Sharpening a GSO?

J

jerms731

Joined
Aug 14, 2014
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Anyone have any good recommendations for the best way to sharpen a super steel like the CPM-3v?

Thanks!
 
I use diamond hones, and they work well with even the most wear resistant steels, 3V included.
 
It's not so much about the steel but about the equipment. The high vanadium-carbide content demands harder & sharper abrasive particles than soft-carbide steels require. A natural Arkansas stone may not do the trick. IME, CPM-3V responds well to SiC (Norton Crystolon) and diamonds (DMT) on hand-hones & benchstones. I've polished out 'major' damage on my GSO-10 with an old combination Norton stone, but the blade was quite large for the task and the damage was significant enough that it took quite some time. In the future, I will use my HF 1x30 belt-sander for such things. On my GSO-5.1, the blade is small enough that it is easily hand-honed and can be back-beveled or given a convex edge using wet/dry paper + mousepad. You can strop with compound if desired. For simply renewing a micro-bevel, a DMT Diafold or Sharpmaker rods should be fine.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. Right now i have the Spyderco Sharpmaker, which does pretty well for the folders ive been using it for. Do you think that can hold up to the task?. I am not that experienced with knife sharpening (previously been using bench stones on mostly scandi ground knives, but I'm not that great at it), and I didn't want to risk running my GSO 4.1/10 through it, in fear of ruining the blade (the GSO's are hard to come by!).

Unless anyone thinks the Sharpmaker can handle the GSO's, I was thinking about getting a lansky system, and was just curious if I should go with the Deluxe stone system or Deluxe diamond system. Again, really appreciate all the info.
 
Been pretty fortunate to not have to really take it to a stone yet, but I've had great luck touching up with norton, dmt, lap, japenese whetstones and leather strops.
 
jerms731 said:
Thanks for the tips guys. Right now i have the Spyderco Sharpmaker, which does pretty well for the folders ive been using it for. Do you think that can hold up to the task?. I am not that experienced with knife sharpening (previously been using bench stones on mostly scandi ground knives, but I'm not that great at it), and I didn't want to risk running my GSO 4.1/10 through it, in fear of ruining the blade (the GSO's are hard to come by!).

Unless anyone thinks the Sharpmaker can handle the GSO's, I was thinking about getting a lansky system, and was just curious if I should go with the Deluxe stone system or Deluxe diamond system. Again, really appreciate all the info.
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I don't have experience with the Sharpmaker, only other Crok-stik set-ups. For re-setting a micro-bevel, you should be just fine. The Lansky and DMT and WickedEdge Aligner/Angle-guide systems are limited by the placement of the clamp and short length of the hones - the grind-angle changes as the hone sweeps away from the center. The Sharpmaker is also limited by the short hone-length. These were all designed for short hunters and folding knives. The GSO-4.1 is reasonably short so won't fair too badly, but you are better off learning to free-hand, be it with the Sharpmaker sticks or the wider diamond hones (Lansky, DMT, etc.) or a benchstone of some type. The best angle-guide sharpening system, able to accommodate knives of all sizes and widths, is the Edge-Pro Apex, but that is a serious investment and not usually necessary. Most of the time, I free-hand with my DMT hones - knife in one hand, hone in the other. I've never tried this with a Sharpmaker hone, but i recommend you give it a try before investing in another system. You won't "ruin" your knife, and S!K offers lifetime resharpening service if you feel the need.

Survive! knives are meant to be used and personalized. Beat up your knife some, then give a try at restoring it to shaving with what you have. I think you'll find your tools adequate for most tasks, just hone your skills to match. :thumbup:
 
jerms731 said:
Thanks for the tips guys. Right now i have the Spyderco Sharpmaker, which does pretty well for the folders ive been using it for. Do you think that can hold up to the task?. I am not that experienced with knife sharpening (previously been using bench stones on mostly scandi ground knives, but I'm not that great at it), and I didn't want to risk running my GSO 4.1/10 through it, in fear of ruining the blade (the GSO's are hard to come by!).

Unless anyone thinks the Sharpmaker can handle the GSO's, I was thinking about getting a lansky system, and was just curious if I should go with the Deluxe stone system or Deluxe diamond system. Again, really appreciate all the info.
Click to expand...

The Sharpmaker should be sufficient for touchups, especially if you use the cubic boron nitride or diamond rods. As far as the Lansky goes, it's nice for reprofiling, but it's not especially great for touchups. If you were to get one I'd recommend the diamonds over the regular stones - the diamonds can sharpen everything, the regular stones cannot (or at least not within any reasonable amount of time).

chiral.grolim said:
Most of the time, I free-hand with my DMT hones - knife in one hand, hone in the other. I've never tried this with a Sharpmaker hone, but i recommend you give it a try before investing in another system.
Click to expand...

This is what I do for touchups, both with DMT C/F/EF hones and a Spyderco UF rod. If I need to do any serious reprofiling, I clamp the C hone flat to a workbench and it makes for a passable benchstone. I've reprofiled steels from M4 to M390 and have never needed anything courser.
 
Diamond Duo.

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