sharpening S35VN

Hi all
I recently got myself a Boker pocket knife - (it is actually my first pocket knife, and as it turns out, not UK friendly at all as it locks, and I didn't pay attention when I bought it ) .
The blade is made of CPM S35VN which I understand is a type of powdered steel.
I'm having a bit of a hard time getting it to the desired level of sharpness, definitely more difficult than R2/SG2 kitchen knife.
The edge is sharpened at about 20-22 dps, and the blade becomes quite thick very quickly - about 3.5mm 2cm up, and 3.9mm at the spine.
Is S35VN known for this, or is it due to the thickness, or is it my technique ? I'm using the same stones as I do for kitchen knives (Choseras/Naniwa Pro) and they seem a bit slow with it.
Should I get a different stone ?

I have several pocket knives in that steel and in even harder steels then that.My set up that I use for sharpening my pocket knives are on a KME Sharpener and I use the DMT Diamond plates that come with the kit,with a couple drops of mineral oil on them.My knives come away razor sharp and I do mean razor sharp.I haven't tried sharpening them on water stones yet.They all keep a great edge so no need to sharpen them for a loooong time.I mostly just use them,just in case or when I need to cut a veggi off a plant in the garden.Your Boker is a wonderful knife btw.

Hmm, Although I'm sure it works, I'm not going to buy KME for one pocket knife. I'm positive it should be possible to sharpen these on water stones. It came reasonably sharp-ish out of the box, I tried to improve it and made it worse.

liren1 said:

I'm having a bit of a hard time getting it to the desired level of sharpness, definitely more difficult than R2/SG2 kitchen knife . . . . Is S35VN known for this, or is it due to the thickness, or is it my technique ?

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Would need more info to evaluate. Have you troubleshooted by checking for burr/wire-edge? What grit progression are you using for sharpening? How is the knife ground? (full flat, convex, scandi, etc.)

Also, I think that most folders are heat treated to lower hardness than the kitchen knives you're used to. They sort of have to in order to be fit for purpose. So it's possible that, even though this is PM steel, it could be treated in the 58Hrc range. That wouldn't prevent the steel from taking and holding a keen edge, but the difference in HT could affect how you get there.

liren1 said:

Hmm, Although I'm sure it works, I'm not going to buy KME for one pocket knife. I'm positive it should be possible to sharpen these on water stones. It came reasonably sharp-ish out of the box, I tried to improve it and made it worse.

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Yes,for sure,not for one pocket knife.I have many but my relatives and neighbors always bring me their knives to sharpen so the KME works for me.I see no reason why you can not achieve a good edge on your Choseras.

chiffonodd said:

Would need more info to evaluate. Have you troubleshooted by checking for burr/wire-edge? What grit progression are you using for sharpening? How is the knife ground? (full flat, convex, scandi, etc.)

Also, I think that most folders are heat treated to lower hardness than the kitchen knives you're used to. They sort of have to in order to be fit for purpose. So it's possible that, even though this is PM steel, it could be treated in the 58Hrc range. That wouldn't prevent the steel from taking and holding a keen edge, but the difference in HT could affect how you get there.

Click to expand...

I sharpened my usual way as with kitchen knives, that is a bit of stropping motions on each stone at the end for deburring, also deburring with a cork or felt, and stropping on leather. I used Chosera 1k and 3k. From the website where I bought it (knivesandtools) it says:
Way of sharpening: hollow, Western sharpening angle
Type of edge: plain edge
It doesn't say what the hardness is, but I assume it's 58-60.

A quick image search for mirror polished s35vn yields... nothing. Some results from other forums suggest that is indeed hard to do.

That might be a hint that this steel will resist being as evenly abraded as you would want for a fine push cutting edge...