How often you sharpen your edc user knife?

R

rom

Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
33
How often you sharpen/steel hone :confused: /leather strap your EDC knife that you use?
How do you justify that it needs a touch up? It seems like I'm getting paranoyed over sharpening my bm 710hs that I edc at work. As soon it stops shaving hair ,I leather strop it or use sharpmaker, if stropping does not help (almost every day). Not sure why it loses it's sharpness that soon since I don't do much cutting( some paper, card board, and sheer board,ocasionally). Am I sharpening incorrectly or what?
 
I've never used the Sharpmaker, so I can't really tell you what's going wrong. But it sounds to me like you're getting a wire edge on your blade. A wire edge is similar to the burr, but will be razor sharp and very thin and weak. The wire edge will break off after a few little cuts.

That sounds like your problem, but again, I've never used the sharpmaker, so I don't know if it's possible for it to create a wire edge (it shouldn't).
 
I have always believed that the secret to proper sharpening is through regularity. To me it not only makes more sense but it is far better to sharpen lightly on a frequent basis rather than to sharpen radically on an infrequent one.

There are many 'touch up tools' available today and I don't think any one of these is better or worse than the other. It is more often operator error when these tools don't work. The key is to follow the original angle of the bevel that was placed on the blade when it was made. If you have a good strong blade steel this can be set at anywhere from 15 degrees to upwards of 25 degrees or more for most of the 'ordinary' knife steels out there. So long as you don't rock the blade and remove steel from the wrong areas of the blade this habit of frequent touch ups takes seconds out of your day.


I prefer an extra fine diamond pad for a couple quick touch up strokes but I've had pretty good success with both Buck and Gerber sharpening steels and ceramic sharpeners too. All of these bring the edge back up to the 'wire' that gives it that initial bite you feel with your finger tips. But just because this gets knocked off doesn't mean the knife isn't sharp. I usually strop on a piece of leather with some flexcut polish paste right after using one of my touch ups on the edge.

Maybe a serrated edge or combo edge is more apt to please you since they require less maintainance than a plain?
 
I sharpen my Severtech about once a week on the Sharpmaker because I'm anal. The other guys in the shop give me their Severtechs every month or two for a touch up. Mine never gets to what I call a "dull" edge. Maintain!
 
My EDC has 440A, so it gets dull pretty quick. I use a leather strop just about every evening on it. My strop sits in the draw were I dump my pocket crap (keys, wallet, knife...). So I just swipe it a few times each night.

With the softer 440A, this eventually leads to a rounded blunt edge profile, so once a month or when needed, I re-dress it on the EdgePro to its original angle.

With the less expensive knife like the one I EDC, I don't worry about "sharpening it away." It's very replacable.
 
My M2 blade (BM 140HS) never needed a touch up but i have to say more than a week of regular tasks (paper and food) and once cutting down last christmas tree into pieces, wasn´t done with it. Still sharp.

Other steels need a stropping once a week or later.

F.e. 154CM ( i had two blades) cried for steeling and stropping every week. It remained sharp ´til the edge turned rough. Steeling stroping fine.

S30V stropping once a week. Have to say after a sharpening session, stropping helps to get the better edge. Don´t know but i am finishing not enough. But in general once a week or later.

D2 the same as S30V.

RWL34 needs to be stropped after sharpening just like S30V and D2 (that´s just my fault) and than once a week or later.

Even simple steels like C75 (just 0.75% carbon in it) never needs to be stropped much.

And all remain hair cutting sharp. Not flying shaving but keep cutting arms hair.


So check for wire edge. Maybe finish with two or three light pulls on a bit larger angle to securely remove the burr. Or do that with your leather.

If the problem is still there, contact BM for solution.

The only time i really noticed a wire edge was on my razor blade. I tried to set the original angle back, but doing so the edge was so weak it couldn´t withstand a single cut.

Remember: Wire edge: One moment your knife is extremly sharp and the next moment extremly dull.

If you sharpen on 40° included, it´s really hard to get a wire edge.

Get sure to remove the burr and if so and the problem remains: contact BM.
 
