I had a ton of fun reading and participating in the August sharpening challenge, and was just thinking to myself that it would be nice to have a dedicated thread all about sharpening. Questions, answers, tips, setups, and of course, showing off those freshly honed edges! Any interest?
This one will be the best of all! I use DMT red and green stones for touch ups and a strop with black porter cable compound for the majority of what i need. Ill also use a file *gasp* to reduce the shoulder down to where i want it on a slicing knife. The choppers and hard use knives i tend to leave alone. I pretty much stay at a 25 degree ish angle on all my ESEEs.
@Strigidae sounds like a nice setup! How do you like the DMT's? I keep a couple of cheap japanese knockoff diamond plates around, and have always wondered if the upgrade is worth it.
I bought them used off here and have never needed anything else. I have some cheaper ones and they dont seem to do the job anymore.
Nice! I'm half expecting mine to die out sooner or later. One of them is on duty lapping water stones at this point.
Here's a quick pic of the little monster that started me down my path of sharpening obsession about 5 years ago. I found this razor buried in an antique shop with a 2 dollar tag on it. Put a fresh set of scales on it and polished it up. From there my next step was "how do I make this sharp" and the rabbit hole opened up lol. She's a little brutish looking, but that edge shines like a mirror and just wipes hairs away.
The worksharp is an awesome piece of kit. I think benchmade sells a version with their name stamped on it too, right?
This is the setup I use, I have 3 small DMT stone One of @FortyTwoBlades pocket stones A small 2 sided strop A DC4 a Gossman steel And a ceramic rod
Yes and it’s blue. That’s the field kit. I also have their bench kit and the ken onion electric sharpener all fantastic!
@BlueDogScout I'd love to see the setup! How's the onion work for you? Do you use it most for heavy work or finishing too?
I’ll try to take some photos. The ken onion is amazing. I really only use it for my kitchen knives now though. I use the field sharpener in the field obviously but I noticed I was working harder on my outdoor knives in the field going from sharpener to sharpener. (Maybe it was just me) so I have now switched to only using the one sharpener for my outdoor knives.
Next time you place an order, remind me to toss in one of the vinyl pouches we use for pocket stones now. Makes them much tidier to stow in a kit without it abrading or snagging things.
If it matters much.... Probably because the Ken Onion does a convex grind (due to belt flex), and the field sharpener is flat. You would need to get the Blade Grinding attachment, which lets you get a 'near flat' section of belt to sharpen with. Then the field sharpener works great at touching up what the electric sharpener has created.
I had a blade grinding attachment, a fellow forum member was looking for one so I helped him out because I never used it. That would fix the issue but I kinda like the manual process it’s always good practice. Thank you for the input and letting me know I’m not totally crazy lol Anyone use the ESEE sharpening kit they released a few months back? Been interested in trying it...
So this seems like a good spot to inquire about this... I have a CRK Sebenza Insingo that I have a very hard time sharpening. I can improve it slightly after some use, but getting it shaving sharp, or even sharp enough to cut through paper from the side is something I have been simply unable to accomplish. I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker and strops. I've only encountered this once before in a knife, all others I've owned I've been able to figure out and keep very sharp...I sold that knife. I like this knife and lot and don't want to get to that point. Anyone have any tips, pointers, suggestions why this might be different from others (on many other folders, I've just used strops for touch ups and they stay very sharp). Open to suggestions...
If you don't mind me asking, what steel is the blade? The sharpmaker is an awesome tool. I keep one permanently setup in the kitchen. But on harder steels, it is slow as hell.