Recommendation? Adding a sharpening notch?

[cashville]

Hey everyone, I just wanted to hear some personal opinions from some people with experience on this subject. I've tried searching this forum, as well as a couple of other places for information on this matter, but a lot of the threads are photo heavy and were before the whole Photobucket ordeal. I would really like to hear from members with some experience on the subject. I'd really appreciate anybody's input.

As a preface, pretty much all of my carry knives are CRK's and Spydercos. I own a Wicked Edge. I almost exclusively carry my CRK's, but have really been getting back into Spydercos. My only issue is that I am somewhat hesitant to use my Spydies as none of them have sharpening notches. Do y'all prefer to create small sharpening notches in this situation, or would you just let it be and leave the heel of the blade somewhat dull and let a recurve form? If anybody has any personal experience on the subject or pictures of similar knives after many sharpening I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[cap'njake]

I added a notch on my endura 4 and several opinels and a mora. Pretty much any knife I really use other than kitchen knives I put a notch in unless they come with one. On my mora i actually did a sharpened notch for stripping wire.

 

[adamlau]

I left the heel to be sharpened on a Sharpmaker.

 

[cashville]

I added a notch on my endura 4 and several opinels and a mora. Pretty much any knife I really use other than kitchen knives I put a notch in unless they come with one. On my mora i actually did a sharpened notch for stripping wire.

I was thinking I'd probably add a notch to a cheaper knife like you mentioned. I don't think I will mind have a small notch, especially considering my main carry knives have much more dramatic ones. I guess a hang up is a hang up though. Do you add your notches with a sharp maker rod, a file, or something else?

 

[cashville]

I left the heel to be sharpened on a Sharpmaker.

Do you mean that you sharpen the edge with a sharpening system and then finish up the heel with a sharpmaker rod? Do you just hit that tiny section of the heel with the sharkmaker rod with a back and forth motion per side, do you do alternating stokes, or do you just keep the rod on the same spot and do an up and down grinding kind of motion? Or do you do something else? And do you do it with the corners or flats?

 

[adamlau]

Do you mean that you sharpen the edge with a sharpening system and then finish up the heel with a sharpmaker rod?

Correct.

Do you just hit that tiny section of the heel with the sharkmaker rod with a back and forth motion per side, do you do alternating stokes, or do you just keep the rod on the same spot and do an up and down grinding kind of motion? Or do you do something else?

Short passes per side of the standard variety followed by horizontal-only passes to blend the scratches. I would work one side at a time with the same number of passes per side. If I sharpened below 15 dps on the WE, I would compensate by tilting the blade on the Tri-angles accordingly.

And do you do it with the corners or flats?

Corners with reduced pressure (weight of the blade only as much as possible).

 

[cbwx34]

With the W.E.... no need to switch to a different sharpener for the heel. Just learn to rotate the stone slightly, so the corner of the stone works it. Use light pressure. (And if the plastic lip of the stone gets in the way, do what many have done,,, cut it off).

 

[cap'njake]

I was thinking I'd probably add a notch to a cheaper knife like you mentioned. I don't think I will mind have a small notch, especially considering my main carry knives have much more dramatic ones. I guess a hang up is a hang up though. Do you add your notches with a sharp maker rod, a file, or something else?

I don't have a sharpmaker. I have used files but now usually use the little grinding bits for a dremel. Goes a little faster and if you are careful it is still cool to the touch when you are done. I use a file followed by diamond files if I am making a sharpened notch

 

[ecallahan]

Here's a notch on a Delica using a Dremel cut off wheel. You can make it smaller. I use notches on knives such as this. But with my Sebenza there's no need as you can grind the whole edge.

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

I do, this way:

By member: Unit

If done sharp like a serration scallop, there should be no hangup.

 

[cashville]

I do, this way:

By member: Unit

If done sharp like a serration scallop, there should be no hangup.

I saw this video as well as the Cliff Stamps video on using the corner of a medium sharpmaker rod to lightly grind perpendicular to the blade to create a sharpening notch. Has anyone tried both of these techniques and prefer one to the other? I have sharpmaker rods readily available and I'm not to worried about wearing out a pair of mediums as the are fairly inexpensive to replace if I remember correctly. Although a small diamond file would certainly be less expensive.

 

[cashville]

With the W.E.... no need to switch to a different sharpener for the heel. Just learn to rotate the stone slightly, so the corner of the stone works it. Use light pressure. (And if the plastic lip of the stone gets in the way, do what many have done,,, cut it off).

I will probably try to do as cbwx has stated, and if I started to develop a recurve, I'll look into creating a sharpening notch. Suggestions are certainly still welcome!

Have you cut the plastic lips off of your WE stones, cbwx? And if so, how did you go about doing so?

Thanks everybody for the responses. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[cbwx34]

Have you cut the plastic lips off of your WE stones, cbwx? And if so, how did you go about doing so?

Yeppers... used a (ok several) cutoff wheel on a Dremel.

 

[Vinifera]

I saw this video as well as the Cliff Stamps video on using the corner of a medium sharpmaker rod to lightly grind perpendicular to the blade to create a sharpening notch. Has anyone tried both of these techniques and prefer one to the other? I have sharpmaker rods readily available and I'm not to worried about wearing out a pair of mediums as the are fairly inexpensive to replace if I remember correctly. Although a small diamond file would certainly be less expensive.

I just use the corner of the Sharpmaker rod. It worked fine for me for a couple of Delica's and also for a Para 3, but the Para 3 took quite a while.

 

[firefighterguy]

Yeppers... used a (ok several) cutoff wheel on a Dremel.

How are these holding up? I recently got a wicked edge and one thing that has caused me grief is my Spyderco knives. I love them but I can’t get all the way to the end.

This seems like a great solution! Any issues with the stones loosening or coming out?

 

[bolabeenz]

I used a low grit triangle rod from Moldmaster to do 4 of my smaller Spyderco's.
I freehand and the notch does make it easier to get the heel area to match the rest of the bevel.
However, in use I'm not sure it has an advantage. They can snag on finer materials. Not a biggie but I doubt I would do it to anymore knives. Not concerned about sharpening a recurve in the blade. Too many knives!!

 

[cbwx34]

How are these holding up? I recently got a wicked edge and one thing that has caused me grief is my Spyderco knives. I love them but I can’t get all the way to the end.

This seems like a great solution! Any issues with the stones loosening or coming out?

No problemo.... a lot of guys have done this.... especially for Spyderco and similar style knives.

Some only cut one side, or even 1/2 of one side of each stone... just enough to allow the stone 'reach' all the way to the end. You don't have to go crazy like I did.

 

[Mo2]

 

[Old Traf]

I saw this video as well as the Cliff Stamps video on using the corner of a medium sharpmaker rod to lightly grind perpendicular to the blade to create a sharpening notch. Has anyone tried both of these techniques and prefer one to the other? I have sharpmaker rods readily available and I'm not to worried about wearing out a pair of mediums as the are fairly inexpensive to replace if I remember correctly. Although a small diamond file would certainly be less expensive.

I use a small round (about 1/8" diameter) diamont to add a choil where needed.