Kershaw Outcast in D2 just kicked my butt!

[John Gilbert]

Hi Guys,
Just wanted to share a bit… I got my 800/1000 grit diamond stones a few weeks ago and have been at it since. Did both Strider SMFs (1 in CPM3V 3/4 grind, 1 S30V FFG) all my Heckles kitchen knives, was feeling pretty confident and I decided to do the Kershaw Outcast in D2. Plain and simple it kicked my butt! I worked on it for over 2 hrs with the 100 grit diamonds and STILL cannot get a burr! :huh:
Anyone else run into this with D2 (or another steel for that matter) and the 100 grit stones?

I’m giving up on the Outcast for the moment.:pinch: I just ordered the 50/80 grit diamond stones and I’m going to wait for them. I hope they will do the job!

[Leo James Mitchell]

Wow, that is strange! I have a dPX folder with a D2 tool steel blade and it took a beautiful edge with no such difficulty.
When you were seeking the burr, were you using a scrubbing, up and down motion with the paddles or a sweeping motion? In my experience, I have found that the up and down motion is the way to go when raising a burr,especially on tough steels. And I have also found that during this step is the only time when some fair pressure on the paddles when scrubbing, is a good thing.Try the scrubbing motion bearing down somewhat and see how that works for you. Please post what happens.

Good luck
Leo

[Marion]

I just got the 50/80s today. Used them on some knives in a cheap kitchen set. Just remember that when you get to the 100/200 stones to increase your number of passes, and change your stroke direction to break up and remove the deep scratches left from the 50/80s

[John Gilbert]

Wow, that is strange! I have a dPX folder with a D2 tool steel blade and it took a beautiful edge with no such difficulty.
When you were seeking the burr, were you using a scrubbing, up and down motion with the paddles or a sweeping motion? In my experience, I have found that the up and down motion is the way to go when raising a burr,especially on tough steels. And I have also found that during this step is the only time when some fair pressure on the paddles when scrubbing, is a good thing.Try the scrubbing motion bearing down somewhat and see how that works for you. Please post what happens.

Good luck
Leo

Hi Leo,
I tried a combination of the sweeping (one direction, both directions)and then tried the scrubbing motion. Scrubbing just doesn’t seem to work for me… I cut my thumb for the second time trying it (so I guess I’m not coordinated enough to do this since I cut my thumb both times :blink: ) and then I broke the cardinal rule of working on things… I didn’t stop when I was getting frustrated with the lack of progress! I kept going and scrubbed a few nice big scratches into the blade coating in my “damn it this is gonna work” frenzy AARRGGGHH!!! :sick:

The Outcast is one huge, thick beast of a knife, and the biggest one I have in D2. Maybe I got a particularly hard tempered blade?!??!?

After I gave up, and took a break I did my Three Sisters Forge SuperBeast in S35VN with no problems. It’s very thick as well, (.190) but only took about 45min with sweeping strokes to get my burr. Man did she come out good!!!! :cheer:

I hope the 50/80 grit diamonds are in stock (haven’t heard back from CS yet) so I can give them a try. I will post an update when I get them and try them on the Outcast.

Thanks for your tips!!!

[John Gilbert]

I just got the 50/80s today. Used them on some knives in a cheap kitchen set. Just remember that when you get to the 100/200 stones to increase your number of passes, and change your stroke direction to break up and remove the deep scratches left from the 50/80s

Hi mr.cheapguy,
Got it! Did you scrub or sweep with the 50/80s?

I’m thinking I’ll use the 50/80s the way I normally do with the 100/200s. Both direction sweep with the 50, then one direction sweeps with the 80/100/200 and keep checking the scratch pattern with my 10x loupe.

Thanks for your tip!!

[Marion]

I did a little of both scrubbed from the grip to the tip, then a few sweeps. But did get a burr going in less than 20 or so strokes per side.

I need to put them back in the WE and rerun the knives with perhaps -1deg angle. The bottom of the original sharpenning is kinda ragged from the 50/80. The 50/80 is real aggressive. I ran 200 strokes with the 100grit, just to get it to smooth out, then 50 stroked on 200grit in a reverse direction and 50 more strokes forward. probably should have gone the whole 200 strokes with the 200grit.

However it still shows some “chewing” on on the bottom of the bevel.

[John Gilbert]

I did a little of both scrubbed from the grip to the tip, then a few sweeps. But did get a burr going in less than 20 or so strokes per side.

I need to put them back in the WE and rerun the knives with perhaps -1deg angle. The bottom of the original sharpenning is kinda ragged from the 50/80. The 50/80 is real aggressive. I ran 200 strokes with the 100grit, just to get it to smooth out, then 50 stroked on 200grit in a reverse direction and 50 more strokes forward. probably should have gone the whole 200 strokes with the 200grit.

However it still shows some “chewing” on on the bottom of the bevel.

Thank you for the feedback. I’ll make sure to watch for the “ragged” edge on the bottom, and make sure I allow enough time for smoothing things out with the 100/200 grit.

[Jende Industries]

John

Try doing circles with the WEPS 100 diamonds. It’s messy on the bevel, but it is even more aggressive than scrubbing in most cases. (scrubbing causes “ruts” for the diamonds, but changing the directions cuts grooves everywhere.)

If you get a burr after the circles, you can do some scrubbing to make real sure, then clean it all up with sweeping strokes before moving on the to the 200+ WEPS.

[wickededge]

You can also try spraying a little soapy water on the stones as you go to keep the diamonds exposed. It’s a little messy but helps speed things up when you’re trying to remove a lot of metal.

-Clay

[John Gilbert]

John

Try doing circles with the WEPS 100 diamonds. It’s messy on the bevel, but it is even more aggressive than scrubbing in most cases. (scrubbing causes “ruts” for the diamonds, but changing the directions cuts grooves everywhere.)

If you get a burr after the circles, you can do some scrubbing to make real sure, then clean it all up with sweeping strokes before moving on the to the 200+ WEPS.

Thanks Tom!

Okay, I got my 50/80 grit diamonds last week and finally had some time to work on this over the last two days… I don’t know if its D2 in general or just this knife, but IT WAS A BEAR! I have no idea what the original angle was (I’d guess something like 35-45 degrees per side), and it STILL took me over 2 more hours to re-profile to 25 degrees per side and get a burr with the 50 grits!!! That’s 4 hrs total, OUCH!:pinch:

I worked in back-and-forth sweeps to keep the chewing to a minimum. Mr. Cheapguy and Tom from jendeindustries are right, if you use the 50/80 diamonds, it will take a bit of extra work with the 100/200 grits to smooth out the edge and scratches. I’ll take that trade any day on this steel.

I finally finished sharpening yesterday after a few more hours going through the other grits. Its not the prettiest, smoothest job I’ve done with the Wicked Edge, but my Outcast will now push-cut newspaper, and that’s good enough for this knife. Thank God no other knife I’ve tried yet has been as tough as this.

Just to restore my sanity, I re-profiled my veteran BM710 in ATS34 at 18 degrees in 30 minutes start to finish. :cheer:

[John Gilbert]

You can also try spraying a little soapy water on the stones as you go to keep the diamonds exposed. It’s a little messy but helps speed things up when you’re trying to remove a lot of metal.

Thanks Clay!
That’s an interesting thought. I may give that a shot if I ever encounter something like this Outcast again.

I’ve been using a thin nylon gun cleaning brush to remove debris from the stones whenever I stop to inspect my progress. It seems to work quite well and isn’t very messy.

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