Ever had a knife that you just can’t seem to get sharp?

[T28w]

So I am by no means an expert sharpener but I’ve been sharping knives for at least 20 years through various techniques and have been able to get most knives to shaving hair and cleanly cutting paper sharp. I have a few blades I have been able to get sharp enough to whittle hair if I’m bored and just start sharpening. I mostly use a lansky guide and have a variety of diamond and ceramics to go with it. I have a buck pack lite boning knife in s30v that I can not get even decently sharp. I reproduce the blade at the 20 degree setting and passed bur back and forth and finish with a sapphire stone then stropped. It would catch a few hairs if slide down my hand. I then tried a microbevel at 25 and really didn’t make much of a difference. So has anyone just had a knife like this that just doesn’t want to take a razor edge?

I also have the pack lite caper in the same s30v and noticed that after 2-3 months of living in the kitchen drawer that the blade had several chips out of it that required a fair amount of work to get back to a clean edge with I easily got to shaving sharp after reprofiling.

 

[T28w]

This is also one of the very few buck knives that I’ve open the box and thought “dang this is dull”

 

[Smokeslider]

Every knife I've had is like that after I use it. I suck at sharpening.

 

[AK Troutbum]

A Buck 103 skinner. That thing has always given me fits trying to get it sharp. My dad gave it to me for my 10th birthday, so I'll never let it go, but I rarely if ever, use it anymore.

 

[T28w]

Every knife I've had is like that after I use it. I suck at sharpening.

I could understand if I couldn’t get other knives sharp but that’s not the case. That’s why I was scratching my head after about 20 minutes with it today. Just wondered if others had experienced anything similar. I really like the s30v. Have other bucks and plenty of benchmarked in it. The only thing is this blade is long for the lansky but I can sharpen the same knife in 420 with no issues.

 

[6mm Remington]

T28W & AK Troutbum

I sent both you guys a private message. Hope you take me up on my offer. I had a gentlemen from back east a while back send me 4 knives to sharpen. He insured them and sent them to me and trusted me with 4 very nice knives. I did them and sent them back to him a day or two later. He was so impressed that he sent me 3 more a few weeks later to do. These weren't cheap knives either.
David

 

[swampthing]

Take a flat file and lay a good beating on the edge. Put it back on your lansky and see if it will sharpen then. I have had success with stubborn blades doing that.

 

[tdot]

@swampthing has good advice. I had a set of moderately nice wood chisels that had 2 in the set like that, the rest were amazing. I was told by a guy who was pretty dialed with metallurgy and sharpening wood working tools, that it was possibly either a heat treating issue, or more likely a work hardening issue from the factory sharpening process. (Or atleast thats how I understood the issue) I slowly ground through several years worth of use, ensuring the chisels never got hot and eventually got down to softer metal that took an edge. Maybe that might be whats going on with your knife.

 

[2ski]

I had a maxim set i bought 20 years ago. For $20 bucks. 4 knives. 2 broke. 2 I got sharpened after an hour on each one. The edge lasted oh....2 minutes. Seriously. I didn't try again.

 

[hodgeman]

Buck tends to temper their blades too hard and are nearly impossible to sharpen with a regular stone.

Benchmade is another that tends to be hard to get sharp.

 

[T28w]

Buck tends to temper their blades too hard and are nearly impossible to sharpen with a regular stone.

Benchmade is another that tends to be hard to get sharp.

Not to be argumentative but this is the first buck knife I haven’t been able to get to my satisfactory of sharp enough. I think I have almost every version of a 102 and 3 caping knives boning knives and a skinner. I have a cub bear from knives of Alaska but other that that, every knife I have is benchmade or buck. No problems except for this one.

 

[T28w]

This is the last time I sharpened one of the buck skinners I have.

 

[mikechek1212]

Interesting that putting a microbevel on it didn’t improve things... I thought maybe you weren’t wording the edge until I read that part. If you aren’t stropping, I would definitely invest in one. For me it gets my knives sharper and after mild use it brings the edge right back. Also, I have a jewelers loupe and that has been huge for me for freehand sharpening on whetstones. I also use it with my diamond stones on the lansky but that’s usually pretty easy to apex the full edge and get a bur. What I would do is use a sharpie on the bevel so you can more easily see where you haven’t apexed the edge and order a jewelers loupe so you know exactly what’s going on at the edge. Below is the loupe I have. When I got it a year ago, the two pack was easily the best deal so I got it gave one to a buddy. It looks like the price has gone up a couple bucks but still a decent deal.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TT44XC6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-qx7EbF2GVRMQ

 

[Rokbar]

Worst I had was a gerber. It's was around the time frame wall mart got involved with gerber (cheap steel). I was at a gun show and a vendor selling a sharpening system asked if I would like a demonstration. When he saw the gerber he pretty much got embarassed and told me to have a good day. It's not that I can't sharpen a knife, it's keeping it sharp for me. I've heard if you put too fine an edge on one, microscopically, the edge can roll ?

 

[curt514]

S30V has load of large pieces of vanadium carbide. That is what make it a long wearing steel that holds an edge.

If you try to sharpen it on a standard stone you may think you are sharpening it but what you are really doing is just removing the metal around the carbides until they fall out.

You need to use diamond stones up to about 800. That will leave you a sharp toothy edge. If you want a finer edge, then you would strop with either diamond or cbn paste. Don’t waste your time with any green, black, or any plane compounds. The only thing that will touch the vanadium is diamond and cbn.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mavinwa2]

Buck 110 and Gerber blad
Razor Edges now using a Worksharp belt sharpener

Now more just sentimental back up to my main SOG & Bladetech

 

[Rob5589]

Pretty much, every knife. I suck at sharpening. I now use a Rugged Ridge replaceable blade knife.
I did buy a Worksharp and can do alright with that.

 

[T28w]

Worst I had was a gerber. It's was around the time frame wall mart got involved with gerber (cheap steel). I was at a gun show and a vendor selling a sharpening system asked if I would like a demonstration. When he saw the gerber he pretty much got embarassed and told me to have a good day. It's not that I can't sharpen a knife, it's keeping it sharp for me. I've heard if you put too fine an edge on one, microscopically, the edge can roll ?

I agree in theory on the edge rolling but not at the angle I’m setting and it would be rolled while in use Not during the sharpening process.

 

[6mm Remington]

https://www.buckknives.com/about-knives/bucks-forever-warranty/

T28w & Ak Troutbum you might also look at this attachment. You can send your knives back into Buck and for $6.95 they will "sharpen, polish, and adjust" your blades and ship them back to you.

 

[Beendare]

I can't hand sharpen stuff....I need a jig system. I use an Edge Pro or GATCO....sometimes the V shaped chock sticks....and I like S30V...it gets popping sharp.

If the knife moves even a tiny bit in the jig though...it will screw you up and not get sharp.

I'm really liking that S90V in the Benchmade Altitude....that knife holds a crazy edge.

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