What do I do next to sharpen my Ka-Bar?

[cabdmd]

I have been looking at knives since my last hunting trip and reading many posts here. I decided to buy a short Ka-Bar 1256 and sharpen it. What I’ve read is that the angle was 20* per side new, but what I seem to estimate is about 15* flat primary angle and about a 35* secondary bevel. Needless to say it came very dull. Now, I re-profiled the secondary angle to 30* per side using a Lansky ultrafine stone at the finish. The knife is better now but not what I would like.

That’s the story, here’s the question what do I do now to make this sharp for my hunting purpose, reduce the angle more then strop?

 

[Any Cal.]

30* per side is still pretty obtuse, especially because a lot of those knives have very thick edges. You might take it down quite a bit farther, each little bit will have a significant increase in cutting performance. How far you take it will depend on how much time you have, and aesthetics, because the edge bevel will end up getting pretty wide if you go to 20* per side.

As you reduce the angle more, make sure that the coarsest stone leaves the knife sharp, and that each stone after that leaves it even sharper. This will give you the nicest final edge. If you do end up going finer on the bevel, you can always sharpen with a micro-bevel after to save time for a couple/few sharpenings.

 

[eccvets]

hmmm, are you sure your getting to the edge? try a sharpie to double check.

 

[knarfeng]

I have been looking at knives since my last hunting trip and reading many posts here. I decided to buy a short Ka-Bar 1256 and sharpen it. What I’ve read is that the angle was 20* per side new, but what I seem to estimate is about 15* flat primary angle and about a 35* secondary bevel. Needless to say it came very dull. Now, I re-profiled the secondary angle to 30* per side using a Lansky ultrafine stone at the finish. The knife is better now but not what I would like.

That’s the story, here’s the question what do I do now to make this sharp for my hunting purpose, reduce the angle more then strop?

I set a Kabar at 20° per side with no secondary and it seems to cut and hold an edge well enough.

 

[cabdmd]

I tried to get a 25* angle with the Lansky system, but I have not finised it well enough with the ultrafine to be very sharp. Also tried to polish with the strop but still not satisfactory. Also the edge seems about one mm wider on one side even holding steady with the 25* setting. I couldn't get the image to display; here are links. I earlier posted 20* in error. I think I need a better jig to hold more steady and go to the 20* setting.

http://img543.imageshack.us/f/kabarleft.jpg/

http://img824.imageshack.us/f/kabarrt.jpg/