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Blades, Bows and Tools Discussion of non-firearm weapons and camping/survival tools. |
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#1
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Sharpening
I have a Benchmade Triage that needs to be sharpened. I know Benchmade will sharpen for free, but it is about a 4 week turn around. Do anyone know somewhere in Stockton that can Do a good job without damaging the blade, while I wait?
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#2
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https://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Tri-...70_&dpSrc=srch
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WTB: S&W 617 4" 10 shot Pre-Lock |
#3
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Bench made will do a great job.
I would highly encourage you to learn about sharpening knives. Once can do a lot with a neoprene mousepad and some auto body sanding paper Sharpening is a great skill to have.... you can start out with cheap knives and cheap stones or other sharpening tools. Works your way up as skill and budget allow. I sharpen knives for family when I am in their town... a great sharp kitchen knife that slices tomatoes and does not squish them nor tear their skin is a great thing to make happen for aunts, moms, girlfriends moms... anyone who is not on blood thinners....
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Rule 1- ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED Rule 2 -NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY (including your hands and legs) Rule 3 -KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET Rule 4 -BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET AND WHAT IS BEYOND IT (thanks to Jeff Cooper) |
#4
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I’ve been using a Lansky sharpening system, I highly recommend it. I started using it last week and it puts a great edge on all my knives. If you do buy it, buy a stand as well ($50) for both or you can get the diamond stones $80+$10 for the stand). Buy bandages too. You can find YouTube videos on how to use it, I recommend Gough Customs, he did a good video.
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#5
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Can you forgo the stand and just bolt it to a work bench or say a 12"x12" piece of plywood?
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It takes a lot of balls to play golf the way I do. Happiness is a warm gun. MLC, First 3 |
#8
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#10
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You can do a pretty good job with only a stone and some oil. That's how it was done in the old days when your average guy didn't have the fancy sharpening devices that are made today.
Get a few old knives, a few different types of stones and a small bench vise to secure them. Do some reading on the subject and then start practicing. I have a friend who can sharpen an ordinary hatchet sharp enough to shave the hair on his arm. |
#11
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It has been more than a half century, but when I was a Boy Scout, to earn my “Totin’ Chip” https://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Totin%27_Chip I had to show that I knew how to sharpen a hatchet and a knife. Doesn’t anyone belong to the Boy Scouts anymore?
Knives are easy to sharpen, as long as they don’t have serrations. I don’t like those things because I have to use diamond files in the fillets. But plain edge blades, I use a coarse DMT diamond hone to set the bevel, and finish with a fine. I recommend an 8 inch stone, and perhaps the most important tool, is the magnifying glass on my Swiss Army Knife. I use that magnifying glass to look at the edge and see what I am doing. It is critically important to maintain the same angle each and every sweep. The glass will tell you if you are not keeping that angle, you will see it on the bevel. Start on something cheap, like a cheap paring knife. Just hone away till it is gone, if need be, to get the hang of it. It takes me about 20 minutes, sometimes longer, to finish a stockman knife. I think for a four inch fixed blade, about 20 minutes of honing is about right. I set the bevel with the coarse, and finish with the fine. |
#14
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Sharpening
X3. There are a lots of ways to sharpen a knife, but for someone (me, lazy but smart) and values the use of a sharp blade but doesn’t have the patience to do it by hand the work sharp is awesome. You can get any blade hair popping sharp in minutes. Not that the other methods aren’t equally effective, I just don’t have the patience for it. Especially with multiple knives It’s not just for your edc, it’s for your kitchen cutlery as well. Razor sharp knives are why they invented knives don’t settle for less. Last edited by the led farmer; 03-06-2018 at 7:30 PM.. |
#15
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I’ve watched some YouTube on this and it seems pretty neat. I’m wondering what’s the lifespan of the belts, before having to replace one.
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#16
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You just pointed out the main weakness. The belts don’t last long before they lose their bite. Especially the coarse ones. And they aren’t cheap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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#18
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WOW $475! I complain that a hard Arkansas stone is $30...
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#19
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Sharpening a knife is no big deal. If you do it when sober and have a steady hand. Follow the angle your blade came with circular motion with light oil. Take your time. Watch a you tube for technique ideas.
