Knife sharpening recommendation

[Yard Dawg]

Hey guys,

Looking into purchasing a good sharpener for my Benchmade S30V folding knife. 

Thoughts?  
 

[TomInMN]

5 minutes ago, Yard Dawg said:

Hey guys,

Looking into purchasing a good sharpener for my Benchmade S30V folding knife. 

Thoughts?  
 

Buy a second knife, send each one back to Benchmade once a year so you have a fresh edge about every six months.

[Smith]

Send it to Willis68 at Bad Ass Blades. I bought several different sharpening systems and got decent results, but my money would have been better spent sending it to Willis instead. Plus he's local. 

[Yard Dawg]

Thanks, but I like to keep it sharp all the time. 
Would prefer to do it myself. Just not sure which sharpener would be worth the “investment”.

 

[Yard Dawg]

3 minutes ago, Smith said:

Send it to Willis68 at Bad Ass Blades. I bought several different sharpening systems and got decent results, but my money would have been better spent sending it to Willis instead. Plus he's local. 

What’s the average cost of having it done by a “pro”?

[Hozzie]

I use a KME which works well for me for what I wanted to spend.  https://www.kmesharp.com/

I think Willis uses the mack daddy version of the Wicked Edge system. https://wickededgeusa.com/

 

[Smith]

14 minutes ago, Yard Dawg said:

What’s the average cost of having it done by a “pro”?

It depends on the blade, length, grit, style, etc. but $20-$35 IIRC. gets you a mirror finish and sharper than anything else you will find.

[MacGyver]

I think the KME is the best buy in the sharpening business.  They make a great product that will sharpen everything you've got.

If you're looking to spend a little less, a Spyderco sharpmaker and a decent strop will serve you well.  Frankly, for S30V - so long as you're not abusive - you should be able to keep it popping sharp with a strop so long as you keep up with it.

[E4 No More]

1 hour ago, Yard Dawg said:

What’s the average cost of having it done by a “pro”?

IIRC, Willis does it for 10$ per blade. He can't so small blades, but the ones that he does have a polished edge. Can't get any sharper than that. The edge lasts pretty long too depending on the metal. Also IIRC, his sharpening system cost his $650 to start.

[aknifemaker]

look into Edge Pro system, not pro grade but good for DIY. Veritas compound and a nice piece of leather on a wooden block for polishing.

If you want to go old school get a double sided Norton India Stone carborundum (coarse) and Aluminum Oxide (fine) and do it by hand.

Lots of practice!!

[tbenedict]

I think it is a bit therapeutic to sharpen/strop sometimes, but it can be frustrating too.  I can get one hair popping and recently got the KO Work Sharp to "play with".  

If you don't enjoy doing it or want a top quality edge, I would recommend sending it to Willis and buying a strop block (Knives Plus has a good one) to maintain the edge.  Gentle stopping will realign a good edge dramatically reducing the need to sharpen unless chipped or such.  

[DWARREN123]

I use different grade stones and finish up with a ceramic rod.

I will some times polish with leather or rough grade cardboard.

 

[willis68]

Guys if you want to just get a decent knife sharpener buy a Spyderco sharp maker, and learn to use it  that will serve you well however if you want them as sharp as my experience and equipment will do that will take you years of experience and could cost a few grand 

I do have a friend that can get a knife as sharp as my systems do by hand but he is very expensive and rightly so 

Someone mentioned I charge only $10 a blade that is only on a very rare occasion or when i did a multi knife deal for someone I also can sharpen small blades depending on if I have the correct adapter on hand 

As someone else mentioned if I put my best edge on a knife it can be maintained with a leather strop 

 

 

 

[peejman]

The spyderco, lansky, and smith's sharpener systems all work fine. Pick the one you find on sale. 

[GlockSpock]

I absolutely love the Spyderco Sharpmaker. Up until I purchased this sharpener, I generally hated knives with S30V. They'd come very nicely sharp from the factory. I'd dull them up but never be able to sharpen them again. With the Sharpmaker, several times a month I just set it up (takes like 30 seconds), run the blade down between each of the stones for about five minutes. Keeps it nice and sharp.

Then I spend a few moments running the blade over this cheap but great leather strop.

I personally don't get into whether or not my blades can slice a hair into multiple pieces longways, etc etc. For me, if it will slice through a piece of copier paper like butter that's good enough for me. I generally use my carry knife for boxes, tape, maybe envelopes, and the occasional rope or string. Using the above sharpening method, it excels at all of these as long as I keep up maintenance regularly.

