stones. Finally, a layer of kapton tape in the blade flats protects the mirrored finish and slides easily on the double layer of kapton coating the magnetic table.
I started with 1/2" Hapton Premium CBN 150 grit stone from this set, seen here in a handsome stone case that I modeled and printed.
The 1095 steel profiled quickly, at first, with back and forth strokes. Due to the magnetism, long strands of shavings built up on the underside of the blade.
The 150 grit stone was maybe a bit coarse for this soft steel, and I began to have trouble seeing if there was a sliver a un-apexed edge is a few areas.
I switched to the next stone in the set, 400 grit, and suddenly I could no longer hit the last few mms of heel on the show side. Now I believe this was because a bit of kapton was spanning the choil was angling my narrow stones crooked and the finer stone revealed that it was no longer contacting the bevel all the way at the heel.
So I switched to my 1" EP Matrix 250 stone and it had no trouble hitting all of the heel. With the Matrix stone I did edge trailing heel-to-tip passes until the last stubborn spot was apexed. Then did several sets of passes with a Matrix 650.
Stropped with basswood on a 1/2" blank mounted in the K03, but under good light I still saw bits of burr so I went freehand on smooth leather.
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2019
- Messages
- 388
Nice work and I really like that stone case!Sharpened a GEC 94 on my K03 + magnetic table. This is the first of my GECs that I've sharpened, and this one really didn't have an edge at all from the factory.
I sharpened at a conservative 22 DPS, but since the flat-ground blade is laying flat on the table, the effective sharpening angle is a bit shallower then that. Maybe I should have set the K03 at 24 DPS instead.
This is my standard surgery prep for a traditional folder. The entire handle is mummified in plastic wrap to keep water and shavings out, then over-wrapped in painters tape. Orange electrical tape is stretched tight around the kick to protect against the stones. Finally, a layer of kapton tape in the blade flats protects the mirrored finish and slides easily on the double layer of kapton coating the magnetic table.
I started with 1/2" Hapton Premium CBN 150 grit stone from this set, seen here in a handsome stone case that I modeled and printed.
The 1095 steel profiled quickly, at first, with back and forth strokes. Due to the magnetism, long strands of shavings built up on the underside of the blade.
The 150 grit stone was maybe a bit coarse for this soft steel, and I began to have trouble seeing if there was a sliver a un-apexed edge is a few areas.
I switched to the next stone in the set, 400 grit, and suddenly I could no longer hit the last few mms of heel on the show side. Now I believe this was because a bit of kapton was spanning the choil was angling my narrow stones crooked and the finer stone revealed that it was no longer contacting the bevel all the way at the heel.
So I switched to my 1" EP Matrix 250 stone and it had no trouble hitting all of the heel. With the Matrix stone I did edge trailing heel-to-tip passes until the last stubborn spot was apexed. Then did several sets of passes with a Matrix 650.
Stropped with basswood on a 1/2" blank mounted in the K03, but under good light I still saw bits of burr so I went freehand on smooth leather.
Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,427
Using my Shapton bench stones 320, 500, 1K
My North Mountain fixed blade with san mai steel
Reached a nice very keen edge
G2
My North Mountain fixed blade with san mai steel
Reached a nice very keen edge
G2
I've been paring down my sharpening process recently, reducing the number of grits and gadgets I need to be satisfied.....But this is ridiculous!!!
This is an entry level Japanese santoku, three layers with an AUS-8 core. After I upgraded the handle it still cost well under $100 USD. That wouldn't matter if it didn't cut like a scalded ape! With a 15-16 degree per side edge it cuts fish (!), bread, giant carrots and broccoli, paper towels, cigarette paper, hair...It is thin and my wife has not chipped it yet. But hey, a lot of kitchen knives check all those boxes.
The reason I bothered to take the pictures and post this message has to do with the ease of sharpening the thin AUS-8 blade with the very reasonably priced Messermeister ceramic rod. I am happy as a clam at high tide when I am sharpening a cooperative steel on a natural stone, and that is one of the reasons I bought this knife. Most of my knives require diamonds/CBN/at least ceramic these days, so I was looking forward to sliding the edge across a fine natural stone from Arkansas or Japan.
The ceramic rod is used (dry) every couple of uses to keep the edge extremely sharp. After a few weeks I got out the 10x and checked the bevel and edge, and it looked crisp and neat. Same thing after a few months! I checked the length of the apex with a 15x loupe, and the geometry was very clean, with an even scratch pattern at about 600-1K (?). The rod alone is removing enough steel that I am maintaining excellent edge geometry (and appearance!) without putting the knife on a stone. I am looking for an excuse to break out the natural stones, and this combination will not let it happen!
I ran it over the BESS machine five times and threw out the high and low, for an average of 133.
I am not sure if this will hold up indefinitely but it sure looks like it might. Two or four strokes on the Messermeister every week is maintaining outstanding performance all by itself.