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God so loved the world He gave His only Son... Believe in Him and have everlasting life. John 3:16 NRA,,, Lifer United Air Epic Fail Video ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99Q7pNAjvg |
#21
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Just got a Wicked Edge Pro Pac II.
I don't like the price, at about $650 or so. The quality of the components is very good to fine, and the system operates pretty smoothly with no significant slack or wobble. As with all the guided systems I've used, getting the blades locked in square to the jig itself is crucial, and it takes a little fussing with it. Fully flat ground blades and small blades take the longest to get set up, but the level of precision the Wicked offers is worth a little set up time. I haven't used it for long, but I'm seeing the following big benefits. It offers extremely consistent edge geometry, over the length of a pretty good sized blade. It offers the ability to sharpen different knives at angles that are consistent and different, meaning you can easily set up to do an 8" chef's knife at 15 degrees, and turn around and do your Armageddon Shorty at 25 degrees very quickly and accurately. It offers a grit selection to please anybody. I'm thinking the final result is as good as I can get with water stones, without another few hundred hours of practice. My view of the sharpening world: Water stones - Outstanding results, but it requires some skill. You can get set up for $150-300. Wicked Edge - Outstanding results, requires some mechanical ability and a little dexterity, but most competent adults can swing it with a little motivation. Cost from $500-700. Spiderco Sharpmaker - Respectable results. The sharpener for people who want a sharp knife, with no fuss, almost no skill involved, and low cost. Anyone can get an excellent (but not finely polished or fancy angled) edge for about $70. Lansky - Respectable results, but it doesn't do well with longer blades, or very short blades. The Poor Man's Wicked Edge. It offers some selection in angles, and doesn't cost too much. About $125 for the diamond stone set? Who wants to mess with oil? I've got one, but I haven't used it in forever. I would recommend the water stones to the guy looking to learn a somewhat dated skill, to produce a result not generally available commercially. For me, it is fun, relaxing, and satisfying. I would recommend the Wicked Edge to the serious user, or to anyone really serious about getting the very best results, without investing weeks in learning and then maintaining the skill to sharpen freehand. It works great, it is flexible, and I will probably use it on my wife's new fine kitchen knives because I don't want any wobble or sway in those edges. If you want all the grits and an aluminum base, it is about $650, but most users can get away without the two finest grits and the base for a little under $500. I would recommend the Sharpmaker to everybody else who cares about sharpening a knife. Not very flexible but you can "bend" things, very quick, the stones can be used for a million other purposes around your shop, you can easily buy replacements, and the whole package costs about $70. Those folks at Spyderco really killed it with this product.
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"Self defense is not a fashion show. A defensive handgun is not a little black dress, or a purse." Remember, the overwhelming majority of anti-gun thinkers are not stupid enough to be "afraid of guns." They are afraid of stupid/immature/crazy psycho people with guns. And as always, being friendly, courteous, and respectful is the easiest way to bend people to your will. Last edited by Khromo; 03-11-2018 at 1:58 PM.. |
#23
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I just sharpened a Benchmade Mini Griptilian with a 20CV blade, using my new Wicked Edge.
