What steels should I use to learn (guided) sharpening?

OhioApexing

OhioApexing

Sharpener
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Apr 17, 2018
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Most suggestions I've seen state that I should just pick up some cheap knives at a flea market or something like that, but I'm not sure if that is the best advice. It seems counterintuitive to me to learn on some no-name, butter-soft steel when I'll ultimately be sharpening modern premium steels (M390, S35VN, S90V, M4, CRUWEAR, Elmax, etc.).

I'm thinking about hitting the secondary market and seeing if anyone has some beat-up Benchmades/Spydercos that they'd get rid of for a ham sandwich.

Or am I completely off-base?

Thanks!
 
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You have a ton of options. I recommend visiting Wally World and getting something like a Spyderco Tenacious or one of the Ontario Rats. 8cr13mov and AUS8 are easy to sharpen and take a nice edge. Buck 420hc would be a good steel to practice on as well.
 
Opinel would probably be tricky on the KME without the pen jaws (which you should get soon btw).

I agree that cheap crap should be avoided. It can just lead to frustration and even if it doesn't, you still have cheap crap. T TheEdge01 gives some good suggestions. The byrd line is another good one and really, most of the Chinese stuff from the name brands (Kershaw, CRKT, etc.) would be alright. More importantly, look for blades with pretty complimentary shapes. No recurves, or really steep bellies. No odd spine grinds that might make clamping difficult. Something pretty straight forward.

Also, YouTuber Dean O has some fantastic KME videos. He hasn't posted in some time but all the videos are still there and definitely worth watching when starting out.
 
i would look at a buck 420hc, or an AUS8 or 8cr from a reputable source
if you want to get very specific - I'd go to bladehq and get a kershaw injection as a practice knife that is reasonably priced and absolutely servicable
 
Any decent steel, preferably low wear resistance and not too thick. Kitchen paring knives work good for this as they have an easy blade shape to sharpen and can be acquired quite cheaply. Victorinox and Old Hickory come to mind if you want a dedicated one, also a Cold Steel Kudu would work nicely too. My recommendations on those being the ideal requirements is so you get results fast so you know what works and doesn't quicker.

Most people use their kitchen knives to practice on, I bought a Victorinox paring knives for around $3. I've sharpened, reprofiled, and even thinned down the blade so many times it's obviously missing some metal compared to when it was new.
 
There's value in learning on 'no-name' knives, so long as you're aware they may not be 'normal' or typical in comparison to better-known brands. Don't try to draw too many conclusions from sharpening only the cheap ones; some will be fine, others will not be. It's basically luck-of-the-draw with those.

On 'cheap' knives also, you'll often see issues like heat-damaged edges from the factory. A good lesson to be learned in sharpening, is how to recognize such damage when you encounter it, and what to do to fix it. Heat-damaged edges will be persistently weak & fragile, either folding much too easily, even under fingernail pressure, or just crumbling away into dust when you cut something with them. And more often than not, after a couple or three or four complete resets of the edge, you'll start noticing the edge is holding up better under normal usage; that's when you can tell the damaged steel is removed.

And the 'soft' steels (by reputation, deserved or not) like 420HC can be rewarding in terms of learning how burrs behave and what's needed to clean them up on such steels. Reputable names in 420HC blades would be brands like Case or Buck, as they're very, very predictable and reliable in terms of how they take a fine, sharp edge and what's needed to do it.

As for learning about burr-prone steels in general, also try out VG-10 from Spyderco, versus the same steel type from other makers who might take it harder (RC-wise) than Spyderco does. In other words, try it at ~ 57- 59 HRC, versus 60 HRC or better. There's an impressive difference in how the burrs clean up, between those two hardness ranges. This is also true, BTW, between Case's 420HC (55-57 HRC) and Buck's 420HC (57-59 HRC). And burrs on something like ATS-34 at 60-ish HRC can still be amazingly tough and challenging to clean up; you can learn a lot about the steel and the heat treat by watching how the burrs behave.
 
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I would personally get some Mora 511s or cheap 420hc Bucks to sharpen. They sharpen up nice and you can easily fix mistakes made during the sharpening process but most of all they make great beater knives.
 
This thing is cheap.
https://www.bladehq.com/item--Kershaw-Injection-3-Folding-Knife-3--14794

This one has easy blade shape if you were to practice free hand...
images

Mine had very even bevels on both sides.
Think kershaw is good at it.

But what I'm saying is, besides blade steels you can consider practicing on different blade shapes.
Actual cheap folders is closer reproduction of what might happen when you are going to sharpen your expensive ones than say kitchen knives.
 
Basedlarrydavid said:
What steels should I use to learn (guided) sharpening?
I posted a thread just now about my impending acquisition of a KME system. Being a newbie, there is no way in hell that I would teach myself on my $400+ CRKs (even though their S35VN is easy to sharpen by design).

Most suggestions I've seen state that I should just pick up some cheap knives at a flea market or something like that, but I'm not sure if that is the best advice. It seems counterintuitive to me to learn on some no-name, butter-soft steel when I'll ultimately be sharpening modern premium steels (M390, S35VN, S90V, M4, CRUWEAR, Elmax, etc.).

I'm thinking about hitting the secondary market and seeing if anyone has some beat-up Benchmades/Spydercos that they'd get rid of for a ham sandwich.

Or am I completely off-base?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hi,
You're not off base

For cheap knives go into your kitchen, you already own them, doesnt get cheaper

If it hurts too much to even try learning on a $400 knife,
how about a $200 knife?
For most people they learn the fastest when it hurts when you make a mistake, when you care
You just gotta figure out what your $number for caring a lot but not too much

Then find a ... reputable/sharpenable/high sharpenability knife in that price range
MSRP of $20 can be found in https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/category/value-folders

Or
Maybe learning on your (or wife's) favorite kitchen knife is enough motivation to where you care about the outcome to give it your very best

But , since you're learning with a clamping jig system (KME) , why not start with the $400 knife :) tape it up and go, learn fast , you wont repeat mistakes that hurt a lot


My experience with thrift stores (savers),
mostly run into $1-$3 walmart knives sold for $1-$4 dollars,
and other times run into $15-$25 kitchen knifes you can buy for $1-$4
 
I started my son on some thrift store knives. Once he was able to do put a decent edge on them, I let him have at several on the kitchen knives. He did a good job on them.

Figure out the mechanics and what works or doesn't work, then go for it. For me, sharpening is an on going learning experience. I've gotten better and faster over the years.

As others suggested, start with some of the easier steels. It will give you confidence that you can put a decent edge on a blade.

Ric
 
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