Effectiveness of small Benchmade sharpener?

D

dadouthat

Joined
Apr 15, 2006
Messages
6
For field use, I got a couple of the thumb sized sharpeners from Benchmade (made by Redi-Edge). They are no Sharpmaker certainly, but they work much better than I expected. If the knife starts out shaving sharp, it seems to keep it almost as sharp. I was very surprised at this and wonder what experiences others have had with the Redi-sharps. (They are marketed by a couple of different companies.)

One of the reasons that I like these is that the smaller one fits conveniently inside the "pocket" of the flap of a cordura belt case for a full sized Grip.
 
Someone else posted a thread about those...maybe a month ago or so....

I was at Sportsman's Warehouse just last week looking at both of those Benchmade sharpeners. If I remember correctly, the "stones" (actually carbide cutters I think, but you could verify or correct that) were set at 60 degrees (30/30). I was talking to the fellow behind the counter who seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about sharpening but he couldn;t answer my question. Isn't that a little steep?

So I was thinking out loud: if your knife is sharpened at home to say 30 or 40 degrees, and you needed a quick field dressing with the BM Redi-Edge tool, it seems like you would be putting a steep micro-bevel on the knife. It would be nice and sharp and it would hold up well because of its steepness, but then you'd just re-hone it to the correct bevel when you got home. Does that sound about right? OR, would you strive for that steep grind from then on?

I'm curious about that tool too, for the same reason as you......size and portability.
 
The carbide pull through sharpeners can tear out pieces of the edge, which isn't very good at all, in addition to the very obtuse angle. A Diafold would seem like a better choice for mobile sharpening (or maybe a double stuff), but definately they are both bulkier & heavier and require a small amount of sharpening skill compared to the small pull throughs.
 
They will work better than a handful of loose sand or the corner of a cinderblock. It's not something I would use except in emergency, after losing/breaking/wearing out my Diafolds. That goes for all the pull-through sharpeners.
 
moving-van.jpg
 
Do you mean this?

IMG_4559.jpg


IMG_4564.jpg


IIRC it says somewhere that it is for emergency use only.
 
It is maid to put an edge on something that is damaged or with out an edge and 30/30 is steep but it will cut witch is the point of something like this. I love mine for those days when I've bin cutting things you shouldn't cut "like sod" which will round the edge off a knife and your only other choice is a ruff diamond and allot of work to get a usable angle back. I have a Redi-edge with a 40 degree and it works great for those quick fixes always keep it on my keys encase I use my knife harder then intended.

On the same note has any one used the spyderco duckfoot portible sharpiner. I like my spyderco sharp maker so it seems like a good option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top