The knife was very sharp out of the box. It would cut paper, but it would snag fairly often. It would cut hair, but not reliably and not all along the edge. The angle was just about 20 degrees, and the scratch pattern looked to be about 400-600 grit. I had to use the 100 grit stones to re-set the angle to about 16 1/2 degrees. I wanted to see how this so-called "super steel" would perform with a fine angle like that. If I didn't enjoy sharpening blades, I would use a slightly larger angle. I expect to be touching this one up regularly. It took some time with the 100 grit stone to set the angle. That steel is tough! I had sharpened one large stainless to break in the stones, and they were cutting smoothly and fairly well, but this steel is different from what I'm more accustomed to. The bevel was obviously wider to the naked eye after going from 20 to 16 1/2 degrees. After the angle was set to my liking, I blasted through the 200/400/600/800/1K grits fairly quickly. These stones quickly polished the edge to their limit, smoothly and neatly, without a lot of strokes. The bevel was showing some mirror effect at 1K, but it still had visible fine scratches, so since this is my #1 carry knife, I decided to go through the fine ceramic grits as well. This brought the bevel to a respectable mirror finish, with very fine scratches still visible here and there. I hadn't prepped the leather paddles yet, and I didn't think that level of polish was necessary for an EDC knife that will be used, so I stropped on some plain leather to shine it up a little and had a beer, followed by another beer, followed by a glass of Irish whiskey. The blade now cuts paper very smoothly, even thin magazine paper. The blade shaves hair with no difficulty. The bevel really stands out from the fine satin finished blade, a wide, smooth, even, glassy surface, on both sides. I made a few notes when I set the blade up, and I believe I will be able to duplicate the same angle the next time I want to sharpen this blade. That is a big deal in my opinion. I've got kitchen knives that want to see 15, campers that need 25, hunters and EDC's that work great at about 20, and various "Pimp" knives that feel under dressed with an angle of 20 or greater. The digital angle gauge Wicked includes with the Pro-Pac II looked like a cheap, throwaway gimmick until I used it. It seems very accurate, and it took a lot of the stress and uncertainty of sharpening an expensive knife out of the process. Very cool. Some guys will laugh and say "I can just eyeball that!" but half of them would be lying, and one-quarter of them couldn't actually do it, they just think they can do it. Mini Grip with the 20CV blade sharpened at 16 1/2 degrees to about 0.6 microns, with a plain leather strop. That's a knife a pimp might not be satisfied with, but a normal person would be lucky to have.
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"Self defense is not a fashion show. A defensive handgun is not a little black dress, or a purse." Remember, the overwhelming majority of anti-gun thinkers are not stupid enough to be "afraid of guns." They are afraid of stupid/immature/crazy psycho people with guns. And as always, being friendly, courteous, and respectful is the easiest way to bend people to your will. Last edited by Khromo; 03-25-2018 at 5:33 PM.. |
#24
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I have everything from Japanese water stones, an Apex Edge Pro, Worksharp ken onion, and a benchtop DMT setup from Worksharp. I haven’t yet decided which I like best - it depends on my mood and how much setup time I want to deal with. If I’m just touching up one or two knives I usually reach for the Worksharp benchtop unit. If I’m planning an all-afternoon sharpening marathon and want razor edges with mirror finishes I’ll reach for the Apex. One trick that REALLY helps with all of them is to hit the bevel with a Sharpie before you take the first stroke, then examine with a loupe or magnifying glass. This will let you see if you’re hitting high or low and adjust your setup accordingly (I use different angles on different blades and I’m not good about keeping notes) If I had to buy just one and wasn’t worried about obsessively sharp mirror finishes, I’d probably buy the Worksharp bench top unit. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X9KU3GO..._ZRGTAbYZ16PVY Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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#25
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I would love to learn how to properly sharpen a knife. I always have a problem keeping the right angle when free handing... I need to practice more.
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#26
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Try the Sharpie trick. After each pass check to see if you’re removing all the sharpie mark from the bevel. If there is a line of sharpie closest to the edge your angle is too close to the stone and vice-versa. After a while you get a feel for how the edge “bites” the stone when it’s at the right angle. (At least that’s how I think of it) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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#27
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Agree with everyone else: knowing how to put a good edge on a knife is a good, fulfilling skill to have. I used Japanese 1000 and 6000 grit stones, primarily. Twenty bucks or so on amazon.
On a side note, what is everyone's test for a sharp knife? |
#28
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Paper. It takes a little technique, but you can get an excellent, quick-and-dirty assessment of an edge's condition with paper. I test all up and down the edge, from the chin to the point. Short cuts to test if the edge will crush the paper, long sweeping cuts, printer paper, and finishing up with some fine magazine paper. Testing on paper makes so much more sense than cutting hair. Unless you have a few dead furry animals lying around.
Tomatoes. I test the first, crush-or-cut stroke about a million times on one tomato. See if it makes the first cut through the skin, then stop and do it again with a different section of the blade. This maximizes the useful life of the tomato, and then you can eat it. The biggest, toughest onion in the house. Hard brown onion skin is like Kevlar to a dull blade. That stuff can be wicked tough and dangerous when the knife starts sliding off the fruit. Or vegetable. What is it? Same technique as tomatoes, what you really care about is the first cut through the skin, so cut and stop, until the onion just gives it up. The Death Of A Thousand Cuts. For hard use knives, I use cardboard since I can't afford to chop up rope for this purpose. If I can get a few smooth, reasonably easy cuts through healthy cardboard, that edge is probably ready to use.
