how to mantain a blade made from budget steel?

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FireDragon76

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Jan 21, 2016
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I like using cheaper knives like Ganzo or Wal-Mart OzarK Trails knives (I tweak those a little to get them smoother to open), but I am not sure how I should be sharpening them. Alot of sharpening videos folks are getting their knives crazy sharp, but are often using much better steel.

Now, I have some kitchen knives that are crazy sharp but I have to work on the edge alot with a Spyderco Sharpmaker. I have a Thai ktichen knife, a vegetable cleaver, but the steel is chippy so it gets a touch up every few months. But for pocket knives that could be excessive, and I want to just make a good utility edge for general purpose cutting (like opening mail packets or boxes, not finely chopping bok choy). I am thinking some kind of microbevel might make the edge stronger, but I look forward to some input from more experienced blade enthusiasts.

Tools I have:
300,600,1000 and 2000 Japanese stones (I use oil) and an edge guide
Lansky Crock Stick box
Spyderco Sharpmaker + ultra fine rods (use that on the Thai knife, it's crazy sharp but edge is a little brittle. I sharpen it at a 20 degree angle per side).
 
Ganzo steel performs fairly well in my experience. I believe it is reasonably close to the claimed 440c - for those models.

I sharpened the examples to ~17 dps with a microbevel of ~22 dps -

I think you would be fine with Sharpmaker but it might be a little tedious to set the bevels depending on how they come from the factor.
 
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Your Sharpmaker is fine. Literally made for pocketknives.
For your Japanese whetstones - are they benchstones? What brand are they? Some of them really won't like oil, as they need to be wet to shed binder and old abrasive. I'm guessing others like Shaptons won't care.
For opening boxes, a coarser edge will be fine. Though I've been known to sharpen even my utility blades (the replaceable kind) to about 5K (JIS).
 
My experience with Spyderco Sharpmaker is that I could literally sharpen anything to shaving sharp, especially with ultra fine ceramic rod and a leather strop. The question is how long it takes to sharpen it, and how soon it may become dull again. I totally agree with what Bill DeShivs on this, my Buck knives used 420 steel but they have served me well for years. Super steel has its place, but they are not the only steel suitable for cutting task.

For "budget" steel, my trick is not to wait until they are totally dull to sharpen. Sometimes 30 seconds - 1min on a leather strop is all I need to bring them back shaving sharp again, and that doesn't work, I just start touch it up from the stock ceramic stones > ultra fine ceramic > leather strop.
 
Pretty much every 'budget steel' knife I have has ALWAYS been made to perform better after it's been thinned out behind the edge. Even monetarily 'cheap' knives can be made wicked sharp, most of the time, by doing that. For normal, relatively light-duty kitchen use, even these thinned-out cheap knives can keep a fairly durable edge for a while. Inexpensive knives can still come with decent steel and decent heat treat, for the sake of kitchen use. Agree with kwackster also, in that an 'edge-friendly' cutting board makes a big difference in how long these edges will last in the kitchen. I like the white poly cutting boards for this.

My own philosophy with such knives is, 'simple steel deserves simple upkeep'. By that, I mean it generally doesn't need anything fancy, or extensive grit progressions, to make & keep the knife useful for it's designed purpose. For me, that usually means I'll use something like a Fine India stone (~320-400) to set the edge, or maybe a Coarse India or SiC stone if the edge is just completely thick and crowbar-blunt (then follow with the Fine India). Once the edge is set & sharp coming off the Fine India, I can tune up the edge as needed, over time, using something like a smooth (polished) kitchen steel or a medium ceramic (brown/grey). Once the sharp edge has become dull again, or weak after steeling for a while, then take it back to the Fine India to scrub off the weak steel and reset the bevel.

If you like highly-polished edges on these knives in simple stainless, a denim strop with aluminum oxide polishing compound works very well for that, and fast too. I have a (very) thinned-out santoku, purchased at Walmart for less than $10 or so, that's performed beautifully in kitchen use for veggies & such and has been maintained to a polished, thin convex on a denim strop with AlOx stick-type compound in grey or white (usually labelled for polishing stainless steels).
 
