What's The Hardest Steel For You To Sharpen?

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.45acp

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May 25, 2002
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The toughest steel to sharpen?


I was touching up a few knives tonight and a Bud Nealy in M2 required a fair bit of attention. Worked on it 30 minutes using wet/dry sand paper finishing up with 1200 grit and a leather hone loaded with CO.

M2 gives me the most trouble of all the steels I carry. S30V, D2, CM154, A2 all sharpen much easier, at least IMO, with S30V being the more difficult of the four list above, and M2 the hardest.

What say you, what’s the hardest steel for you to sharpen?


Steve
 
hard, or difficult? the most difficult are the pakistani stuff, or the stuff they make dinner knives out of.

Hard, D2... that's the hardest steel I got takes a long time to get there, but stays there for a while.
 
I'm no fan of 440V/S60V. It takes me forever to raise a burr on it. I can't imagine how S90V would be.

On the other end of the spectrum, I find Stellite a breeze to raise a burr on but incredibly difficult to get sharp.

Any of the generic carbon steels (ie. 1084, 52100, O1) heat-treated properly range from being pleasant to a joy to sharpen.

-j
 
CPM440V...I hate that steel! I had a Spyderco Chinook with a blade made out of that stuff...I never could put a good edge on it.
 
glockman99 said:
CPM440V...I hate that steel! I had a Spyderco Chinook with a blade made out of that stuff...I never could put a good edge on it.
Click to expand...

Yep. Mine was the Native. I kept grinding away with the waterstones on an EdgePro and after an hour I got a burr (in comparison, I can reprofile and raise a burr on Emersons in about 10-15 minutes on the EP ;) ). Then I tried to grind off the burr and just flopped it back and forth for another hour. It seemed to just load the stones after a few strokes.

Then I gave up and stropped it something fierce. Made for a reasonably good working edge, but I'll never go back to 440V. Ugh!

As for M2... I actually find it and D2 to be reasonably easy to sharpen. Again, with waterstones, it seems to slough off steel faster than the gunky, grimy, sticky stuff that comes off 440V.

-jon
 
For me, it hasn't been so much the steel (I have knives in VG10, S30V, 154Cm, 440C, ATS 34, and AUS6), but the blade shape and angle of original bevel. Every knife I have is a different size, blade shape, steel, and , seemingly, bevel angle. It ususally takes me the most time the first time I sharpen a knife, either to figure out proper angle, or to get the edge how I want it (which ever comes first...if I can't shave a clean line of hair off my leg, which is usually harder to do than my arm...ummmm, thicker hair..., than it isn't sharp enough). After that, it's a breeze. I own no carbon knives at the present time (due to the humidity and abundance of water bodies in my area), but I'm thinking of starting to pick up a few (see new thread) :D .
 
Really hard stainless steels are tough to sharpen for me.

CPM 440V is a little tricky. When I get a burr that flips back and forth, I use a rougher stone and increase the sharpening angle a bit to remove it.

All of the carbon steels that I've tried are pretty easy to sharpen.
 
S90V. I dread having to sharpen the one knife I own made with this stuff!!!
 
D2, with BG-42 in second place. I don't find the crucibles hard to sharpen. My Cuda Maxx is the trickiest knife to sharpen.
 
I haven't messed with any of the newer "supersteels" mentioned in earlier posts, but I have a Buck 112 from the late 70's with a very hard 440C blade. It is not a blade you want to let get really dull. Even with diamond stones, it can a bear to resharpen.
 
OTguy said:
I haven't messed with any of the newer "supersteels" mentioned in earlier posts, but I have a Buck 112 from the late 70's with a very hard 440C blade. It is not a blade you want to let get really dull. Even with diamond stones, it can a bear to resharpen.
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Lets put it this way... compared to the super steels, 440C is pleasant to resharpen. In fact, I really like 440C. One of my favorite steels.
-Kevin
 
Though I have knives in s30v and s90v, I haven't used them so haven't had the displeasure of trying to sharpen those steels. Had a D2 knife that I wholly expected to be a pain to sharpen only to find that it sharpened quite easily. The biggest pains in the butt for me were a couple of ATS-34 customs, and a small carbon puukko (don't know the steel). I don't know what the RC is for that little puukko but it takes me far longer than my other carbon puukkos.
 