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"Self defense is not a fashion show. A defensive handgun is not a little black dress, or a purse." Remember, the overwhelming majority of anti-gun thinkers are not stupid enough to be "afraid of guns." They are afraid of stupid/immature/crazy psycho people with guns. And as always, being friendly, courteous, and respectful is the easiest way to bend people to your will. |
#30
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A lot of the folks on this thread seem to be convinced that free-hand sharpening is way too difficult for them. I thought this until two things happened.
First, I did some research and noticed that most of the experts seemed to acknowledge at some point that they cannot maintain a laboratory-approved angle. In other words, if the bevel has a little curve to it, the blade can still cut. It was encouraging to hear experts say "It is okay not to be a human shop fixture. A little English is okay." The second thing that convinced me I can do this was some serious practice. I used second-tier kit blades that shipped unsharpened to practice with, but any lower end knife will do. I bought those cheap blue plastic angle guides ($13 with the rod guides as well), a 30-60 power scope ($12), a green felt tip pen (I don't know how much it cost. Probably not much.), and then I put on some music. I worked one stroke a few times, then the other a few times. Back and forth, marking and checking after every stroke. Practicing left, then practicing right. You can see problems with the sharpie and the scope, and correct them with a little attention and practice. It took some time, but this is not like reading wind, or pole vaulting.
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"Self defense is not a fashion show. A defensive handgun is not a little black dress, or a purse." Remember, the overwhelming majority of anti-gun thinkers are not stupid enough to be "afraid of guns." They are afraid of stupid/immature/crazy psycho people with guns. And as always, being friendly, courteous, and respectful is the easiest way to bend people to your will. |
#31
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I use DMT 10" diamond stones and they get the edges plenty sharp. Coarse and then fine... For kitchen knives, I might break out the water stones and work up to 3000.
It takes a bit of practice, but it's well worth knowing how to sharpen your knives. I've used a brick out in the wild. |
#32
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finally dropped some cash on a benchmade with S30V steel.
i don't think i've ever had to sharpen something that hard, so it will be fun to find out (when it finally needs sharpening). i've been sharpening my own knives for 40 years (basic wetstone), but always had basic knives without any especially hard steel, so curious to find out how much more time or work it might need. |
#33
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#35
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That is a clean edge, jd!
What did you use for the last few grits to get that polish up?
__________________
"Self defense is not a fashion show. A defensive handgun is not a little black dress, or a purse." Remember, the overwhelming majority of anti-gun thinkers are not stupid enough to be "afraid of guns." They are afraid of stupid/immature/crazy psycho people with guns. And as always, being friendly, courteous, and respectful is the easiest way to bend people to your will. |
#36
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1micron and .5micron leather strops.
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NRA Benefactor Member |
#37
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I just received the Wicked Edge Gen 3, no thanks to this post (cost a fortune). I added the 1200/1600 ceramics, 1500 diamond/glass, and 1/.5 micron leather strops. Holy smokes.. Hair popping! Haven't quite got the mirrored edge, but the sharpness you can achieve is mind blowing.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk |
#38
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Hardhead, when I first used the Wicked Edge, I spent a lot of hours working on the mirror finish. You definitely have the hardware to do it.
After the ceramics, I like to use the 1500 diamond paddles, and then 9 micron diamond film on the glass platen. I don't think it gets any sharper beyond this stage, I'm mostly just polishing the bevel for appearance sake! Today I sharpened a couple of folders, using just a soft Arkansas stone, freehand. I was reminded how fast the Wicked Edge is, compared to oil stones. The Wicked would have done a much better job in less than half the time. The mid-level stainless blades took forever on the soft Ark, but they will cut hair (sometimes) and cut paper a bit.
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"Self defense is not a fashion show. A defensive handgun is not a little black dress, or a purse." Remember, the overwhelming majority of anti-gun thinkers are not stupid enough to be "afraid of guns." They are afraid of stupid/immature/crazy psycho people with guns. And as always, being friendly, courteous, and respectful is the easiest way to bend people to your will. |
#39
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Anyone tried a small belt sander? I saw this video and was going to try it. $50 for the sander is pretty reasonable
https://youtu.be/U5IPEEfjINo |
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