Sharpening Slipjoints?

[Omega Leather Works]

Do you guys use your EPs and WE systems to sharpen slipjoints?

If not what do you use? I'm starting to like them, but they are different than my regular knives, with grinds that are like a Spyderco ffg only they end up really thick at the apex, or they are really short, but have a very tight upward curve at the end.

Honestly I see these as being much harder to sharpen than modern folders, if for no other reason than that they might have two or more small blades with funky edges that I'm just not used to...

 

[Nullity]

Interesting question.

Most slip-joints have really thin edges and usually a simple, easily sharpened steel. Considering that, they are usually very quick and easy to sharpen freehand.
Sharpening a knife with a thin edge is a treat.

 

[OHALLUM]

Once you sharpen one on a stone freehand, and see how easy it is, you will be hooked. I know you have enough talent and experience to freehand and use your strops. If you are talking 1095 or other carbon steel slippie like case's CV, they will sharpen just like your carving/whittling knives, and turn out scary sharp. Just go slow on the first to see how quick they respond to your stones and your technique.

Blessings,

Omar

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Once you sharpen one on a stone freehand, and see how easy it is, you will be hooked. I know you have enough talent and experience to freehand and use your strops. If you are talking 1095 or other carbon steel slippie like case's CV, they will sharpen just like your carving/whittling knives, and turn out scary sharp. Just go slow on the first to see how quick they respond to your stones and your technique.

Blessings,

Omar

Thanks Omar, I just don't want to screw up my new GEC.

I think you overestimate my ability, or underestimate my ability to fully screw the pooch when it comes to freehand sharpening. Luckily I have my donor Camillus that I can apply my full wrath to, but even so, those kooky blade shapes bottle the mind.

Oh well, we'll see what happens I guess.

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

Alternatively, get some SAK and practice, I guess the blade shape is similar (not having GEC, or the common traditional, cannot be sure)

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I've had good results with a Lansky, when setting more acute bevels on traditional-sized folder blades. It's clamp seems better-suited to handle these smaller blade widths. Once the new bevel is set, I 'strop' them on sandpaper thereafter (that is, when 'regular' stropping isn't quite enough). Freehand sharpening becomes a lot easier with new symmetrical & fairly acute edge geometry in place. That's why I initially reset the bevels with a guide; it gets things started on the right foot.


David

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Alternatively, get some SAK and practice, I guess the blade shape is similar (not having GEC, or the common traditional, cannot be sure)

Good idea. I have a couple of dull SAKs laying around that would make for great practice.

I've had good results with a Lansky, when setting more acute bevels on traditional-sized folder blades. It's clamp seems better-suited to handle these smaller blade widths. Once the new bevel is set, I 'strop' them on sandpaper thereafter (that is, when 'regular' stropping isn't quite enough). Freehand sharpening becomes a lot easier with new symmetrical & fairly acute edge geometry in place. That's why I initially reset the bevels with a guide; it gets things started on the right foot.


David

Interesting. I haven't had much luck with my Lansky using small blades, but it's been some time since I tried. Heavy handles don't help either. It would be nice to have the mounting kit, but I'll give it a shot.

The main wharncliffe will need to have an acute convex, but that would be super easy off a clean acute v-grind. No problems there.

I'll have the knife in hand after work today so I'll have some idea of what I'm working with. I've been told that the main is a good grind (albeit dull-ish, but that's no biggie) and that the secondary pen(?) is ground thin enough to have a little flex. Sounds good to me.

Anyone else have any tips or tricks, let's hear em.

 

[jackknife]

Do you guys use your EPs and WE systems to sharpen slipjoints?

If not what do you use? I'm starting to like them, but they are different than my regular knives, with grinds that are like a Spyderco ffg only they end up really thick at the apex, or they are really short, but have a very tight upward curve at the end.

Honestly I see these as being much harder to sharpen than modern folders, if for no other reason than that they might have two or more small blades with funky edges that I'm just not used to...

These are so easy to sharpen, it's not even funny. But they are different, and sharpening freehand is the way to go. But most people make the mistake of thinking about it too much, and making it more complicated than it has to be. First, forget about everything. Don't think about exact angles and micro bevels and what color compound to put on a strop. Just take a stone, and the knife. I've been using my old boy scout stone I found in a box in the attic, and it works fine.

With the stone in your left hand, if your right handed, take the knife in your right hand, and lay the blade on the stone at 90 degrees, like you're gonna saw the stone in half. Now tilt the blade over halfway to horizontal. That's about 45 degrees. Now cut that angle in half again, and that puts you about where you want to be, 20 something degrees, give or take a few degrees. This an't rocket science so we don't have to be exact.

Now, with the knife on the stone at the 20 something degrees, start honing the blade in a small circular motion starting at the kick, and very slowly working your way to the tip of the knife. During this, do not lift the blade off the stone. After abut a minute, you reach the tip, and then turn the knife over and do the same thing on the other side. If you need, use a dry erase marker to mark the edge so you can see where your honing.

I was taught this way when I was a kid, and it always works. Keeping the knife in contact with the stone in the small circle method, does away with the problem of people not being able to keep the same angle as the method where they take the blade off the stone after a slicing motion. It's easy, fast, and it works. If you want, you can strop it on an old belt to finish it up. You can even hone your pocket knife on the bottom of a coffee mug. In fact, I love coffee mugs to sharpen. Some of them have a nice unglazed ring on the bottom that is a grate knife sharpener. Take a little Scotch Brite and smooth the ring out a bit for a very good edge.

Hope this helped.

Carl.

 

[Skimo]

I can* sharpen tiny blades like Leatherman Micras on my Edge Pro.

*Just because I can doesn't make it fun.

