i have a spyderco chaparral pocket knife in CTS-XHP, and i've never had so much trouble sharpening a knife.
first of all, that protruding finger guard right at the heel of the blade makes it pretty annoying to work the first 5-10mm. that aside...
i'm using the jki gesshin stone set.
i have A LOT of room for improvement, but i can sharpen kitchen knives to my satisfaction. i have a few tests for sharpness and usability: 1) slice cut standard printer paper without snagging or tearing, 2) easily do thin slices of onion and tomato. not high standards, but it works for what i do.
i cannot get this pocket knife to pass those tests. i've tried a few times.
this guy makes it look so easy. i tried his way just kind of whipping it around on there. i also tried a more methodical approach that i use on my kitchen knives (careful, deliberate edge trailing strokes with fingers on the blade to form a burr -- then more edge trailing with gradulally declining pressure -- then deburring on cork -- then some edge-leading, stropping-style strokes).
forming a burr on the 2000 grit was taking forever, so i started with my 400 grit.
i'm forming a burr on my 400 grit stone, but it seems to happen more slowly than i'm used to on other knives in steels like SKD12, shirogami, whatever victorinox is made of, etc.
then i go to my 2000 grit to finish up.
i have no idea how hard the blade is. spyderco doesn't seem to publish that info.
is this steel considered difficult to sharpen, or can i safely blame it all on my technique?
i've never had a knife in difficult-to-sharpen steel, so i can't tell what my problem is.
i wonder if diamond plates would make this easier.
first of all, that protruding finger guard right at the heel of the blade makes it pretty annoying to work the first 5-10mm. that aside...
i'm using the jki gesshin stone set.
i have A LOT of room for improvement, but i can sharpen kitchen knives to my satisfaction. i have a few tests for sharpness and usability: 1) slice cut standard printer paper without snagging or tearing, 2) easily do thin slices of onion and tomato. not high standards, but it works for what i do.
i cannot get this pocket knife to pass those tests. i've tried a few times.
this guy makes it look so easy. i tried his way just kind of whipping it around on there. i also tried a more methodical approach that i use on my kitchen knives (careful, deliberate edge trailing strokes with fingers on the blade to form a burr -- then more edge trailing with gradulally declining pressure -- then deburring on cork -- then some edge-leading, stropping-style strokes).
forming a burr on the 2000 grit was taking forever, so i started with my 400 grit.
i'm forming a burr on my 400 grit stone, but it seems to happen more slowly than i'm used to on other knives in steels like SKD12, shirogami, whatever victorinox is made of, etc.
then i go to my 2000 grit to finish up.
i have no idea how hard the blade is. spyderco doesn't seem to publish that info.
is this steel considered difficult to sharpen, or can i safely blame it all on my technique?
i've never had a knife in difficult-to-sharpen steel, so i can't tell what my problem is.
i wonder if diamond plates would make this easier.