20 Degree edge okay for 940-1?

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Jul 18, 2020
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That is one side of course. Benchmade recommends 25. I have seen people sharpen it all the way from 14 to 30. It seems most favor 20.5 to 21.5. Therefore I just wanted to make sure that attempting 20 may not cause any damage to the knife? I am not terribly concerned about scary sharp at the moment. I just do not wish to damage anything. It is in fact not a pull through sharpener. It is a turn box. It too does not support the odd angles that benchmade tends to use. In fact the new Benchmade sharpener only supports 20 degrees. Gone is their yellow one that supports 25 and 35 as well as 15. Luckily at least I do have the diamond rods with it. This is only because my Brother is borrowing my Sharpmaker. Thank you all for your help.
 
Since no one answered yet and there are many posts on this topic. I found out that 20 degrees per side will not harm it at all. In fact it may make it scary sharp. People are profiling this knife all over the place. From 9 degrees on one side to 45 degrees on one side. I figure that 20 on each side is pretty standard. I reprofile my 35 degree Benchmades to 20 degrees because 35 degrees is simply too nonstandard. No one needs to reply to this thread. Unless they wish to. I cannot stop you of course.
 
It won't hurt anything but it will make the edge noticibly taller. I've always found the 940 to be a bit thick behind the edge. I just stick with 25 degrees myself on those.
 
Are you talking 20 degrees per side (40 degrees inclusive) or 20 degrees inclusive (10 degrees per side)?

I sharpen all my knives to 20 degrees inclusive.
I sharpen my Axe/Hatchet/Throwing Tomahawk, and if I still had one, my Froe, to 30 degrees inclusive.

That is how I was taught to sharpen 60 years ago. I've seen zero reason to change in the intervening decades. :)
 
Since no one answered yet and there are many posts on this topic. I found out that 20 degrees per side will not harm it at all. In fact it may make it scary sharp. People are profiling this knife all over the place. From 9 degrees on one side to 45 degrees on one side. I figure that 20 on each side is pretty standard. I reprofile my 35 degree Benchmades to 20 degrees because 35 degrees is simply too nonstandard. No one needs to reply to this thread. Unless they wish to. I cannot stop you of course.

I haven't used mine enough to comment on it, but I find 20 deg per side is pretty satisfactory for most of my day-to-day EDC use.

I think you are confusing "deg per side" vs "inclusive angle", Benchmade recommends 30-35 deg inclusive for their knives, meaning it is 15-17.5 deg per side. If you are reprofiling the 35 deg inclusive to 20 deg inclusive, then it is 10 deg per side, which is really quite narrow. I don't think I have ever seen a EDC knife sharpened at 45 deg per side, that's literally as sharp as a table edge.
 
A 20 dps reprofile would be fine although as mentioned the bevel will be wider if you dont mind that cosmetically. It will cut better than the stock angle however that may take some time using a turnbox or sm but can be done. Maybe microbevel it? Thats what i did on my 9400 recently (940 auto version) and got it back to sharp easy enough on the sm brown rods. Your diamond rods will be even faster.
 
Unless I'm using a mic bevel I generally sharpen at 34 degrees inclusive. When going lower you risk chipping depending on the blade steel and what you're cutting. The chipped blade was 26 degrees inclusive . Twenty per side should be fine . Seventeen degrees bottom photo.
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I mean 40 degrees inclusive. That is okay, right? Thanks.
That's the angle I sharpen my 940-2 (s30v) at, to me it's a good balance of toughness and sliciness (is that a word?). I used to sharpen it at 50deg inclusive and it performed well, but it feels a lot more slicy at 40deg and never had it chip.
 
I would inspect the blade and get the factory bevel. Checking on both cutting bevels and if it is balanced, then I would sharpen the knife at its factory bevel. This will ensure minimum material wastage. If the bevels are unbalanced, I would use one side as a reference and reprofile the other. On the other hand if the bevels are uneven along the cutting edge, a reprofile is then required. Personally, a 17-20dps is favorable for both folders and fixed knife.
 
Are you talking 20 degrees per side (40 degrees inclusive) or 20 degrees inclusive (10 degrees per side)?

I sharpen all my knives to 20 degrees inclusive.
I sharpen my Axe/Hatchet/Throwing Tomahawk, and if I still had one, my Froe, to 30 degrees inclusive.

That is how I was taught to sharpen 60 years ago. I've seen zero reason to change in the intervening decades. :)

Please do post some pictures. 10 dps would make the edge bevel on even a thin blade like PM2 wild wide. On thick blades like ZT 0562 almost 1/4 of the blade height would be the edge bevel.
 
I don't have a darn phone anymore. Tell me about it. Anyway factory is 25 inclusive. many people are going lower than 20 on this knife. I assure everyone that I am not going 10 inclusive. I already did it. 20 Inclusive. I have a gauge. I have been doing this for a hot minute. If my darn brother did not snag the Sharpmaker. I have different grit rods though so I am good. I finished up all the way with 2000 grit. Then I polished it on the buffer not to fast as to burn out the heat treat with Flitz. I knew people were going below 20 inclusive. I would not go below 20 but I needed to know if it would chip. I feel that I am all good. It is wicked sharp now. The hardest item I will cut with it is cardboard and plant stalks. Not trees/weeds. Thank you folks.
 
I mean 40 degrees inclusive. That is okay, right? Thanks.

Like others have said, 40 inclusive works well with the 940 series. I will say, however, that my 940-1 came from the factory with an edge that touches up just fine on the 15 deg (30 inclusive) Sharpmaker settings. No resetting the bevel needed. Maybe I got lucky with this particular knife, but the little I've used it and touched it up with my SM and some strops, it's worked well at 15 dps. It's a slicer for me... no rough stuff with this blade, so that may make a difference to you.

My 940-2 is sharpened at 20 dps. The bevel was a little more acute than that from the factory, but I like 20 dps on most of my S30V blades. I do get a bit rougher with them "out and about" on the property. I used the 20 dps slots on the Sharpmaker and worked up a microbevel on each side. Still plenty sharp and pretty durable as well.
 
I did not want to start another thread. I already just discussed this theme too. Some people are saying the 20CV 940's were better knives. Then why did all of them have a Benchmade list price of $125 less than the 940-1? If I were looking for a super steel right now, barring S125V I would take S90V. No need to argue it. It is just my opinion. I would have never purchased the 20CV 940 variants.

Indeed, 40 degrees inclusive worked out nicely. Thank you folks.
 
20 per side is perfect, for the cutting edge. (Micro bevel)
 
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