Touchup sharpening.

tripod3

tripod3

New member
Recently in prep for deer season I decided to get the Sharpmaker out to touch up the knives.
The Knives of Alaska D2 took a little extra to get razor status.
Now the Benchmade S30 felt like those last coyotes had extra iron in their blood because this turned into a marathon sharpening including a stop to wash the stones.
Guess I'll be touching them up more often just to shorten sharpening sessions.
 
The Sharpmaker is really good for touch ups and light to medium sharpening chores. It's not really good for restoring damaged edges, those that have thickened behind the edge or need reprofiling, ect.
 
So I have found. The D2 I normally kept in tune for the last decade Then KOA graciously replaced it under warranty damaged and it took a bit.
The S30 was a gift and I simply let it go.
Lesson learned.
 
Any knife that gets used and touched up like you're speaking of will eventually get thick behind the edge and at some point need thinned out and reprofilied. You can use SiC paper wrapped over your Sharpmaker hones to remove material quicker and make the chore easier. Do that at the 30* setting and work your way down in grits until you smooth things out and you're using the Spydie medium hone and the edge begins to get nicely sharp again, then use the 40* to put a secondary micro bevel on if you want. That removes the burr quickly and you will have a stronger edge that takes touch ups easier and last longer. However, micro bevels don't allow for the absolute highest cutting performance. Kinda all depends upon blade stock thickness and thinness of the grind.
 
Thanks for the tips GC, those are issues I've never dealt with and never done a two angle. Guess it's about time to learn it.
 
Originally Posted By: tripod3Thanks for the tips GC, those are issues I've never dealt with and never done a two angle. Guess it's about time to learn it.

You can do some research on micro bevels and decide if that's a good choice for your blade and user needs.
 
i've been using the edgemaker system for years now. i got turned onto them back in the 90's when i was in culinary school up north and met the guy at the NW Michigan fair flea-market. i think his system was like $15 back then. dude took my beat to crap pocket knife and after just a few passes had it filleting pages out of the catalog he was using for sharpness testing demo. i was sold on the spot. i put that [beeep] thing thru years of near daily abuse in commercial kitchen environments and it was awesome.

at $30 these days for the full set its still [beeep] hard to beat.

for 90% of my use these days i've got this one, but i still have a couple of the origionals from back in the day too

pi_7_L.jpg


https://www.edgemaker.com/sections/products/ProductDetail.aspx?prod_id=14

that will give you shaving sharp in less than 2 mins under most circumstances - unless of course the blade needs reprofiling. at which time i just grab one of my smiths carbide and grind some metal off to reset the edge angle. usually only need a few passes to get where you need to be.

i scored this kit a few weeks ago for $10 on sale as an extra to keep in my truck for my daily carry work pocketknife which i abuse to no end.
http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=2525693

HTH
 
Haven't had great luck with the Work Sharp Tools stuff. The Sharpmaker is a little simpler and I (personally) get a better edge with it.
 
Originally Posted By: pahntr760These are great each time I touch the knife. Just a recondition that really takes no material off the blade.

https://www.amazon.com/Arkansas-Sharpene...e+sharpener+rod



a good ceramic "steel" like that can really do wonders to keeping the edge on a knife, but you've got to be willing to touch it up regulariliy for it to be effective.

it also takes a bit of skill to be both effective and efficient with any just basic rod style sharpeners like this - be they steel or ceramic.

once you cross the learning curve, they're a fantastic item, but learning to get the angle right can take some time for an inexperienced sharpener.

again as mentioned above, having spent 10 years in professional kitchens - ive watched more than a few people destroy what was left of the edges on a knife trying to sharpen them with a butchers steel , simply because they couldn't get the angle right. 60 seconds in the hands of someone with experience using one would bring it back to right most of the time though.

and thats why i recommend the edgemaker to folks. you get the benefits of a rod based system, with 0 learning curve. run the knife between the pre-set angles a few times and you have a blade you can shave with. there's more than a few systems out there that can give you similar results, but few that can do so at the price point and have as little learning time involved to success.
 
Back
Top