What The Heck Am I Doing Wrong!

L

longbow

Joined
Jan 9, 1999
Messages
4,350
Well I just took delivery of another Emerson. This is a nib Mach 1
SF. Thanks Greg! Anways I also have a CQC7A. I also have a Commander coming from Botach, and yes I have a tracking number. Great price by the way. Now here is the dilema, both knives(Mach1 and CQC) weren't that sharp out of the box to begin with. The Mach1 being sharper than the CQC but nowheres near even able to shave hair. As on the CQC I have been working for hours to get even a decent edge. I have read different posts about the sharpness of Emersons or lack there of and the meat cutting edge vs. the hair poppin edge. Well I gotta tell ya I am all for the hair poppin edge on all of my knives. Much easier to use that way. Someone out there has to have the secret of sharpening these types of knives. I have quite a bit of money tied up in all 3 and thanks to a work bonus was able to acquire the 3 I wanted rather quickly. I am now having second thoughts about the whole thing. Iam going to be real bummed if the Commander is in the same condition edge wise. It also seems that the two knives I have been sharpening don't have the same edge cantle towards the front of the blades just were the belly starts. The CQC was less than 30 deg and the Mach1 was more than 30 degs. Shallower and steeper respectively. Midway towards the belly both knives were about dead on at 30deg. I don't know maybe I am to used to carrying sharp knives and there may be some merit to having an edge like this. Nah I don't think so. Well any hints or tips is appreciated. Keep'em sharp
 
You welcome-glad you like it! I hope you get some good suggestions here on sharpening the v-grind, chisel edge Emersons also. As you know, I've not been as happy with the edge on my 2000 Commander as I would like to be either. It's even more difficult for me to sharpen due to the recurve blade. I'm confident that as is my Commander will cleave meat, but I can't get it to open an envelope without tearing it to pieces.
 
Well guys, what works for me is the Spyderco sharpmaker. I picked up a Benchmade CQC7 at a gun show a year ago. It was slightly used and wasn't real sharp. I got so frustrated trying to use the sharpmaker to re-profile the edge to make it easier to sharpen. Well, the sharpmaker just won't take that much metal off (that is why so many folks at the Spyderco forum have been wanting the diamond sleeves for it) Well, I never could get any good results trying the way the sharpmaker instructions say to do. So, just for the heck of it, I tried something different. Using just the flats of the stones, I took the knife and laid the left side of the edge against the left stone. Then I "rocked" the knife back and forth until I could tell that the flat of the edge was flat against the stone. I then drew the blade down against the stone just like normal. I repeated this 2 ro 3 times on that side, then held the knife normally and drew the right side of the blade against the right stone. Doing this 3 times on the left with the edge flat on the stone then held straight for one stroke on the right gave me an incredible hair-popping edge! This is kind of hard to put into words, but it works wonders for a chisel-edge.

Flinx
 
Dennis:

Got your e-mail regarding your sharpening dilemma. Like Flinx, I too use the flat side of a Spyderco Sharpmaker rod. I'm sure any good flatstone will do the trick as well. It took me a long time to master the edge 'angle' on my CQC-7B. The Commander was a whole different story in itself.

The best method that I have found for the chisel grind is to free hand the edge on a flat stone. Obviously, each edge is done independant of one another. Start with the primary cutting edge and then the secondary edge afterwards. start off slow and ensure the edge is flat against the stone. I tend to cant the knife at a approx 45 degees away (blade pointed at about 10:00 o'clock)and draw it towards myself. When I deburr the flat edge I draw the blade away from me. You'll be surprised how sharp an edge you can put onto the knife. I guess it sounds too simple, but really that's all it takes. I guess you just have to invest a little more into the learning curve.

As for the Commander, I hold the knife in my left hand and use the flat side of the triangular rod starting at the serrations pushing the rod away from me.

Don't give up Buddy, it would be a shame if you have to sell these two outstanding knives due to a little frustration. But then again, if you really have to sell them, I'm sure someone here will gladly help you out.

BTW: As a last resort, send them home to EKI and they'll come back to
you like new. :)
 
Thanks for all the info fell's. I am starting to get it. It is
starting to get sharp to where it will shave a bit of hair. I will say this though. After my experiences with these 2 knives I am not sure I am cut out to be an Emerson owner. Nothing should be this difficult to sharpen especially if they are supposed to be using knives. I can't imagine anyone sharpening these things out in the field. I am pretty much using the method that Raye has suggested. I don't think it is to intuitive as for sharpening though. Like I said I am finally getting it like I did with CQC. I still stand by the fact that nothing that relates to a knife should be this difficult to accomplish. Anyways enough said. Keep'em sharp and thanks to all especially to Greg(I think)lol.
 
...I would be willing to take those crappy knives off you, for a small fee, of course... ;-)

I have had very good luck with a cheap EZ lap diamond stone I got from Wall mart. This is the one that is about the size of a small hard arkansas stone. What I did was figure out the angle I want the blade to be at, then place the stone on the table, and mark the leather stone sheath at the height where the back of the blade should be to match that angle (with the sheath also on the table). It sounds cumbersome, but it works really well. Basically, once you get the muscle memory, it only needs to be used as a check every few swipes.

I then polish the edge with a set of spyderco ceramic sticks. This puts a hair popping edge on everything I have. I have not had a chance to try it on my 7b yet, but it works just fine on other chisel edged tools I have (plane blades, chisels etc...). Once I have the profile I want with the diamond stone, then I usually can touch up the edge with the sticks several times before resorting to the diamond again.

Clinton
 
Thanks for the info, but I have the Mach1 about as sharp as I think one could get it. To make a long story short I reprofiled the edge with a coarse hone on my Lansky system. I didn't start out to reprofile it. It's just that right about the belly of the blade and towards the tip it was greater than a 30 deg angle. So in a sense I reprofiled it with the Lansky. Once I did that,which seemed to take forever, I started with a small med and then fine stones. I didn't loose any of the shape of the blade nor edge and yes it took several hours over the course of a couple of days to do all this but I guess it was worth it to get it extremely sharp. Way to much work I think but what are ya gonna do. The edge is scary sharp now with a very good bite to it. Last nite just for something to do I rolled a gun mag. up and in push cut I cut the thing in half on a diagonal. No binding of the blade or anything. Just zip and it was through. So I guess that is good enough. I have a Commander being delivered tomorrow and will wait and see how the edge is on that. Thanks for the technique and will keep it in mind. Merry Xmas and keep'em sharp

PS as a caveat to all this the edge will cleanly shave hair with a good bite to the blade on both sides of the edge. ie) left side and right side although the right side has what looks like a sharp hair line.
 
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