Scan pan knife will not sharpen

D

Danno4017

Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
893
Looking for advice.
I can normally sharpen most knives I have to a razor edge.
My mate has given me a couple of Scanpan knives to sharpen, the steel is Cr Mo V15.
I cannot get a good edge on the Chefs knife, I have tried different angles, different sharpening stones and systems and it is still average at best.
He has put this in the Dishwasher a lot since he has had it, could this be the problem?

Any help appreciated
 
Danno4017 said:
Looking for advice.
I can normally sharpen most knives I have to a razor edge.
My mate has given me a couple of Scanpan knives to sharpen, the steel is Cr Mo V15.
I cannot get a good edge on the Chefs knife, I have tried different angles, different sharpening stones and systems and it is still average at best.
He has put this in the Dishwasher a lot since he has had it, could this be the problem?

Any help appreciated
Click to expand...
An automatic dishwasher is never a good thing when it comes to sharp knives.

Do you know anything about the heat treatment?
 
N
sabre cat said:
An automatic dishwasher is never a good thing when it comes to sharp knives.

Do you know anything about the heat treatment?
Click to expand...


No not really mate.
It is just a middle of the road kitchen knife from a manufacturer that makes knives and pots and pans
 
A dishwasher will batter an existing edge but wouldn't be hot enough to mess with the heat treatment of the steel. Maybe it's just too soft to permit a fine edge under normal sharpening pressure, maybe try a very light touch?
 
Danno4017 said:
Looking for advice.
I can normally sharpen most knives I have to a razor edge.
My mate has given me a couple of Scanpan knives to sharpen, the steel is Cr Mo V15.
I cannot get a good edge on the Chefs knife, I have tried different angles, different sharpening stones and systems and it is still average at best.
He has put this in the Dishwasher a lot since he has had it, could this be the problem?
Any help appreciated
Click to expand...

I don't know of any "Cr Mov V15" steel. There is "X50CrMoV15" a high end German Steel, and there is "5Cr15Mov"
which is a Chinese equivalent steel and being that Scanpan knives are made in China I would suspect the latter.
Either way it's soft and shouldn't be giving you any sharpening problems at all. The only problem I have with this steel is that the retention isn't too great. No knife should be put in a dishwasher, but that shouldn't be the problem anyway. What is your stone sequence? And do you strop at the end of sharpening?
 
Ive got couple of Scanpan knives we got free with some pots, they seem O.K. on par with most euro kitchen knives of similar steel types, they're ground pretty thin and soft enough to respond to a honing steel.
I would start by doing a reprofile of the edge with a sharpie and a coarse stone to make sure the bevel is reasonably straight and the apex meets, then work up a few grits. They are fairly soft so a burr or wire edge could be your issue, but they are not primo knives, maybe your examples just have a sloppy heat treat.
I can get mine to shave hair or slice cigarette papers without too much hassle though.
 
If they haven't been sharpened in a long time, maybe they really are just very dull - a long way from apexed. A dishwasher - with all that grit in the water jets - will accelerate wear.
So find your coarsest stone, use a marker, and make sure you really do apex that thing.
 
KenHash said:
I don't know of any "Cr Mov V15" steel. There is "X50CrMoV15" a high end German Steel, and there is "5Cr15Mov"
which is a Chinese equivalent steel and being that Scanpan knives are made in China I would suspect the latter.
Either way it's soft and shouldn't be giving you any sharpening problems at all. The only problem I have with this steel is that the retention isn't too great. No knife should be put in a dishwasher, but that shouldn't be the problem anyway. What is your stone sequence? And do you strop at the end of sharpening?
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone’s advice and help
I have used a KME sharpener with Diamond stones at a coarse 300 down to 3000 ceramic stones.
I ended trying the Lansky system.
Tried stropping on Leather with a red rouge paste
Even tried stropping on 4000 grit wet and dry on a mouse pad.
I started at 20 degrees then 17 and finally 15
I have a nice polished edge that will not easily cut paper.
I can not raise a burr?
The steel feels “Dead”
 
Last edited:
Danno4017 said:
Thanks to everyone’s advice and help
I have used a KME sharpener with Diamond stones at a coarse 300 down to 3000 ceramic stones.
I ended trying the Lansky system.
Tried stropping on Leather with a red rouge paste
Even tried stropping on 4000 grit wet and dry on a mouse pad.
I started at 20 degrees then 17 and finally 15
I have a nice polished edge that will not easily cut paper.
I can not raise a burr?
The steel feels “Dead”
Click to expand...

I use only water stones (synthetic) and finish with a leather strop. That steel should be soft enough that you don't really need diamond. But regardless, try this, sharpen the knife with the lowest grit you have (300-400). That should cut the steel like crazy. Then strop with Black then Green compound. At this stage you should be cutting paper easily. Maybe not smoothly, but easily. If not, repeat.
If you don't reach a point of cutting paper easily at this stage, going up higher won't do anything.
Then go up to a mid-grit (800-1000) and repeat. At this point you should be cutting paper both easily and smoothly.
If you get to this point, then go up in grit as that is mostly polishing, and gets smoother only. I personally go up 3000,8000,10,000 but as I said, its just polishing at that point.
Red (rouge) compound is the finest and only good for final polishing. I am guessing that you are raising a burr but not getting rid of it. Stropping on Black compound on leather will usually remove it.
 
Danno4017 said:
Thanks to everyone’s advice and help
I have used a KME sharpener with Diamond stones at a coarse 300 down to 3000 ceramic stones.
I ended trying the Lansky system.
Tried stropping on Leather with a red rouge paste
Even tried stropping on 4000 grit wet and dry on a mouse pad.
I started at 20 degrees then 17 and finally 15
I have a nice polished edge that will not easily cut paper.
I can not raise a burr?
The steel feels “Dead”
Click to expand...
I normally just do mine freehand on a 1200 grit eze lap then a light touch on a ceramic hone, leaves the edge a little toothy, I too have had trouble with softer steels like this at grit higher than this, but I freehand and am no expert.
 
I have just taken it to 15 degrees each side.
It’s moderately sharp, I am giving it back to my mate with the advice to invest in a new knife.
He says he has always had issues sharpening it, I think it’s a dud.
The utility and paring knives from the same set took an edge ok relative to what they are.
 
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