Salt 2 SE Sharpened - Upset About What Happened

P

PacSerrations

Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Messages
13
I've been trying to sharpen my Becker Bk16 for a while and I've been struggling to get it really sharp. I found this guy online that does sharpening for a living and he had a ton of really great reviews.

I sent in the BK16 and I decided to let him sharpen my new Salt 2 SE too while I was at it. It felt fine out of the box, but I thought he would be able to make it a little better.

So he did a great job on the Becker. Put a beautiful edge on it that's razor sharp.

But he pretty much messed up the Salt 2. I am really unhappy with it. He explained that he didn't sharpen it but only polished the edge.

So now the result is that all of those pointy serrations are smoothed out and the backside of the blade looks pretty messed up and discolored from the polishing. I don't think he was familiar with the H1 material at all and how it would respond to the polishing.

I not only have an ugly blade now, the serrations are totally messed up. I wanted a knife that could shred things even after it become dull which is why I went with the SE. The knife I have now is sharper but it just slices through ropes without digging in and once it becomes dull, it's not going to be an effective knife at all.

Just kind of pretty upset about this. Not sure what to do about it? Can I send it back to Spyderco to have them put a new SE on it? Find another sharpener that will be able to restore the SE? I'm not quite skilled enough or comfortable enough with the process to even try to do it myself.

Thanks.
 
Have you reached out to this sharpener, to see what they have to say about it or if they will make it right?
 
You may want to submit your review of this service over in the Good, Bad, Ugly section to inform potential customers.
 
91bravo said:
Have you reached out to this sharpener, to see what they have to say about it or if they will make it right?
Click to expand...

He said he would polish the knife again. But I think that would just make things worse.

I asked him if he could sharpen the knife the way serrations are supposed to be sharpened and to bring back the original edge.

I actually feel like this was a $100 mistake and to be honest, I actually ordered a new Salt 2 from Bladehq that arrived today.

Interesting. The 1 on this new knife is black and not silver like it is on my messed up knife. The etchings on the blade (Spyderco and seki) are also thicker and deeper. Any idea why?

Just kind of upset. I’m not sure if I should try to salvage this salt 2 or just sell it.
 
Looks like he overdid the back side for sure. Normally that side is flat, but yours curves in by the looks.

I want to say from pics I have seen posted of Spyderco's sharpening service that they just polish the inside/middle of the scallop and leave the points alone normally. I'd still shoot an email to their CS with the pictures and want you what to hear what they can do. I don't believe they'll recut the serrations, but they may be able to get the points pointy again.
 
Dont send it back to the guy for sharpening again. My guess is he will only make it worse. There’s no making it right unfortunately. He can’t put steel back on but can give you your money back.

Looks like he used a polishing wheel/belt and tilted the knife too much and got into the back side of edge too much.
 
I agree it looks overdone on the back side...but in my experience (YMMV) serrated Spydies will eventually wind up that way from use and sharpening.

My recommendation is to use the sucker and keep it sharp with the pointy apex of a Sharpmaker. Of all my knives, my Pac Salt begs to be put through hard use.

I sympathize that the sharpening wasn’t to your satisfaction. I had a “professional” sharpen my one and only custom and he completely destroyed it. I had to give the knife away it pained me so much to look at it. I still curse the guy.
 
From the sound of it, that sharpener is great at conventional plain edges but sucks at (or doesn’t really understand) how to sharpen serrations. If I were you, I would NOT send it back to him.

jim
 
May I make a suggestion. You can buy a Sharpmaker for about $70 and sharpen it yourself. There are plenty YouTube videos on sharpening serrated knives. It is a real simple process. I would keep the first one and use the hell out of it. When it gets dull use the SM. Some folks intentionally round the points. Not as grabby as when new.
 
Not trying to be an asshole, but why did you give him a brand new Salt to sharpen? The serrations come unbelievably sharp from the factory and the easiest and most effective way to sharpen Spyderco serrations are on a sharpmaker or any other triangle shaped ceramic rod. Literally 5-10 strokes and the edge is factory sharp again once it dulls. From the picture, it looks like it may actually cut better with the rounded tips, the serrations on the Salt are super pointy and aggressive.
 
From the looks of the discoloring, that guy burnt your edge with a wheel. I'd consider the knife ruined by the sharpener and seek compensation from him.
 
Hi PacSerrations,

Welcome to our forum.

Sorry about the mishap. In my opinion, the best way to sharpen Spyderco serrations is with our Sharpmaker. There is a thread on our site forum by Evil that explains it very well. You can send it in to us and we can take a look at it, but I think if you can get a Sharpmaker, or maybe one of our forumites with one can help out?

sal
 
I'm no expert, but that sharpening job looks like a hot mess. I'm sure the knife is still plenty salvageable, even with a Sharpmaker as said above, but i would definitely want compensation, because as you said, the blade was made worse, not better.
 
I would definitely send a knife out for a regrind because I lack the tools and skill to do it well (I own a belt grinder but I never attempted such a task)... but... for sharpening? I feel it is somewhat mandatory for a knife afficionado to be able to sharpen his/her blades.

Anyway, get a Sharpmaker and learn to use it. It will be worth in the long run.

Mikel
 
rwasham said:
Buy the sharpmaker. Learn the sharpmaker. Use the sharpmaker.
Click to expand...
I would ditto that.. But let me tell you a couple of things to keep in mind. First and foremost view the video that comes with the Sharpmaker at least 2 to 3 times before starting out with it. Also I don't know if they still have that booklet that comes with the 204 Sharpmaker or not but it helped me to read it and view the instructional video that Sal did.
Also another thing that helped me using the 204 Sharpmaker with serrated edges is the get some type of clamp to hold the base solid to free up both your hands. Since I've done that it's improved my results a lot. Also get all the extra stones and diamond sharpening rods you can buy extra with that kit. You can buy the diamond, CBN, and Ultra-Fine stones extra that also has made my Sharpmaker a joy to use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top