I sharpen my edc about once ever week or two weeks depending on what I've been cutting and how often. If the edge starts to drag at all in any material or it goes from shaving hair to scraping hair...I resharpen it. I use the sharpmaker for all of my V-grinds as well w/ a good steel it only takes about 5 passes on the fine stone to bring back a good edge. If its really dulled out I will use about 20 passes in each "phase" as per the spyderco instructions. If completely butter knife dull then I break out the diamond hones. You can definetly sharpend to much and just end up working over a wire edge over and over. Less is definetly more.
 
Depends on the week/weekend - If I get desktops/servers into our test centre for staging/certification I may touch up the edges when they start to drag - which could be as high as once a day. Otherwise, once every couple of weeks on work EDC blades whether they need it or not :D Weekends/yard work (if this snow would ever go away :mad: ) could be a couple of times a day, depending on which "beater" I'm using.

- gord
 
I touch up my blades on the UF Sharpmaker rods when the edge begins to drag and tear more than cut, and it stops shaving hair. The way I see it, it is easier to use a dozen or so strokes once a day/week than having to totally re-sharpen a knife that has gotten dull.

As for why your knives get dull so fast my guess would be it is what you are cutting. Those are some rather abrasive materials and will dull an edge from shaving rather quickly. I tend to cut plenty of cardboard too and find that after a session of cutting a few strokes on the UF rods will bring that edge back. Let it go for a few more days, and get "dull" and I need to go back to the mediums and take a few minutes to sharpen the blade.
 
I use the white stone with the sharpmaker for touch-up, flat side, 5-10 times each side. whenever the shaving feel on the edge is lost.

Added: Stropping on the cardboard of a legal pad works too. If u touch-up your knife frequently and don't want too much metal from the blade to go away too soon.
 
If it doesn't shave easily or cleanly cut newsprint I too give it about 5 strokes per side on the flats of the Sharpmaker white stones, followed by some strokes on the ultrafine rods. What you want to do in a touch up regime with a Sharpmaker is start with a bevel of less than 40 degrees (Spydercos often come that way, but if you don't have it then reprofile using the 30 degree setting). One you get that, a few strokes with the 40 degree setting will establish or maintain a micro bevel very easily for a long time.

I'm sure it's been discussed before, but there are different degrees of shaving/newsprint cutting sharpness. I want an edge that sails through the medium. An edge that requires pressure to shave needs a touch up.
 
Thank you for the replies, very informative. I feel better that I am not the only one who likes to have a razor sharp blade always. :)
I think i need to buy spyderco UF roads for easier touch ups or may be upgrade to a longer leather, cause my current is only 8" long. I did not know what a new blade for 710 HS would cost only $20, good deal, I can use my harder now!
 
It depends on the indivdual knife. When I cant cut open a small bag of nuts, its time.Some its a couple of weeks, some it months.Right now I'm sharpening my Umfaan. Hasnt been sharpened since Thanksgiving.
 
I do the same thing, not shaving=sharpening. With S30V,D2, 3V it's about every other week, but I am anal too. With 440C at least every week, I like "scary" sharp.


HoB said:
If it stops shaving it gets a touch up.
Click to expand...
 
Rom, the most common cause of what you encountered is a failure to keep the angle consistent. While the Sharpmaker helps you maintain an angle, it is not difficult to waver from the correct one. People have a tendency to want turn the knife to make the angle more obtuse to speed up the sharpening process. In time you end up with more obtuse (less sharp) bevels. To correct you will need to regrind the bevels. The Sharpmaker isn't a good tool for that purpose but will work if you have the patience. Keep the knife blade perpendicular to the floor and keep at it until you can turn a burr on each side with a light swipe. Then you'll be back in business.

How often do I sharpen a knife? Whenever it needs it. For me that is quite often (weekly) because I'm pretty fussy about my edges.
 
I sharpen when they fail to preform as I want them to. Could be as simple as cutting rope, cutting bags or packaging open, or cutting my food.

Usually this means about once a month that I use the stones, but I'll strop after a hard use day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top