Some knives just don't work that well on a flat table, for rounded blades like Speys, they just take some fluidity.

 

[bonzodog]

dmt aligner for me,some thin blades require a small shim

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

Thanks Carl for these great instructions. One question though. When you reach the belly, towards the tip, do you lift the handle, or just rotate the blade ?

 

[jackknife]

Thanks Carl for these great instructions. One question though. When you reach the belly, towards the tip, do you lift the handle, or just rotate the blade ?

It all depends on te blade and how much belly there is. I watch carefully, and if I need to life the handle a bit to maintain contact with the edge, then I lift the handle just enough to keep it going in contact. It's all a intuitive or instinctive thing, that after a while you develop a feel for. You watch, feel, listen to the sound of the blade on the stone. Sharpening free hand is like going from a compound bow with all the sight pins to a recurve with nothing but instinctive shooting to go by. You learn to trust your feel of it. But it's so simple it becomes second nature after a bit.

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

Thanks, i am trying to get better at freehand, and forget about the sharpmaker, since i only carry traditionals now..and a modern sharpener just doesn't feel the right way. You know what i mean..

 

[jackknife]

Thanks, i am trying to get better at freehand, and forget about the sharpmaker, since i only carry traditionals now..and a modern sharpener just doesn't feel the right way. You know what i mean..

A while back one of the forum members here, Downhill trucker, made a video of my sharpening. If you go to youtube and try searching "Instinctive Sharpening" you may find it. I'm the white bearded guy in the gray flat cap. It may help you to see it done. Good luck.
Carl.

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

Thanks Carl, i've seen you in a picture from before, the one you stand near a scooter. I'll be looking over that video, i'm sure it'll help.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Carl, thanks for taking the time to explain your method. It reminds me of how my pop showed me to sharpen when I was a kid.

If I'm totally honest, my only fear in doing it freehand is that I don't want to mar an otherwise innocent and beautiful factory edge. I suspect that I'm not alone. The thing is, I know that I can get good results from a stone in terms of cutting performance, but I've never been able to achieve a decent *looking* edge. That bothers me, and I've spent a lot of money to prove it!

I guess that if I'm ever going to learn proper freehand sharpening now is as good a time as any, and traditional knives seem like the perfect candidate considering the steel, and the fact that it just *feels* right.

Alright it's settled. Beautiful, brand new polished edges be damned, I'm just gonna break out the stones. Man, I hope I don't regret this!

 

[Nullity]

I recently decided to commit to freehand sharpening. The first knife I reprofiled was my Strider SnG. The new edge is uneven and ugly, but sharp. Really, it's just the edge that is ugly and that's a very small part of the knife. I can't think of a way you could irreparably damage the knife and you can always make the edge look better as your skills improve.

You have to start learning to freehand sometime. Better sooner than later.
Do it!

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

(...)
Interesting. I haven't had much luck with my Lansky using small blades, but it's been some time since I tried. Heavy handles don't help either. It would be nice to have the mounting kit, but I'll give it a shot.

The main wharncliffe will need to have an acute convex, but that would be super easy off a clean acute v-grind. No problems there.

I'll have the knife in hand after work today so I'll have some idea of what I'm working with. I've been told that the main is a good grind (albeit dull-ish, but that's no biggie) and that the secondary pen(?) is ground thin enough to have a little flex. Sounds good to me.

Anyone else have any tips or tricks, let's hear em.

I should've pointed something out in my earlier comment, but it slipped my mind at the time. Depending on the vintage of your Lansky kit & clamp, I could sympathize about the difficulty with smaller blades. I used to use a 'Deluxe' Kit (3 standard hones + 2 ceramics) that may be 20 years old or so. The clamp in that kit didn't securely hold small blades at all (the small dedicated 'notch' in the end of the clamp was worthless). Later on, I replaced that kit with a more recent diamond kit (maybe 3-4 years ago). The new clamp is much, much better for small blades. Here's a pic of mine; I replaced the factory screws with some brass screws of a lower profile, which keeps them more out of the way of the hone at lower angles. The knife in the clamp is a Case 5344 SS stockman; the edge on the pen blade seen is what was created with that setup (I think I used the '20' slot in the clamp):

David

 

[jackknife]

I recently decided to commit to freehand sharpening. The first knife I reprofiled was my Strider SnG. The new edge is uneven and ugly, but sharp. Really, it's just the edge that is ugly and that's a very small part of the knife. I can't think of a way you could irreparably damage the knife and you can always make the edge look better as your skills improve.

You have to start learning to freehand sometime. Better sooner than later.
Do it!

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I should've pointed something out in my earlier comment, but it slipped my mind at the time. Depending on the vintage of your Lansky kit & clamp, I could sympathize about the difficulty with smaller blades. I used to use a 'Deluxe' Kit (3 standard hones + 2 ceramics) that may be 20 years old or so. The clamp in that kit didn't securely hold small blades at all (the small dedicated 'notch' in the end of the clamp was worthless). Later on, I replaced that kit with a more recent diamond kit (maybe 3-4 years ago). The new clamp is much, much better for small blades. Here's a pic of mine; I replaced the factory screws with some brass screws of a lower profile, which keeps them more out of the way of the hone at lower angles. The knife in the clamp is a Case 5344 SS stockman; the edge on the pen blade seen is what was created with that setup (I think I used the '20' slot in the clamp):

David

David,

My clamp is not like that at all. Mine consists of two "L" shaped plates of aluminum. The slot is as you describe, useless. I'm not sure when I bought mine but it must have been 6-7 years ago.

Maybe I should look into investing in a whole new Lansky kit. I never cared much for mine, but maybe they worked out some of the bugs. Big problem areas have been the clamp screws (looks like you have the fix) and the thumb screws on the plastic stone holders.