I know many people are fans of the systems such as Lansky or even fancier, but to me they take too much time to setup and use. I suppose if you are going for the absolute sharpest edge available, they are great. But I like to put them into perspective. How many of our grandfathers ever used such a system? For them, whetstones and strops were enough to keep their blades sharp.

[GlockSpock]

I will also add, the best $ spent regarding sharpening is $0.00 spent doing some research. Educate yourself about grinds, angles, types of steel, etc. Like most (I assume), I used to think that smaller angles were always better. When I discovered that Spyderco uses 40° angles on their pocket knives, I thought to myself that I was always pleased with the factory edges from them. So with the Sharpmaker that's exactly what I mimic. It's been a while since I've done so, but my kitchen knives get 30°.

If one just buys expensive sharpeners, etc then more than likely they will just make the edge worse. A little bit of education goes a very long way.

[willis68]

4 hours ago, GlockSpock said:

I will also add, the best $ spent regarding sharpening is $0.00 spent doing some research. Educate yourself about grinds, angles, types of steel, etc. Like most (I assume), I used to think that smaller angles were always better. When I discovered that Spyderco uses 40° angles on their pocket knives, I thought to myself that I was always pleased with the factory edges from them. So with the Sharpmaker that's exactly what I mimic. It's been a while since I've done so, but my kitchen knives get 30°.

If one just buys expensive sharpeners, etc then more than likely they will just make the edge worse. A little bit of education goes a very long way.

My experience level with sharpening took several hundred knives to achieve, I absolutely destroyed multiple knives before getting comfortable enough to do my expensive ones, I have had to fix several knives that people tried to sharpen with their brand new systems, one of them being a $2500 custom that I was barely able to correct. 
 

I agree with what you are saying about the Sharp maker and strop I started with one of the very first editions of the sharp maker, once I mastered it I bought an Edge Pro, I then began to learn the true meaning of a sharp knife. The edge pro Apex amazed me until I started using Wicked Edge, I now own a commercial Wicked Edge system and damn near everything you can get with it, with my experience it is the best way on earth to get a knife as sharp as it possibly can get, now when I sharpen a knife to the level my equipment is capable of a leather strop is all that’s needed to maintain the edge, 

as far as angles, 40 inclusive 20 degrees per side does not work on all blades, sometimes the type of steel can drastically change what angle it should be sharpened at, Pro Tech knives with 154CM are sharpened at the factory at approximately 17 degrees per side, and that is what I keep them at, their TR4 Knives, most of them anyway are made with D2 steel those work best at 19 degrees per side, 

the only knife that I m aware of that absolutely needs 40 Inclusive, 20DPS is the Zero Tolerance 0350 I have probably sharpened at least 50 of them and that is the only angle I can get them laser sharp at  that is S30V steel, but any other knife that uses it I can make sharp at nearly any angle so the profile of the blade can effect what angle it needs as well

[Yard Dawg]

Wanted to provide an update:

Decided to let Willis68 work his magic and man, did he do a great job! I’ve never had an edge this sharp!
He also recommended a strop to maintain the edge, which is currently on order. 
 

So happy with the work done and his efforts to get it back to me so quickly! 

Very much appreciated!!!!!

[Gunner4570]

I have looked into the former system wet stone pricy but very good 

[TGO David]

 

I bought a KME sharpening system 2-3 years ago and have used it countless times since.  Sharpening consists of healthy percentages of science and technique (read: artform), neither of which can be ignored unless you want to scrap a bunch of knives.

If I were starting over at this very moment, I'd probably look at one of the smaller systems from TSProf.  Even though they are a Russian company and we are supposed to hate Russia right now, the guys who run it are likely as innocent of anything their government is doing as any of us are innocent of what ours does.  I wouldn't be dissuaded from buying one of their kits.

https://tsprof.us

 

Look at the Kadet and Blitz product lines. 

 

I'm shopping for a TSProf KM03 but just haven't thrown my money at it yet.  Maybe soon.  As much as I love my KME, I think the TSProf KM03 is even better.  But... $$$.

 

 

 

[billmeek]

9 hours ago, TGO David said:

https://www.tsprof.us

That link didn't work for me.  But this one does:

https://tsprof.us/

[Will Carry]

Yard Dog I highly recommend a ceramic sharpening stick along with a good set of stones. Once you get the knife sharp you can use the ceramic stick to keep it sharp and it does remove a lot of blade.  I also recommend a pocket microscope from Amazone for $15. 60-120 power. With that you can look at the edge up close.