Advice needed

[Michael Blakley]

A friend asked me to fix his deer skinning knife.  The fixed blade is 4 inches long, 8 1/4 inches in total length, spine of the knife is 10mm thick.

The bevel is about 4mm long on both sides of the knife even though the two bevels are NOT equal

To get the right bevel, I used a sharpie marker and painted the bevel on one side and then adjusted the WE until the 100 grit stone removed the entire red mark .  That side was about 14 degrees.  I then set the other side to 14 degrees and it barely scraped the red mark on the other side.  It was about 15.5 degrees.

So I sharpened the knife, 100 strokes on each side with:

100 grit, 200, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, lapping, 14mu, 10 mu, 5mu 3.5mu.

Shiny bevel on both side, but the blade, but dull.  It did not pass the paper cut test.

So I’m thinking about doing a re-profile of the knife at 15 degrees on both sides.

Please comment.

Also, if I do the re-profile at 15 degrees, about how long of grinding with the 100 grit stone would you guess it will take to get this knife’s profile consistent and reground?

Faithfully yours;

FP

 

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Marc H

[Organic]

This is why it is best to use results rather than an arbitrary number of strokes to guide the sharpening process. You probably failed to apex the bevels. You will be well served to go back to a lower grit and sharpen until you feel a burr.

 

4 users thanked author for this post.

Brewbear, Alan, Scott DF, Marc H

[Michael Blakley]

Hi Organic,

Thanks for the advice.  Please allow me a follow up question.  While I would agree an arbitrary number might not get the job done, but I would think that 100 passes on each side with the 100 grit stone would have produced a burr, or do you achieve a burr by just doing one side first and then the other?

Thanks again!

FP

[airscapes]

This video explains the different strokes used with the WE, it helped me quite a lot.  It should answer many of your questions.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Brewbear, Organic, NotSharpEnuff, Marc H

[Marc H]

A burr is formed when the sharpening stone is removing steel at the knife edges.  If the stone angle is not set correctly so your sharpening strokes are reaching the knife edge, (i.e., appexing the edge), it doesn’t matter how many strokes you do.

I suggest you re-evaluate your angle settings.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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Scott DF, Organic, NotSharpEnuff

[Richard]

The one thing on this video I’d like to point out if it goes unnoticed is that the WEPS doesn’t ship with Chosera stones so don’t rub yours together to create a slurry 🙂

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Richard.

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Brewbear, Alan

[Michael Blakley]

Well here’s what I think is going on.

First I am trying to put a new profile on this knife.  I want to change it from sharpening from 14 or 16 degrees on each side to 20 degrees on each side.

Putting a more blunt edge means removing a lot of metal.  So I spent a couple of hours eating into the bevel.  Actually, It started off as a looking like a double bevel for a while.  The 15 degree bevel was about 4 mm long while the 20 degree bevel was much shorter.  So there was a lot of grinding to be done.

I wish I had that 50 grit stone WE sells.  It would probably have made the re-profile go much quicker.

Faithfully yours,

FP

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Richard, Organic

[Richard]

You’re correct, the 50/80 really makes it go fast.  You’ll wear yourself out using the 100.

[tcmeyer]

I’ve sharpened enough knives that I don’t have the patience for those really long reprofiling jobs.  Actually, it’s a combination of not having the patience and not having all that much time left.  Hey… I’m sneaking up on 75 and to tell the truth, it’s not really “sneaking” anymore.  In any case, I will check to make sure no one is looking and then switch to a powered system, usually the WorkSharp.  Going leading-edge on a belt sander with a platen backing works better, but for me it’s harder to hold the bevel angle thru the belly.  Some are pretty good at it, but we’ve already established that I’n not very coordinated.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Haffner, Alan, Organic, Brewbear

[Lay]

tcmeyer wrote:

I’ve sharpened enough knives that I don’t have the patience for those really long reprofiling jobs. Actually, it’s a combination of not having the patience and not having all that much time left. Hey… I’m sneaking up on 75 and to tell the truth, it’s not really “sneaking” anymore. In any case, I will check to make sure no one is looking and then switch to a powered system, usually the WorkSharp. Going leading-edge on a belt sander with a platen backing works better, but for me it’s harder to hold the bevel angle thru the belly. Some are pretty good at it, but we’ve already established that I’n not very coordinated.

+1 If the knife is in really bad shape or needs a lot of re-profiling…. I will still take my Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition and do the initial work with it. Of course I will put it back to the dark closet after that so that no one sees it 😀

2 users thanked author for this post.

Organic, Brewbear

[airscapes]

Out in the open and proud to say I want to use power tools to make things faster at the start.  Spend almost 1.5 hour on really dull knives with the 100 grit stone.  Bought the 50/80 and that is faster but really need some break in, WorkSharp would probably have been cheaper and simpler to buy, but having fun with this https://knife.wickededgeusa.com/forums/topic/belt-sander-grinder-sharpener/

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Organic, Brewbear

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