For me it takes some time, several sharpenings, to become familiar with each blade/steel combination. It's analogous to getting to know another person.

Carbon steels are by far the easiest for me followed by 420HC. I can get my Bucks and Gerbers in this steel nicely sharp with almost any apparatus, preferably ceramics. Buck has better heat treat IMO for the 420HC - hold the edge better than the Gerbers.

D2 took me a long time. I had trouble dealing with the burr. Now I have my D2 Benchmade 705 under control and it is sheer pleasure to sharpen on the Sharpmaker. Shaving sharpness goes away somewhat quickly but the D2 holds a sharp utility edge for a good long time.

S30V is one I am still getting to know. I really haven't used any of my S30V knives enough to warrant raising a burr - just quick touch ups on a ceramic stick or smooth steel.

I just love Bark River's convex ground A2. Strop Strop Strop Strop......... Invisibly sharp and the A2 holds it well. I am finding that a full convex ground blade is indeed the easiest to maintain although I have yet to sharpen a convex blade that has been chipped or rolled badly.
 
Of the steels I've sharpened, it's ats-55, next was a sog pentagon [ don't know the steel ].


Brownie
 
I've got an Okapi with a carbon steel blade. :rolleyes: I don't know what it is about this one, even the EZ lap Diamond M can't get a decent edge started on it.
 
My S30V Mnandi is the toughest to sharpen and it never feels as sharp as my VG-10 knives. The other blades I sharpen are VG-10, ATS-55, Vic-SAK-stainless or Leatherman (420?).
 
I have used DMT and Eze Lap brands monocrystalline diamond bench stones on all of my using blades. The Extra fine and Super fine models will do just fine for removing steel from D2, M2, S60V, 440V, BG- 42, ATS- 34 and of course all plain jane carbon steels. I never let my edges go very dull. So some lighter pressure on the benchstones will result in a fine working edge. Heavier strokes will provide a semi toothy edge.

Perhaps it is the sharpening media rather than the blade steel that makes it seem like some steels are tougher to sharpen than they actually are.

N.
 
The ATS 34 on my Benchmade Stryker and the D2 on a custom folder, out of Jacksonville, FL.

Chuck
 
enkidu said:
My S30V Mnandi is the toughest to sharpen and it never feels as sharp as my VG-10 knives. The other blades I sharpen are VG-10, ATS-55, Vic-SAK-stainless or Leatherman (420?).
Click to expand...
VG-10, if I have this right, was designed for machines that cut vegetation, so it takes a super sharp edge. VG-10 seems to hold a "shaving" sharp edge longer than S30V, but S30V holds a sharp edge a bit longer.
-Kevin
 
I've found Ben Dale's suggested method of finishing off an EdgePro sharpened blade with a couple of light strokes on a fine ceramic rod to be just the ticket for S30V. With other steels I've sharpened this is helpful for making sure I don't leave a barely discernable burr, but in my experience it indispensable with S30V (unless I want to take twice as much or more time than I would need to sharpen 154CM). I've got a fine ceramic rod spliced to a piece of 5/16" steel rod that I use with my EdgePro. Without changing the angle setting it meets the edge at a 1 degree higher angle than a stone would, but I usually raise the pivot 1 degree anyway -- giving me a total of 2 degrees. Just 2 or 3 very light strokes per side.

The next time you sharpen a blade that is difficult to raise a burr on try working one side at a time until you think there SHOULD be a burr, then do a few alternating strokes with whatever grit you want to finish at. Whether you do it with a mounted rod or freehand, finish the edge with 3 very light alternating strokes on a medium or fine ceramic rod at an angle increased by 2 to 4 degrees. You'll be amazed.

Maybe there are some steels that won't respond to this -- my experience isn't extremely broad -- but I've yet to have it fail.

Shalom,
Mark
 
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