Wire edge

A

ar0maticdecay

Joined
Jun 1, 2009
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I'm new to knife sharpening. in the past i have just sent my knives back to get them sharpened. i bought a Benchmade rukus 610 and it looks like it has a slight wire edge if u put it up to the light just right.

would this just come off after use or should i remove it b4 using it? i really have no sharpening equipment. like i said i'm very new to this so if this needs to be removed b4 use plz tell me how. or should i just send it back?
 
You can strop off a wire edge on the leg of your jeans - better still if they are a little dirty. Just stretch the fabric tight on top of your thigh, and use that surface. Move the knife backwards, as if you were trying to clean glue off the edge. Raise the angle high enough to engage the wire, but not high enough to round off the edge. You'll be able to feel it when it's working right.
 
I don't think jeans can remove a burr...

If you want to remove it, sharpen it on a stone doing one pass on each side of the blade. Or if you want to do a microbevel, you can do a pass on each side at a higher angle for about 2 passes total (for each side).
 
With S30V stropping on anything without compound will not work. S30V is very wear resistant, I would suggest diamond paste as a strop compound for best results.
 
You can strop on canvas (jeans), cardboard, leather, even wood. What you are doing is working the wire edge back and forth until it breaks off.
 
well i just talked to benchmade as i don't have any sharpening equipment. they said to get a leather belt and run it back and fourth a few times. they said that's what they do at the end of sharpening but i guess they 4got to do it. i'm 0 for 3 with knives.

we will see if it works :(

brb in 15 min with a messed up blade lol
 
well i got the really big burs off but i can still see a broken wire.

some1 needs to come to philadelphia with there sharpmaker and fix this for me!

maybe it's just a really fine edge?
 
Bill DeShivs said:
You can strop on canvas (jeans), cardboard, leather, even wood. What you are doing is working the wire edge back and forth until it breaks off.
Click to expand...

I see... But wouldn't that leave you with a tattered edge? Might as well use that burr and get a couple of cuts before you get that tattered edge anyway lol
 
Go to a knife shop in a mall and say you are interested in seeing how a Sharpmaker works. Usually they have a demo model. Set the white Sharpmaker rods into the 40-degree slots turned such that the flats are towards the middle. With extremely light pressure do about 4 sets of left-right strokes on the rods. Now take a look and see if your burr is gone.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
You can strop on canvas (jeans), cardboard, leather, even wood. What you are doing is working the wire edge back and forth until it breaks off.
Click to expand...


If the wire edge is true and not just one bevel folded over the other then in theory, yes you can break it off. S30V though forms small burr's that that are not that easy to get off. Something that we must remember is that the OP stated that he is very new to this, so he's still probably scratching his head on half of what we are saying.

It sounds like its a new knife and if I had to quess BM most likely hit it on the belt sander and neglected to polish it. In that case you will need some sharpening stones to work the burr down and a strop to finish the edge. Trying to strop the edge as is would get you nowhere fast. Even compounds like chromium oxide work very slowly on S30V and like steels. Its one of the main reasons I've switch to diamond products, they work more efficiently at cutting these more wear resistant steels.

This would be something good to read and something to get you filmilar with sharpening http://mse.iastate.edu/fileadmin/www.mse.iastate.edu/static/files/verhoeven/KnifeShExps.pdf

The grit of your last stone and type of stone will all effect the burr size and its formation. I think some arkansas stones do ok but ceramic and diamond stones are needed to get the job done right. I like diamond stones myself mainly for the speed but they also sharpen with very little burr and that is a big help.

Here is a pic of a mini-rukus (S30V) that has been sharpened on a DMT X-fine (9 micron), there is almost no burr but there is still a little one and if you look close and study the up and down slope you can see it. Pic at 200x

PIC045.jpg


The edge is still unfinished at this point but is still very sharp, will clean shave arm hair and work well for EDC tasks but because of its jagged form will not hold a sharp edge for very long. The more your refine the edge the better the performance gets. A good finishing point seems to be in the 3-1 micron range, nice and polished but still has enough bite in the edge to cut nicely. When you refine the edge enough you remove enough imperfections that nothing but a clean cutting edge is all that's left. This is the point that the edge shows it true cutting performance because there is nothing wrong with the edge to effect it.


Stropping is a skill just like sharpening so if you want to learn get the tools needed and start practicing.
 
ok i ran it across the leather belt. the largest bur came off quickly. i started lightly at first then i gave it alittle more force when i went back and fourth. when i hold it up to the light i can see a fine line that runs across the very edge of the blade. your right s30v wont give.now here is my question for u guys

say if i did use the edge like this? it wouldn't effect the blade would it? the edge would just degrade faster?

if some1 has a picture of a wire edge can u please post it. from my noob opinion it does looks wired and the edge of the blade doesn't look totally smooth it's bumpy. after trying to cut with it the tip of it is razor sharp but the rest of the knife isn't all that sharp.


benchmade told me to send it back to them (i got to pay) but they would give me a free tool set and blue lube.

pulls hair out of head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Thats nice of them to offer that but its no guarantee that it will come back sharp. Yes the edge will just degrade faster if you use it as is.

This is what a burr looks like at 100x looking stright down
ceramic2.jpg


and this is what it looks like after it has been removed
burr2.jpg


As you can see the burr is more like small balls of metal that hang on the edge. This next pic the edge is at the bottom and you are looking at the side of the bevel, the burr is the shiny strip at the bottom, probably similar to the one you hav on your knife. Pic at 200x
PIC012.jpg
 
what's my best bet then getting a sharpmarker? is the sharpmaker good on recurves?


the burs on my knife can be seen from the side not really when u look straight at it in a light. when the light hits the blade u can see the wire edge and the chips in it . the bur almost extends the whole length of the knife. makes the edge look like it has a very thin wire on it with some parts missing. only reason i thought it was a bur was because the first inch of the blade doesn't have it and the wirely part seems like a very rough edge. when u rub your thumb across the blade the one side is very smooth. the other side is rough. when i was running it across the belt u could tell the one side glides across it while the other side would shave some of leather off ( yes i was sliding the knife in the direction away from the blade not in a cutting direction)

btw thx everyone for being patient with me.
 
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knifenut1013 said:
You have what we call a burr and now that you know what it is your one step ahead. The sharpmaker is a great tool but to start I would go DMT, it will hold a better angle and has more abrasive options when you need them.

Its about the same price and can be used in more than one way.
http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=DMTDMGEF
Click to expand...

so in your opinion u would just keep the knife and sharpen it yourself? i would think the company would put the best edge on it :( why i was going to use them

the only other option i had was my mom works at a hospital. there is a guy who comes in and sharpens there scalpes, operating stuff etc.... she said he could sharpen it for me also .. i guess he would do a good job
 
Personally I don't even consider factory edges sharp, the guy that does the surgical stuff I'm sure would do a good job.

I have hand sharpened for a long time and sharp to me is this. :D
many, many times sharper than a scalpel.

Picture445.jpg
 
knifenut1013 said:
Personally I don't even consider factory edges sharp, the guy that does the surgical stuff I'm sure would do a good job.

I have hand sharpened for a long time and sharp to me is this. :D
many, many times sharper than a scalpel.
Click to expand...
Doctor: "Where's your scalpel?"
Surgeon: "No need for one, I got my Kershaw JYD :D:D:D"
 
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