Sharpening a Commander
- Thread starter Clayton
- Start date
Joe Talmadge once suggested to me that one should not be bound by the factory edge angle on any knife - sharpen your own edge angle. The first time will ofcourse take long but touch up's should be a lot easier. I would think that the Spyderco Sharpmaker is the way to go with the recurve on the Commander but you could also try the GATCO serrated edge stone which has a triangle shape but in the Lansky type package.
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- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
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- 4,842
The challenge in sharpening a Commander will be sharpening the recurve. Recurved blades perform better, but that performance comes at a price: they're much harder to sharpen, even for experienced sharpeners.
Somewhere or other, I think on the Knife Reviews Forum, I posted an article called How to Make the Benchmade Axis Perform (or something like that). Check it out, and try out the sharpening method outlined there if you'd like. The sharpening method there is not limited to the Axis -- it's a basic method for sharpening any recurved blade to a good scary edge! I sharpen my recurved Cold Steel El Hombre using the same method.
Now I think the Commander has a sort-of chisel-grind, right? It's got the dual primary bevels, but the final edge bevel itself is ground from only one side (someone correct me if I'm wrong). In that case, you won't use exactly the same method as in my article (you'll sharpen only one side), but at least you'll get the idea.
BTW, I used a Sharpmaker 204. That's what I suggest using! I retired my 203, because the 204's option of 15- or 20-degree angles is a big advantage. You won't be sharpening the Commander with a large benchstone -- the key to sharpening a recurved blade is using a stone that has a much smaller diameter than the diameter of the recurve.
Joe
[This message has been edited by Joe Talmadge (edited 06 July 1999).]
Somewhere or other, I think on the Knife Reviews Forum, I posted an article called How to Make the Benchmade Axis Perform (or something like that). Check it out, and try out the sharpening method outlined there if you'd like. The sharpening method there is not limited to the Axis -- it's a basic method for sharpening any recurved blade to a good scary edge! I sharpen my recurved Cold Steel El Hombre using the same method.
Now I think the Commander has a sort-of chisel-grind, right? It's got the dual primary bevels, but the final edge bevel itself is ground from only one side (someone correct me if I'm wrong). In that case, you won't use exactly the same method as in my article (you'll sharpen only one side), but at least you'll get the idea.
BTW, I used a Sharpmaker 204. That's what I suggest using! I retired my 203, because the 204's option of 15- or 20-degree angles is a big advantage. You won't be sharpening the Commander with a large benchstone -- the key to sharpening a recurved blade is using a stone that has a much smaller diameter than the diameter of the recurve.
Joe
[This message has been edited by Joe Talmadge (edited 06 July 1999).]