Tanto Sebenza Sharpening Strategy

[Modernflame]

I don't like the factory edge on this tanto Sebenza. I want to sharpen it, but I'm struggling with the approach and I'd like to solicit opinions. If the main edge is 20 dps, then it seems that the tanto grind must be fairly similar, as the bevel width is the same near the corner. The tanto edge gets wider with the increasing thickness of the steel.

The factory has applied a lovely belt satin finish to the tanto grind with a very obtuse micro bevel. The appearance is magnificent, but the micro bevel is so obtuse I struggle to measure it. It cuts like a splitting maul. To be clear, when I speak of cutting performance, I'm talking about the part of the blade circled in red. I know the main tip is not designed for fine cutting.




It seems to me the options are:

1) Flat grind the tanto edge at 20 degrees per side to match the straight edge. The result will be better cutting geometry, a coarse diamond finish, and a crisp tanto corner. However, I will loose the belt satin finish.

2) Get over it and follow the factory micro bevel.


How do you guys approach this?

Edited to reduce the wall of text.

 

[Grasshopperglock]

You have a lot going on. I recommend you finding something similar for cheap.

Practice this edge before doing it to your nice knife.

If you're confident. No issues there. Get it after it. Consider a 17/20 edge angle.

But, are you sure about a micro bevel? Have you sharpened one in before? Used it and tried it out?

Brother, I like your knife. Buy a beater knife to get the details down.

 

[Modernflame]

You have a lot going on. I recommend you finding something similar for cheap.

Practice this edge before doing it to your nice knife.

If you're confident. No issues there. Get it after it. Consider a 17/20 edge angle.

But, are you sure about a micro bevel? Have you sharpened one in before? Used it and tried it out?

Brother, I like your knife. Buy a beater knife to get the details down.

Thanks. Not really what I'm asking. Sharpened lots.

 

[Grasshopperglock]

Thanks. Not really what I'm asking. Sharpened lots.

So, just thinking out loud?

Micro edge sucks or every manufacturer would include it as an option.Besides Mora.

I wish you luck on getting it to work.


Nice blade, none the less.

 

[Modernflame]

It does indeed suck. I could probably be more concise in my question. The knife looks good but sucks at cutting. I can improve the cutting at the expense of the finish. I'm asking other tanto sebenza owners how they approach.

The problem is specific to crk because of the belt satin finish.

 

[MrStabby7]

Thats one thing I never really liked about the tanto CRKs. I think they look great but sharpening seems to be a bit of a pain. I think they recommend you send it in everytime which doesn't seem realistic to me. Send your knife in everytime it needs a sharpen. No thanks!

If it were me I'd probably go with option 1 especially if your gonna keep it. but I understand trying to follow the micro best you can especially if you think you'll sell it at some point.

 

[brock stewart]

My limited experience with tanto I sharpen 20dps for main cutting edge and leave tip to scrape

 

[jacobconroy75]

I don't like the factory edge on this tanto Sebenza. I want to sharpen it, but I'm struggling with the approach and I'd like to solicit opinions. If the main edge is 20 dps, then it seems that the tanto grind must be fairly similar, as the bevel width is the same near the corner. The tanto edge gets wider with the increasing thickness of the steel.

The factory has applied a lovely belt satin finish to the tanto grind with a very obtuse micro bevel. The appearance is magnificent, but the micro bevel is so obtuse I struggle to measure it. It cuts like a splitting maul. To be clear, when I speak of cutting performance, I'm talking about the part of the blade circled in red. I know the main tip is not designed for fine cutting.

View attachment 2479664


It seems to me the options are:

1) Flat grind the tanto edge at 20 degrees per side to match the straight edge. The result will be better cutting geometry, a coarse diamond finish, and a crisp tanto corner. However, I will loose the belt satin finish.

2) Get over it and follow the factory micro bevel.


How do you guys approach this?

Edited to reduce the wall of text.

I think you told me you use a WE. If you do, this worked for me:

I sharpen all large Inkosis (of any blade type) with the same settings. It happened to work for the Inkosi Tanto as well. Mine may or may not have had a micro bevel, but it does now.

WE recipe = Top holes (blade touching both posts)/37mm between clamp and tip/20DPS on scale (actually 18.3 measured)

Looks like this:





In summary, I don't know what the angle turned out to be on the micro bevel, but I don't change nuthin. I sharpen the primary edge, then the micro bevel. This might offend the purists, but I want a very sharp knife that can be made sharp again with no art or experimenting involved.

We have dental dog treats that we give the pups each night. They are very tough to cut in half (longwise) with any CRK, except for the Inkosi Tanto. The spot where the edges meets pushed right through 'em like butter.

Sorry for the crappy pics. Was trying to get close the edges. Lemme know if you want a different sorta picture.

Maybe it'll work for the Sebbie too.

 

[Modernflame]

I think you told me you use a WE. If you do, this worked for me:

I sharpen all large Inkosis (of any blade type) with the same settings. It happened to work for the Inkosi Tanto as well. Mine may or may not have had a micro bevel, but it does now.

WE recipe = Top holes (blade touching both posts)/37mm between clamp and tip/20DPS on scale (actually 18.3 measured)

Looks like this:

View attachment 2479877

View attachment 2479878

In summary, I don't know what the angle turned out to be on the micro bevel, but I don't change nuthin. I sharpen the primary edge, then the micro bevel. This might offend the purists, but I want a very sharp knife that can be made sharp again with no art or experimenting involved.

We have dental dog treats that we give the pups each night. They are very tough to cut in half (longwise) with any CRK, except for the Inkosi Tanto. The spot where the edges meets pushed right through 'em like butter.

Sorry for the crappy pics. Was trying to get close the edges. Lemme know if you want a different sorta picture.

