Search

Knife Sharpening

fastjan

March 22, 2013 18:40

I finally had to re-sharpen my user 710-801 (with the green handle & M4 blade) and decided to change sharpening angles a bit. It was previously sharpened at 21 degrees per side, which I think must have been the factory angle, but this morning I changed it to 17 degrees per side.

I used an EdgePro 120 stone, followed by their 220 stone and then went with a horsehide strop charged with Green Chrome Compound from Tru Grit in Ontario, CA.

How sharp is it now? Freakin dangerous!

Comments

12 comments

po

March 22, 2013 23:30
Nothing like a fine edge to inspire awe.
0
ryxlyx

March 22, 2013 23:55
There was a guy couple yrs ago on BF who said he'd taken M4 down to 7 degrees per side, said M4 strengths a waste otherwise. I guess I don't like to tempt fate. 7 degrees? That would seem to put the top of the primary up somewhere near the grind shoulder.

Great for vegies!
0
fastjan

March 23, 2013 01:49
quote:

Originally posted by ryxlyx:
There was a guy couple yrs ago on BF who said he'd taken M4 down to 7 degrees per side, said M4 strengths a waste otherwise. I guess I don't like to tempt fate. 7 degrees? That would seem to put the top of the primary up somewhere near the grind shoulder.

Great for vegies!

Po's old buddy Joe Talmadge used to say that if you don't take your super steel edges to a steeper angle, then there's really no reason to go with a super steel. (That was a terrible re-quote, but I think you get the idea.)

I took an M390 710 down to 10 degrees per side and I ended up rolling the edge while cutting something, so I went back and put a 15 degree micro bevel on it. So far, so good.
0
otacon

March 23, 2013 03:50
I got a EP a few weeks ago. I'm still learning. I'm having a hard time sharpening the bottom of my blade on my para millie the rest is beautifully polished. The para is my practice blade because I scraped the crap outta blade the first time and made it a user.

So far I am slightly discouraged with my ability with the EP.

I'm still lost on how to do serrations, do I just place it at the black line, do I still need the cardboard to help raise the knife as described in the video. If I am correct Ben Dale didn't have a black line setting in the video.

I honestly terrible with sharpening. No good one any system. I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk", I just aint got the rhythm.
0
fastjan

March 23, 2013 06:44
Korz, I've never heard of putting cardboard under the blade. That must be an attempt to keep it level with the black plank it sits on so you can get an accurate angle read with the colored marks. If that's it, you might want to do what most of us do and that is to just lay the blade down tight against the plank so it stays put.

Some other things that helped me are first, don't apply any more pressure than just the weight of your arm...let the stones do the work. Also, keep your stones flattened so they aren't dished out. Without a flat stone, nothing works right. Let me know if you need help on flattening your stones.

For the serrated parts, you have two easy choices...either just ignore them and sharpen that part of the blade like any other, or you can go to Wal-mart and buy a $7 tapered diamond sharpener and just hand run it up & down in each serration. It only takes a minute and works great.
0
raisa

March 23, 2013 09:27
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should one use a sharpening steel or any of the other patented sharpening devices on the market. They may promise a revolutionary way to simplify sharpening a knife, but this is simply marketing twaddle.

quote:

Originally posted by Korzs30v:
I honestly terrible with sharpening. No good one any system. I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk", I just aint got the rhythm.

You could sell/trade it with me,I don't need a black line or videos,'Learning by doing' is a motto.
0
raisa

March 23, 2013 09:41
Still need some advice - long lasting 120 grit stone on market????

BTW 220 original EdgePro stone is a best one.
0
skimo

March 23, 2013 12:19
Atoma makes the 140 grit diamond stone, used properly it's great for super steels.. Chefknivestogo or something like that... He's got a ton of stones cut for the EP.
0
raisa

March 23, 2013 13:00
quote:

Originally posted by Skimo:
Atoma makes the 140 grit diamond stone, used properly it's great for super steels.....

Yeah I know about chefknivestogo it's just a lot different there but if you mean Atoma 140 grit
is good to go I should try it,thanks for advice.
0
theoneandonly

March 23, 2013 14:01
quote:

Originally posted by Po:
Nothing like a fine edge to inspire awe.

I second that sentiment, and being able to do it yourself, priceless!
0
fastjan

March 24, 2013 04:42
I was just doing a test cut on type paper with a 950 Forum Knife "user" and I noticed it was snagging up a bit. So, I put it on the strop for my usual 7 strokes per side and it's once again so sharp that you can't tell it from new.

There are other things you can test you blade on other than type paper that might better prove the sharpness of your blade. Some guys use newspaper, some use toilet paper. Personally, I only use type paper to see if there is a rough spot on the blade that catches or snags the paper. If it does, I'll start by stropping, then if necessary, go to a crock stick followed by stropping and if none of that works, I'll pull out the EdgePro and start over, but that's not usually necessary with M4 steel.
0
georgeb

March 24, 2013 13:56
Guided systems are nice if you have the time. I find myself using small dmt diamonds freehand then stropping 95% of the time. I'm done in less time than it takes to set up a sharpening guide. Still use a variety of guided sharpeners but mostly on kitchen cutlery.
0