Most knives need to be thinned out first,ganzo steel is pretty good and holds edge well.99%of knives come with thick edges from factory and do not cut as they should.
 
Is it excessive to sharpen a kitchen knife or pocket knife made from cheap steel with the Spyderco ultrafine rods? I have gotten some extremely sharp doing this, which surprises me as I thought you need to have really good steel to get that kind of an edge.

I have a teak cutting board that I prefer to use, but I also have plastic boards. I try to avoid woods with alot of silica. I would never use bamboo as its just too hard.
 
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You can get your knives all equally sharp with the setup you list but I would say that the budget steel blades will most likely dull quicker than any better blades you may have. For your chippy blades you might want to consider a convex edge as I am to understand the convex edge an be a little more robust in terms of support to help prevent chipping.
 
Bearbreeder said:
Wrong

Check on youtube how sharp some of the cheap knives can be sharpened to
Click to expand...
Nope. Getting it quote sharp unquote is only part of the picture. The specific knives mentioned in this thread are junk/rip off/ etc.

Now a decent budget knife can get sharp and hold that edge but the ones in question; not on this planet.
 
Danke42 said:
Nope. Getting it quote sharp unquote is only part of the picture. The specific knives mentioned in this thread are junk/rip off/ etc.

Now a decent budget knife can get sharp and hold that edge but the ones in question; not on this planet.
Click to expand...

Wrong again

You can get ganzos sharp and they stay pretty sharp

The d2 ones often test over 60 HRC

If you cant then there is something wrong with your skills, not the knife

Even my cheap 4116 and 8crMov knives i can always get hair splitting sharp

Sure you sharpen them a bit more often, but they sharpen easily no needs for fancy diamond stones or guided systems
 
The Ozark Trails knives actually have decent fit and finish, even if the steel is cheap. I have seen cheap pocket knives that take shortcuts like not using actual ball-bearings for the detent (and they suffer as they are typically spring-assisted and don't open very well). The washers are also good quality nylon that is durable, and the scales are also typically well-made and tough.

My everyday use kitchen knife is the Faberware Basics 5" Santoku, which is similar to the German santoku knives with the kullen style blades. I used to be into chef's knives years ago but now I live in a smaller place and a smaller knife works out great for that. There's really nothing I needed to do with a chef's knife that I couldn't do with a small santoku.
 
Chinese steels are pretty good,most of them,and the heat treat is very good on some.Ganzo has different designs now,thwir 440c os very good,for d2 I do not know,sanrenmu has some unique designs and theyre very good for price,cold steel and spyderco make knives in China too in same factories and theyre good knives.I had aversion towards Chinese knives in beginning few years ago too.I dont buy exact clones,but unique designs and lookalikes yes,have few.Excellent knives.Ganzo multi tools are very good too,but where i live with shipping and import taxes,leatherman is simply too expensive,same as with Byrd knives that i really like but theyre around 80$where i live.440c or variants of it,western or Chinese with good heat treat is excellent edc steel,not too hard to sharpen and holds edge very well,and its toothy steel,love it.European 440c is best btw.
 
Bearbreeder said:
Wrong again

You can get ganzos sharp and they stay pretty sharp

The d2 ones often test over 60 HRC

If you cant then there is something wrong with your skills, not the knife

Even my cheap 4116 and 8crMov knives i can always get hair splitting sharp

Sure you sharpen them a bit more often, but they sharpen easily no needs for fancy diamond stones or guided systems
Click to expand...
Nope. Enjoy your short stay here if you've chosen to join and sing the praises of clone and other junk.
 
Clone is another argument imo. I think they were talking about the ability to take an edge. It either can or it can't regardless of it's originality. I have spent a fair Amount on expensive knives. But my cheap knives hold up fine. I'm not looking to derail the thread any further.
 
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