Maybe it'll work for the Sebbie too.

Excellent! Do you use the advanced alignment guide? Like I put drop points at C6 and insingos at C5.

 

[jacobconroy75]

Excellent! Do you use the advanced alignment guide? Like I put drop points at C6 and insingos at C5.

Mine is about ten years old and didn't come with the AG. That's why I have the little formula posted above, lol.

That being said, things might turn out a little differently on a newer WE. Mine looks like this:



And no, I'm not the one that ground the clamp all to crap. Never loan out your WE to a relative!

 

[Modernflame]

jacobconroy75 That worked a treat! This method is like a compromise between my options above. The microbevel is a bit more acute.



I put the main edge at 20 dps.

The resulting angle on the tanto is quite svelte at under 16! My dissatisfaction with the cutting performance must have been due to the factory edge.



The final product is as beautiful as it is functional. I've learned a new respect for this knife!

 

[Modernflame]

The wicked edge settings would officially be as follows:

Upper depth setting, flat.

Main tip is at the bottom left corner of E6.

Angle setting: 20

Measured angle on main edge: 20 dps.

Measured angle on tanto: 15.75 dps.

 

[jacobconroy75]

jacobconroy75 That worked a treat! This method is like a compromise between my options above. The microbevel is a bit more acute.

View attachment 2483010

I put the main edge at 20 dps.View attachment 2483011

The resulting angle on the tanto is quite svelte at under 16! My dissatisfaction with the cutting performance must have been due to the factory edge.

View attachment 2483012

The final product is as beautiful as it is functional. I've learned a new respect for this knife!

View attachment 2483013

View attachment 2483014

Glad it worked out for you. I was expecting a fight when getting ready to sharpen my Tanto. Turned out to be easy.

I did notice from the pics that your WE clamps seem to be quite a bit wider than my old ones. Measuring from the center of the clamps (meaning the socket the rods pivot from) probably would have been a better choice when I chose to share the formula.

I think it's a cool looking edge!

 

[Modernflame]

Glad it worked out for you. I was expecting a fight when getting ready to sharpen my Tanto. Turned out to be easy.

I did notice from the pics that your WE clamps seem to be quite a bit wider than my old ones. Measuring from the center of the clamps (meaning the socket the rods pivot from) probably would have been a better choice when I chose to share the forumula.

I think it's a cool looking edge!

I thought the clamps were the same size? The only meaningful difference would be the split that allows the newer clamp to flex around a distal taper. Could be wrong, but both versions are old now.

Edit: Nevermind. I see you're right.

 

[rishma]

jacobconroy75 That worked a treat! This method is like a compromise between my options above. The microbevel is a bit more acute.

View attachment 2483010

I put the main edge at 20 dps.View attachment 2483011

The resulting angle on the tanto is quite svelte at under 16! My dissatisfaction with the cutting performance must have been due to the factory edge.

View attachment 2483012

The final product is as beautiful as it is functional. I've learned a new respect for this knife!

View attachment 2483013

View attachment 2483014

Great edge photos. Well done. The edge looks sublime.

 

[jjg6319]

The original post ended up using a wicked edge to sharpen the tanto blade. The end result looked great from the pictures. Does anyone with an Edge Pro have any tips for sharpening the tanto blade?

If you watch a Ben Dale video he sharpens the main portion of the blade like normal and then lets the tanto front portion of the blade hangover the side of the table and sharpens that portion. I was curious if anyone did this and could pass along any tips? If you drop the angle down to match the factory grind or just use the angle from the main grind of the blade?

 

[adluginb]

Glad I found this thread. I’ve just came into a user Zaan tanto and it needs sharpened.

I use a TS prof sharpener. If I use 20degrees for main cutting edge I’d be ok to go ahead and use same angle for the tanto part? Is that what you did? M Modernflame

I assume I don’t try and reclamp my knife for the tanto edge, just leave it clamped as was for main edge? And by doing this it makes it around 16 degrees for the tanto edge.

 

[Ilikesharpstuff]

Glad I found this thread. I’ve just came into a user Zaan tanto and it needs sharpened.

I use a TS prof sharpener. If I use 20degrees for main cutting edge I’d be ok to go ahead and use same angle for the tanto part? Is that what you did? M Modernflame

I assume I don’t try and reclamp my knife for the tanto edge, just leave it clamped as was for main edge? And by doing this it makes it around 16 degrees for the tanto edge.

I sharpened a tanto Sebenza I no longer own on my TS Prof a couple years ago. I did not change the clamping position from sharpening the straight edge and did my best to match the angle on the tanto rather than just leaving it the same. Without moving the knife, while I was able to clean up the cutting edge, I wasn't hitting the entire tanto bevel. I'd think your best bet would be to clamp so that the tanto edge was as parallel to the clamps as possible and then try to match the existing angle via coloring it with sharpie to see where you're removing material. It is convex so it will take a bit of work to flatten it out, but it goes fast.

 

[Modernflame]

Glad I found this thread. I’ve just came into a user Zaan tanto and it needs sharpened.

I use a TS prof sharpener. If I use 20degrees for main cutting edge I’d be ok to go ahead and use same angle for the tanto part? Is that what you did? M Modernflame

I assume I don’t try and reclamp my knife for the tanto edge, just leave it clamped as was for main edge? And by doing this it makes it around 16 degrees for the tanto edge.

Sorry for the delayed response. You are correct that I did not change the position of the knife in the jig. If I were sharpening it today for the first time, I would clamp the knife further back, so that it protrudes less from the front of the jig. I would still use one position for both edges, but I'd have a less acute microbevel.

Side note: I still own this knife, but it's been rebladed with an insingo. The tanto hasn't been used since it was returned to me.