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Recreating the Spyderco factory edge

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  • #25551
    JS
    Participant
    • Topics: 7
    • Replies: 109

    The factory edge that Spyderco puts on their knives has to be my favorite. Extremely sticky sharp, nice and toothy, but wave cuts phone book paper with ease. I’m guessing these are sharpened on maybe a 400 grit belt then buffed on another belt? Not sure since I know some of these are robot sharpened.

    Lately I’ve been trying to recreate this edge. I assumed the key was finishing at a low grit then do some light stropping. I sharpened a Military the other night, stopping at 600 grit then maybe 10 passes with the strops at one degree lower. My impression was that it didn’t feel that sharp in comparison and was disappointed in the edge.

    I then progressed up through my very worn in 1000 grit stones, then dropped 1 degree and hit about 10 passes with the 3.5 strops. Wow is all I can say about that edge. It obviously looks more refined than the factory edge as it’s quite shiny, but the sticky feel and how it goes through phone book paper is nearly identical to the unsharpened Military I had on hand to compare to. I think I’ve found my new favorite edge progression and was wondering if anyone else has tried to recreate this edge and curious why I had go to a higher grit to achieve similar results.

    #25559
    Zamfir
    Participant
    • Topics: 17
    • Replies: 346

    It is the teeth man! I have been playing with a 200 grit tooth pattern that I polish with my ceramics..it makes a huge difference. I need to get out the microscope to see it now that I am happier with it. on my cali 3.5 zdp steel I was chipping out the blade edge with normal use and lightly hitting a staple in cardboard. Now I sharpen fully at 17deg through the 1K stones..then back off 5 deg wider on each side and hit it a few times with the 200 grit diamond. stropping it did about nothing..that steel is hard. I put some time in on the ceramics at this same 5 deg wider angle and I am getting closer to phone book wave cutting. The size of your teeth all depends on how worn in your stones are. My 1K stones are very worn in now and do not create much for teeth now..but they are still there and bite hard..With the 200 grit teeth, the sharpness through cardboard seems to last longer. even longer now that I am polishing them with the ceramics..

    Next time I have to sharpen it, I will have to take a couple passes with the 1K at this wider angle..then hit it with the ceramics again and see what happens. Maybe take pictures but my time has been limited with knifes lately..burning the candle at both ends work wise.. almost at a slow down spot so I can work on my knife stuff again! Yay!

    #25566
    Matt
    Participant
    • Topics: 1
    • Replies: 4

    That is interesting… Which ceramics are you using?

    #25571
    Zamfir
    Participant
    • Topics: 17
    • Replies: 346

    The lower grit ones

    #25573
    tcmeyer
    Participant
    • Topics: 38
    • Replies: 2098

    We have to develop a glossary fixing the nomenclature for this stuff. In this case, there are two ceramic stone sets. One has a grit rating and the other has a micron size rating. “Lower grit” could be misinterpreted to mean either way. Grit ratings increase as the particle size decreases, whereas micron sizes decrease.

    I’m talking in broader terms when I say a glossary is needed. There is frequently confusion when commentors ask about certain parts to their WEPS. For instance; the blocks holding the stones are referred to as blocks, hones, stones etc. The stainless bar supporting those whatchamacallits needs to have a specific name, too.

    Having an engineering background, I know that WE has a drawing for each part. Each drawing has a name which is used throughout the design process. Each assembly drawing showing groups of parts which are connected to each other have names. Clay, can you please post exploded assembly drawings with their names so we can stop confusing each other?

    Sorry, but this should really go in the suggestion box topic. I’ll copy it there.

    #25575
    Zamfir
    Participant
    • Topics: 17
    • Replies: 346

    So I get confused with which ceramics are what. The ones I was using were the more course (if it were a diamond plate it would be a lower number) ceramics and lower priced ceramics. Or another way to say it is the ceramics with the larger particles used to make them :silly:

    Agreed though..definitions! and for parts of the blade also! All in one spot would be great!

    #29224
    developer (ChrisB)
    Keymaster
    • Topics: 53
    • Replies: 263

    So you were using the 1200/1600’s then

    Working to make knife.wickededgeusa.com a great forum!

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