Which angle to sharpen my Military?

[BRICE]

Hi everybody,

I have just got a Military.
Great knife ! I love it.

I usualy use the Spyderco sharpmaker to sharpen my knives.

Which angle have I to use to sharpen my Military ? 30 or 40 degrees ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Bye bye
BRICE

 

[christopher]

Brice,

I use both, as described in Sal's training video, on my Militarys. Makes for a great working edge that holds up.

Excellent knife choice by the way.

Chris

 

[mr.vu]

I sharpen mine at 30. If I remember correctly, they come from the factory at that angle.

Vu

 

[Sal Glesser]

Hi Brice,

I use 30.

All of Spyderco's steels will comfortably hold a 30. The Military has used CPM-440V(S60V), ATS-34, CPM-S30V and just recently BG-42. IMO, all of those steels are robust and tough enough to hold a 30 in working conditions.

sal

 

[BRICE]

Thanks a lot to all of you and glad to see you on my thread Mr Glesser.
Thanks again.

Have a good day.

Bye
BRICE

 

[rbc]

Just a follow up Question,

I own an old model sharpmaker and it only has a 40 degree option on it.

I sure would like to get a newer sharpmaker but it is not just available here.

How much of the military's or any other knife's performance do I lose if I keep on sharpening at 40 degrees? am I missing a lot?

Thanks,
Bird

 

[Hateman]

Not much. 30 degrees will give you a sharper blade, but in comparison with a 40 degree sharpened blade, you won't be missing much. I've sharpened some blades at 40 and 30 and 40 is fine for regular tasks. I believe Mr. Glesser recommends 40 degrees for standard sharpening in the Sharpmaker video.

 

[rbc]

Thanks Hateman!

 

[huugh]

I sharpen mine at 30. If I remember correctly, they come from the factory at that angle.

Vu

Is this correct?
(this is a question for Sal )

I'm asking because I would like to see Spyderco producing about 20 degrees factory angle.
(when you have such low angle, sharpening (at bigger angle) is much easier afterwards (and the knife if pretty sharp as a side effect )

 

[dennis75]

i sharpen mine usually almost flat. that'd be somewhere like 10 to 15 degrees per side....it's just how i prefer my knives, especially the tough super-steels can easily take it.

officially i believe it's 38 degrees from the factory (19 degrees per side), but don't pin me down on it,

 

[dennis75]

BRICE, i found this in an old thread on spyderco.com forums, where i contacted Sal and technical customer service personally.

this was what they told me, about how they come from the factory:

"right from the source

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

just got an email back from the guys at the factory and Amanda at tech.support. below is the email with the correct information:

"Hello Dennis,

To answer your question...The angle of the serrations on the Police is 18-19 degrees.
The angle of the plain edge Police is 18 degrees (36 inclusive) on each side.
The angle of the plain edge Military is 15 degrees (30 inclusive) on each side.

I hope this info will help you.

Thank you,
Spyderco Manufacturing
"Those who know carry Spyderco" "

denn "

that should help, shouldn't it?

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Not much. 30 degrees will give you a sharper blade, but in comparison with a 40 degree sharpened blade, you won't be missing much. I've sharpened some blades at 40 and 30 and 40 is fine for regular tasks. I believe Mr. Glesser recommends 40 degrees for standard sharpening in the Sharpmaker video.

I think you'll find that if you do some head to head cutting testing, the difference is considerable. I've always found a big, substantial difference in performance between 30 and 40 degrees. Doesn't mean that the knife won't cut well if you do a good job sharpening at 40 degrees, but that you will definitely easily notice the increase in sharpness at 30 degrees.

 

[Hateman]

I think you'll find that if you do some head to head cutting testing, the difference is considerable. I've always found a big, substantial difference in performance between 30 and 40 degrees. Doesn't mean that the knife won't cut well if you do a good job sharpening at 40 degrees, but that you will definitely easily notice the increase in sharpness at 30 degrees.

Joe Talmadge,
You are very correct, as usual. I just interpreted rbc's questions incorrectly (I read it as rbc asking if it was greatly necessary to get a new Sharpmaker for the 30 sharpening). Apologies to rbc if I answered out of sorts :foot:

 

[rbc]

to Joe and to H-man,

thanks for explaining further. No apologies needed H-man, the answer to my question " am I missing a lot?" could be very subjective.

at any rate, I'll see what I can do to get my hands on a sharpmaker with a 15 degree option on each side so I could properly maintain the edge of my Military.

thanks,
rbc