S90V
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I recently got a Benchmade 940-1 with S90V steel that I’m using as my EDC. I work in an office and rarely use it for anything other than opening a package sometimes. I’m wondering what the best practice would be to maintain the sharp edge with S90V? I know it’s harder to sharpen but holds an edge longer. So was wondering if I should just hit it with 1000 or 1500 grit diamond stones every once in a while to keep it sharp. I”m new to this so looking for recommendations. Thanks in advance!
Steve
Hi Steve! Newish guy here. Use the finest stone that will provide the results you are looking for with minimal work. Depends on how dull it is.. Inspect the edge with a scope or loop. If no chips then start with 1500 and see if that will bring it back with a 8 or 10 passes. If not working out, drop down to a 1000. Less metal removed the better.
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Steve I like using the lightest grit you can get by with, like airscapes wrote. Using the fine grit stones at about 20º per side may apply a micro bevel that should help the durability and longevity of the edge while retaining the sharpness.
You may get by with just stropping the edge, and not going with stones. That can do wonders to maintain an edge between sharpenings, also.
Marc
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Okay, thanks for the tips. I haven’t bought any strop blocks for it yet. I did order some 9 Micron Diamond Lapping Film for the glass side of the 1500 grit blocks i have. They should be here next week. I do have a kangaroo strop on a wood block made for free hand stropping just haven’t gotten anything for the WE yet.
Also with what I have now the 200/600, 800/1000, and 1500/glass (and 9 Micron Diamond Lapping Film ), if you had those and could only get one more pair for now which set of strops would you purchase?
Steve, you can use your kangaroo strop, free hand, to maintain the edge between sharpening. My favorite and most used W. E. Strop pair is the 4µ/2µ Diamond Emulsion on leather.
Marc
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steve you may want a sheet of the 6 micron .. it works just fine after the 1500 grit and before the strop. The 9 should be fin.. not a big spread between 6 and 9 🙂
Here is an edge done to 6 micron then through the strops down to .5 My 100 grit stone is still a bit rough..
USB microscope. I have this inexpensive model that does what i need it to do, also great on the lower magnification for removing splinters!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNYXQHE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Steve, I’d start with a $7-10 lighted 10x loupe available on Amazon. I also tried a $100 USB digital microscope, but returned it as this $34 one works just as good. problem with these microscopes is you need a windows laptop or desktop to use them. I use it without the base. But get a loupe first as I use that with all of my sharpening sessions.
Paul
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Steve, applying a marker to your knife edge, (I like red because it’s easy to see), will allow you to see exactly where your stones are impacting your knife’s edge and removing steel, as it removes the markings. This will allow you to better adjust your sharpening angle to match your bevels for effectiveness.
Marc
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You’re looking for that single position and angle setting that removes all the marker across the entire height of the bevel. Understand that this is dependent on the clamping position of the knife. If the knife isn’t positioned correctly no matter how you adjust the angle you’ll never make full bevel contact. Where the knife is best positioned for the most effective contact is ” the sweet spot”. The extremities of the knife, the heel and the tip can pose the most difficulties. Somtimes you’ll need to rotate the knife tip up or tip down and move it forward or backwards to achieve this best position. Then the first time you sharpen the blade it still will require some profiling, that is some minor steel removal, to better shape the knife blade profile to match sharpening with the fixed angle sharpening wicked edge system.
There’s a lot of good information about this in the W.E. knowledge base. I invite you to read my thread on “finding the sweet spot” also.
Marc
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