Let's Talk About Sharpening Our Survive! Knives

ncrockclimb

ncrockclimb

Joined
Nov 20, 2014
Messages
2,217
The title says it all.

For all of my non-3v blades, I have had great luck using a strop with either Flexcut Gold, or two step with Black then White Stropman compounds. I have gotten to the point where I can put a pretty decent edge on my knives with this setup. However, I am wondering if I will need to change things up when sharpening my new 3V GSO 5.

So, how do you sharpen your S!K? Share your favorite tools and techniques with the S!K family!
 
I use the sharpmaker. Does well for me. Id like to get a strop soon and give it a shot. Do you recommend anything to start off with?
 
DMT Diafolds on my 20CV GSO 3.5 work just fine. I generally just go up to the F hone.
 
We get new people around every week. Its just if they speak up or not. :).

Are the DMT bifolds the butterfly style sharpeners I've seen?
 
I have been using a VERY inexpensive Flexcut strop that came with Flexcut Gold compound. It is a hard strop with very thin leather. For me, it has provided measurable better results, but YMMV. I have also used sandpaper and compound directly on a 3x3x12 piece of balsa wood. I think that my next strop will be homemade.

All that being said, I question the ability (or efficiency) of the compounds I have been using to sharpen 3V. I will be interested in hearing others experience.
 
I've heard to build my own from several others as opposed to buying one. I just ain't got leather. I seen a bush craft video a guy did it out if a paint stick for his pack. It was kinda neat.
 
Texas_toothpick said:
We get new people around every week. Its just if they speak up or not. :).

Are the DMT bifolds the butterfly style sharpeners I've seen?
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Yep, those are the ones. I typically clamp them down at the pivot with a small vice to make a benchstone out of them when reprofiling, otherwise just holding them works fine. I have a C hone (that's getting pretty worn out) and a F/EF hone, and that's typically good enough for heavy work.

After that I have the option of running them through Spyderco sharpmaker rods, M/F/UF, but I really only use those for recurves, e.g., boning and fillet knives. Those are just the standalone rods, I didn't bother getting doubles or the plastic base. And then I have a King 1k/6k combo waterstone that I use for kitchen knives.

It took me a while to settle on the sharpening equipment I like, but I'm pretty content with these tools. By shopping around I believe I spent ~$100 on all of it over the past couple years, but with very little overlap of function and they can handle just about any sharpening scenario. I probably could've done without the waterstone, but I was curious as to how they work.

Just saw your comment about the strop - I've tried DMT diamond paste in the past, and it was interesting, but I don't strop enough to warrant its cost. One thing I will say, though, is that if you get into stropping you need to tailor it to what grit the knives leave the stones at. For example, me sharpening up to a DMT F and then jumping straight to 1 micron paste wouldn't really do much good, since it's too big of a gap. You probably know all that from sharpening in general, but I found that difference to be especially pronounced between stones and strops, and often overlooked.

ncrockclimb said:
All that being said, I question the ability (or efficiency) of the compounds I have been using to sharpen 3V. I will be interested in hearing others experience.
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Yeah, I'll use plain buffing compound once in a while on softer steels, and it works great on 1095, VG10 and the like. But definitely not on steels to the level of 3V.

If I'm not mistaken, it's much weaker than the kind you're using (so take what I say with a grain of salt), but if you're having trouble with it it might be worth looking into diamond paste. But I'm not knowledgeable to point you to good deals or brands and all that.
 
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Norton double sided oilstone, Flexxxstrop loaded with BRK&T white compound, and a sharpie have done wonders.

B
 
And if you want cheap and easy, you can try the method I've been playing with lately.

I use a plinth block of MDF from Home Depot, 3M 77 Spray glue, and those 1/3 sheets of sandpaper and can make "stones" in super coarse to super fine grits that take 10 seconds to make and are flat as can be. It's EASY to restore a dinked edge if you have a 110-grit "stone" to start with. :D

B
 
I have very little knowledge of sharpening I just know you don't go from 80 grit to a 3,000 grit. As far as stropping any advise would help I only know what I've read.
 
Texas_toothpick said:
I have very little knowledge of sharpening I just know you don't go from 80 grit to a 3,000 grit.
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Oh for sure, I gotcha. All I meant is that while sometimes you can get away with a bit of a jump on the stones - and just use more passes and maybe higher pressure, not the best method though - that same jump is more pronounced (IMO) while stropping since you don't want to overstrop with too high a pressure and wrap the strop around the edge. So while you're looking at strops, planning your grit progression should definitely be part of your research.
 
Brian_T said:
Do you want to build one or do you just want to have one?

I can help you out either way. :)

B
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I say I like building things with my hands but it generally boils down to I'm cheap ass. So id most certainly build one to start off to try it out.
 
^^^ Brian is cool :thumbup:



I've been using a worksharp field sharpener. I like the angle guides and I don't do a ton of sharpening. Man of Steel encouraged me to step up to a DMT block/bench stone, so I'm seriously looking into this.


What is the draw of stropping? I like the idea of removing as little material as possible, is that an advantage?
 
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