What steel is the most difficult for you to sharpen?

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knifenut1013 said:
I would say some take more time than others but none are really hard to sharpen when you use diamonds :cool:

Even with diamonds though, I still hate sharpening O1. For some reason that steel seems to take forever to grind and polish, and consistent sharpness. I think O1 just doesn't like me :(
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I know exactly what you mean (he says in his best Morpheus impersonation). S30V hates me, and I hate it right back. Takes me forever to get a lousy edge that is lost in 2 minutes. Never could figure it out, just got rid of it all and I'm happy again!

Diamonds for everything else, I usually finish with ceramics and sometimes a loaded strop.
 
I've actually stopped polishing my S30V blades for just that reason. I was tired of polishing daily yet still having deformation in my blade so now it oonly sees the EEF stone. Its still very sharp that way but the toothy nature of the finish seems to work better with the way the steel wears.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I was polishing S30V to a mirror finish and hair splitting sharp but it required daily maintenance to keep it that way. I've had 8Cr13MoV that kept finely polished edge longer.
 
I have a folder of Cowry Y hardened to Rc. 62, which is the hardest for me.
Then comes my homemade blade M2 with Rc. 64.5 .

I use waterstones from #1000 to #12000.
 
I have read all the comments about D2 being hard to sharpen, yes it takes a little longer but for me it comes out the sharpest of all my knives. Not that I have a lot of knives in different steels, I have D2, 5160, 154CM, a couple of mystery carbon steel blades,420HC, and plain 420 right now and had Aus8. That is the order of hardest to easiest to sharpen for me. The 5160 is a knife I made myself and is hardened at 58Rc, but I think the difficulty isn't the steel, but my edge geometry.
The 420HC is a stand out, for its easy of sharpening it hold an edge for a long time. I am actually so impressed with it I am putting nicer scales on it, not bad for a $20 throw away knife I bought to use for a weekend.
I am working with some O1 right now so I will be able to compare that soon too
 
For me it is a older model Kershaw Boa with S60V. I can get it kind of sharp, but that is all. I caulk it up to the huge re-curve and all of that Vanadium 5.5%.
 
the most difficult for me to sharp is the " japan stainless steel", usrd on Tescoma kitchen knives (azza series). this is always the dullest of my knives. Steel seems to be incredible soft.
 
presz said:
For me it is a older model Kershaw Boa with S60V. I can get it kind of sharp, but that is all. I caulk it up to the huge re-curve and all of that Vanadium 5.5%.
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I had a Kershaw Random Task in that steel. It was awesome once I rebeveled it. Arkansas stones won't get it done though. I used Silicon Carbide stones and then did the final polish with the Sharpmaker. It still took a while, but once it got there, it stayed sharp for a long time.
 
Queen D2 is the bane of my sharpening sessions. Sigh. I've reprofiled all of them. I use DMT diamond stones (Extra-Coarse, Coarse, Fine, Extra Fine). I can get a decent edge, but not as good as what I can get with 440C or 154CM, or ZDP-189.
 
I love BG42 but have an old SOG folder with BG42 at a marked RC 62.

This stuff doesn't sharpen up. It does disappear into black dust when I try to sharpen it. Strange stuff. BG42 is wear resistant and takes great edges for a stainless. I expect as much from any ball bearing steel .

Not this knife though.

I have about 7 or 8 others in that steel that are a dream to use and take care of.

BTW, I love the D2 in my Queen slippies. It's one of the few D2's that I like other than CPM D2.
 
queens d2 is a booger,however i had a major rebevel on crusader forge triple temper that took 2 trips to the belts. it was so tuff i did'nt realize any alloy could have so much resistance & it just wore out several belts.
 
queens d2 is a booger,however i had a major rebevel on crusader forge triple temper that took 2 trips to the belts. it was so tuff i did'nt realize any alloy could have so much resistance & it just wore out several belts.[triple temp s30v]
 
i have not found any steel that i couldnt sharpen yet. a d2 blade i made for jatmat took me a while to get a burr worked up but i was using a 400 grit belt since i didnt want to go any coarser. it is a chisel grind with a half convex edge.
 
Coonskinner said:
Queen D2 without question.

I'll never own another one. One was enough for me.
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+1 It wouldn't be so bad if Queen actually put a decent edge on it in the first place!I swear they have a monkey on their grinder.:rolleyes::grumpy:
 
S30v is a pain, but the most difficult for me so far has been this one...

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...Swamp Rats differentially heat treated SR-101. I reprofiled and convexed my Rodent Waki. I tried to start out the process with a 12" bastard file, but the waki's edge was so hard that the file just slid right off it with almost no effect! :eek:

Ended up doing it all by hand with an XXcorse DMT stone, then sand paper and strop. Took me over a dozen hours spred over a few days to get it right, but WOW does this thing hold an edge! :thumbup:

Beat the crap out of it this weekend, with lots of heavy chopping, and it still shaves arm hair with no problem, and no visible edge damage at all! :)
 
I haven't found any cutlery steels hard to sharpen with the Edge-Pro. Some take a little longer, but all will get to a polished, razor edge without too much difficulty.

www.edgeproinc.com
 
154CM without a doubt. I freehand sharpened my Benchmade 530 witha Smiths two sided sharpener, and while it will slide-up and slice open envelopes, it won't shave hair and doesnt feel sharp on the thumbnail.
 
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