That ceramic rod is a different tool, a lot different from a steel honing rod. Both have their place, but I think with a softer steel like AUS-8 simply aligning the edge will only keep the knife off the stones for a short time, as steel wears off the apex more quickly.
Good toughness with the right edge geometry, good stain resistance, acceptable wear resistance-edge holding, and unbelievably easy to keep sharp. Less than $150 USD for the knife and rod.
This is an entry level Japanese santoku, three layers with an AUS-8 core. After I upgraded the handle it still cost well under $100 USD. That wouldn't matter if it didn't cut like a scalded ape! With a 15-16 degree per side edge it cuts fish (!), bread, giant carrots and broccoli, paper towels, cigarette paper, hair...It is thin and my wife has not chipped it yet. But hey, a lot of kitchen knives check all those boxes.
The reason I bothered to take the pictures and post this message has to do with the ease of sharpening the thin AUS-8 blade with the very reasonably priced Messermeister ceramic rod. I am happy as a clam at high tide when I am sharpening a cooperative steel on a natural stone, and that is one of the reasons I bought this knife. Most of my knives require diamonds/CBN/at least ceramic these days, so I was looking forward to sliding the edge across a fine natural stone from Arkansas or Japan.
The ceramic rod is used (dry) every couple of uses to keep the edge extremely sharp. After a few weeks I got out the 10x and checked the bevel and edge, and it looked crisp and neat. Same thing after a few months! I checked the length of the apex with a 15x loupe, and the geometry was very clean, with an even scratch pattern at about 600-1K (?). The rod alone is removing enough steel that I am maintaining excellent edge geometry (and appearance!) without putting the knife on a stone. I am looking for an excuse to break out the natural stones, and this combination will not let it happen!
I ran it over the BESS machine five times and threw out the high and low, for an average of 133.
I am not sure if this will hold up indefinitely but it sure looks like it might. Two or four strokes on the Messermeister every week is maintaining outstanding performance all by itself.
That ceramic rod is a different tool, a lot different from a steel honing rod. Both have their place, but I think with a softer steel like AUS-8 simply aligning the edge will only keep the knife off the stones for a short time, as steel wears off the apex more quickly.
Good toughness with the right edge geometry, good stain resistance, acceptable wear resistance-edge holding, and unbelievably easy to keep sharp. Less than $150 USD for the knife and rod.
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A rod will eventually put a recurve into the blade so it would be a good practice to put it on a stone once in a while.I've been paring down my sharpening process recently, reducing the number of grits and gadgets I need to be satisfied.....But this is ridiculous!!!
This is an entry level Japanese santoku, three layers with an AUS-8 core. After I upgraded the handle it still cost well under $100 USD. That wouldn't matter if it didn't cut like a scalded ape! With a 15-16 degree per side edge it cuts fish (!), bread, giant carrots and broccoli, paper towels, cigarette paper, hair...It is thin and my wife has not chipped it yet. But hey, a lot of kitchen knives check all those boxes.
The reason I bothered to take the pictures and post this message has to do with the ease of sharpening the thin AUS-8 blade with the very reasonably priced Messermeister ceramic rod. I am happy as a clam at high tide when I am sharpening a cooperative steel on a natural stone, and that is one of the reasons I bought this knife. Most of my knives require diamonds/CBN/at least ceramic these days, so I was looking forward to sliding the edge across a fine natural stone from Arkansas or Japan.
The ceramic rod is used (dry) every couple of uses to keep the edge extremely sharp. After a few weeks I got out the 10x and checked the bevel and edge, and it looked crisp and neat. Same thing after a few months! I checked the length of the apex with a 15x loupe, and the geometry was very clean, with an even scratch pattern at about 600-1K (?). The rod alone is removing enough steel that I am maintaining excellent edge geometry (and appearance!) without putting the knife on a stone. I am looking for an excuse to break out the natural stones, and this combination will not let it happen!
I ran it over the BESS machine five times and threw out the high and low, for an average of 133.
I am not sure if this will hold up indefinitely but it sure looks like it might. Two or four strokes on the Messermeister every week is maintaining outstanding performance all by itself.
That ceramic rod is a different tool, a lot different from a steel honing rod. Both have their place, but I think with a softer steel like AUS-8 simply aligning the edge will only keep the knife off the stones for a short time, as steel wears off the apex more quickly.
Good toughness with the right edge geometry, good stain resistance, acceptable wear resistance-edge holding, and unbelievably easy to keep sharp. Less than $150 USD for the knife and rod.
Thanks, Garry! I did not know that. Why does that happen?
I'll break out a hard Arkansas stone every few months to keep a little curve in the blade, keep it rocking smoothly.
gentleman_edc
Basic Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2021
- Messages
- 580
A rod can't touch all the points evenly. And the tip and rear sections are the worst. Some sections will get more steel taken off. Once a slight concave section is put in, the natural sharpening stroke will tend to exaggerate the dip. A flat stone makes contact at two places if you have a dip, and will take off the high spots. Eventually getting back to the point where the entire face of the stone is in contact with the edge.
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