Recommendation? How Best to Sharpen a M7 Bayonet?

000Robert

000Robert

Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
6,427
Hello guys! I did a search here and didn't find much info on bayonets.
What is the best way to sharpen and take care of bayonets? I have three 80's military surplus Grade A M7 Bayonets that I bought. I must admit that the apex on the first one that I started sharpening last night is about the worst I have ever seen.
The edges must have been 40dps or more. I figured that I would reprofile the long edge at 24dps. It took a while to reprofile the edges on my WE130. I had to remove a bunch of steel.
Is 24dps a good place for the edges on a bayonet?
Also, I was wondering if I should grind the short side edges to the same 24dps, or go to 28dps or something? All advice and opinions are welcome.

M7-3a.jpg M7-4a.jpg
 
Metal Man 007 said:
Is there any way to find out what kind of steel you have there? 24dps sounds like a good place to start with my limited experience.
Click to expand...

I don't see anything on the blade or package. But what I have found online it's 1095 carbon steel with a Zinc Phosphate finish. I figured that 24dps would probably work as well.
 
With 1095 you might be able to go a little lower with the DPS. Yet again, you are not working with a kitchen knife you are with a bayonet that will be used heavily. 1095 is great stuff. I think 20-24 dps would work great. The others will be along shortly with more experience.
 
Metal Man 007 said:
With 1095 you might be able to go a little lower with the DPS. Yet again, you are not working with a kitchen knife you are with a bayonet that will be used heavily. 1095 is great stuff. I think 20-24 dps would work great. The others will be along shortly with more experience.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm not sure if they all have the same steel, but they are made by General Cutlery. The underside of the crossguard on all three is marked with 'US M7' on one side, and 'GEN CUT' on the other side.
 
I decided to reprofile both sides of the bayonet to 24dps with a toothy 600 grit. It doesn't look as good as I would like. Plus I had to remove more steel than I would've liked to. I am thinking about reprofiling the next bayonet to 28 or 30dps on both edges and see how that looks. Plus I will be removing a little less steel from it.
I have knives to use so I do not plan on using the bayonet for cutting stuff.

M7-5a.jpg M7-6a.jpg
 
Not sure if this applies to you or if you even care but this is my real life experience.

Being a knife guy since I was 7....while in the US ARMY, I would always sharpen my bayonet till it would shave hair. Yet during our gear inspections, they took mine on 3 different occasions. I finally asked a SP5 who had seen heavy combat in Vietnam why they kept taking my bayonet and giving me dull ones ? He laughed & said he did the same thing & it almost cost him his life. He said bayonets are not supposed to be sharp because they will cut into the ribs/bones in the chest & you may not be able to get it back out quickly. Not sure if this is true but it is what I was told in 1981. Who'd a thought !
 
TwinStick said:
Not sure if this applies to you or if you even care but this is my real life experience.

Being a knife guy since I was 7....while in the US ARMY, I would always sharpen my bayonet till it would shave hair. Yet during our gear inspections, they took mine on 3 different occasions. I finally asked a SP5 who had seen heavy combat in Vietnam why they kept taking my bayonet and giving me dull ones ? He laughed & said he did the same thing & it almost cost him his life. He said bayonets are not supposed to be sharp because they will cut into the ribs/bones in the chest & you may not be able to get it back out quickly. Not sure if this is true but it is what I was told in 1981. Who'd a thought !
Click to expand...

I've heard that before. My M7's already had a poorly sharpened apex. I just wanted to put a perfect apex on them with sharp edges. Plus, it's fun. They will probably never actually be used as bayonets in real combat. But they might be used someday as a survival knife. But they sure wouldn't be my first choice.
 
TwinStick said:
Not sure if this applies to you or if you even care but this is my real life experience.

Being a knife guy since I was 7....while in the US ARMY, I would always sharpen my bayonet till it would shave hair. Yet during our gear inspections, they took mine on 3 different occasions. I finally asked a SP5 who had seen heavy combat in Vietnam why they kept taking my bayonet and giving me dull ones ? He laughed & said he did the same thing & it almost cost him his life. He said bayonets are not supposed to be sharp because they will cut into the ribs/bones in the chest & you may not be able to get it back out quickly. Not sure if this is true but it is what I was told in 1981. Who'd a thought !
Click to expand...

Military urban legend. Well no, not just military. Similar to the people who think that swords aren't supposed to b e sharp either. Bayonets tend to be dull because they are so low on the list of things used that they are neglected. A dull blade will get stuck in ribs too. The only reason it's less likely to is that on a slash you're not likely to reach them since you won't cut as deeply.
Think it through. If a sharp bayonet would get stuck, then sharp swords and spears would have been getting stuck for a thousand years!
 
Bill DeShivs said:
They were factory sharpened.
They are yours. Do what you want with them.
Click to expand...

I also needed the experience reprofiling with my WE130. I don't have a lot of decent knives and I need to get as much experience as I can before I clamp up one of my good knives. Had they came with the original new sheaths, I would not have touched them.
 
TwinStick said:
Not sure if this applies to you or if you even care but this is my real life experience.

Being a knife guy since I was 7....while in the US ARMY, I would always sharpen my bayonet till it would shave hair. Yet during our gear inspections, they took mine on 3 different occasions. I finally asked a SP5 who had seen heavy combat in Vietnam why they kept taking my bayonet and giving me dull ones ? He laughed & said he did the same thing & it almost cost him his life. He said bayonets are not supposed to be sharp because they will cut into the ribs/bones in the chest & you may not be able to get it back out quickly. Not sure if this is true but it is what I was told in 1981. Who'd a thought !
Click to expand...

I had 2 bayonets that I sharpened taken from me during inspections. Was told that it was against the Geneva Convention to have a sharpened bayonet. Being young but smart enough to know when to shut up, I didnt ask any questions. Later on a similar thing happened the bayonet I had sharpened was my pride and joy, sharp and polished. When it was taken, I asked if it was due to constraints of the Geneva Convention, the E-6 said "yeah, Geneva Convention"".

After the inspection, an old WO asked me how much I would charge him to sharpen his M7? Asked him w
 
Asked him why it is against the rules and it will only be taken away? He told me I was an idiot and that the 0-3 that took my bayonet wanted for himself.

Learned a valuable lesson. Kept my sharpened bayonet off base where I lived and a crapoy issued one in my TA-50.
 
Nowadays I would prefer a non-sharpened bayonet and carry my own knife. If I were going into combat, I would take my CPK UF with me unless I already had a CPK DEF.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top