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  1. #1
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    Sharpening stainless pocket knife

    I had just sharpened my knife this morning on my Shapton 1000 and 8000 stones followed by stropping. This was before I went into my oils stone foray. At work I have access to some pretty good magnifiers and looking at the edge of my knife, it's no wonder it didn't feel all that sharp when I was done. Is there something else I need to do with a stainless blade. My chisels and plane irons sharpen up beautifully but this stupid knife, not so much. I plan on getting a better pocket knife at some point but in the meantime, can these cheap stainless knifes be honed to a surgical edge?

  2. #2
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    I carry this pen knife with a 1.5" blade. It's sheffield made, but I don't bother to sharpen to much beyond paper cutting sharp. There are many varieties of stainless steel, my understanding is that the types used for knives are not particularly good at taking a keen edge nor holding it.

    This topic can be a can of worms though, the knife crowd beats the woodworking crowd probably by a 10 to 1 ratio. You just need to browse one of their forums to see all the opinions these guys have. .

    20220426_140551.jpg

    P.S. I sharpen the knife on a washita, pant legs for a strop.
    Last edited by Rafael Herrera; 04-26-2022 at 2:26 PM.

  3. #3
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    I plan on getting a better pocket knife at some point but in the meantime, can these cheap stainless knifes be honed to a surgical edge?
    It depends on what you mean by "cheap stainless knife."

    Chinese stainless is different than Swiss stainless. My Swiss Army knives (stainless) will get a decently sharp edge. Not as well or sharp as my carbon steel Boker knife will.

    Often on pocket knives one thing seen is the bevel is very rounded (convex). A rounded bevel is at best difficult to work in to a sharp edge.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
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  4. #4
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    My 2 Stainless Pocket Knives..both say Pakistan on the blades..
    A Planer? I'm the Planer, and this is what I use

  5. #5
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    I wouldn’t bother sharpening a stainless pocket knife beyond 1000 grit. I find it trickier to keep a consistent bevel on knives with curved blades compared to plane and chisel irons, but decent stainless knives can still be plenty sharp for general use.

  6. #6
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    Get a milwaukee fastback, then you can just dump the blade when its dull. That being said I have my "dress" knives, I try not to cut too much whit them(kind of defeats the purpose I guess).

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by George Yetka View Post
    Get a milwaukee fastback, then you can just dump the blade when its dull. That being said I have my "dress" knives, I try not to cut too much whit them(kind of defeats the purpose I guess).
    That just rubs me the wrong way. I think I need to upgrade to D2 at least. I have a nice one in the cart now.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Hutchings View Post
    That just rubs me the wrong way. I think I need to upgrade to D2 at least. I have a nice one in the cart now.
    I wouldn't want D2 for a pocketknife – it's not stainless (although it's certainly more rust-resistant than most tool steels). I'll second Luke's comment that you probably want to make sure that you're sharpening right to the edge. For knives, geometry is far more important than steel. Steel determines how long it'll stay sharp, but geometry will determine the cutting performance. The sharpest knife I own is probably a cheap stainless Opinel – in large part because Opinel blades have a very acute angle and therefore cut like the dickens. I find my Morakniv utility knives hold a great edge, and they're just basic 12C27. (Part of it, of course, is getting steel made by people who know what they're doing – I think Mora gets theirs from Sandvik, and they also know how to heat-treat properly.) Just my two cents.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tyler Bancroft View Post
    I wouldn't want D2 for a pocketknife – it's not stainless (although it's certainly more rust-resistant than most tool steels). I'll second Luke's comment that you probably want to make sure that you're sharpening right to the edge. For knives, geometry is far more important than steel. Steel determines how long it'll stay sharp, but geometry will determine the cutting performance. The sharpest knife I own is probably a cheap stainless Opinel – in large part because Opinel blades have a very acute angle and therefore cut like the dickens. I find my Morakniv utility knives hold a great edge, and they're just basic 12C27. (Part of it, of course, is getting steel made by people who know what they're doing – I think Mora gets theirs from Sandvik, and they also know how to heat-treat properly.) Just my two cents.
    Exactly. Geometry is way more important. I'd rather have a knife with good geometry sharpened on a coarse stone than a knife with poor geometry polished to the finest grit.

    I'm also not a fan of D2. Though in my case, I'm not so concerned about rust resistance... I just like a knife that sharpens easily in the field, and D2 is kind of the opposite of that.

    I often carry Nata when camping / bushcrafting / adventuring in the streams and mountains here, and those are typically Japanese blue steel which is not very rust resistant, but is easy enough to sharpen. A 1075 Tomahawk also accompanies me from time to time. Just keep it wiped down and oiled and you won't have much of a problem.

    In the USA I carried a similar Higonokami pocket knife for years, even in the summer when I sweated profusely, and I didn't have much of a problem with rust. Then again, those knives are quite "open" and will not trap moisture like some knives will. Again though, I kept it sharp on oil stones, and oiled.

    Stainless is certainly great for food prep though, and is a must for SAKs / multitools, as any rust would cause huge problems with so many moving parts.
    Last edited by Luke Dupont; 04-28-2022 at 12:19 AM.

  10. #10
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    I re-sharpened my pocket knife this morning using my new interest, oil stones. I was able to get a real good burr which took a bit of time to remove on the strop with green compound. I used a magnifier to check my work this time. I would have stopped stropping much sooner had I not taken a close look. I now have a very sharp knife, let's see what kind of abuse it can take before it becomes a butter knife.
    Last edited by Richard Hutchings; 04-28-2022 at 2:06 PM.

  11. #11
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    One item I have added to sharpening knives..stainless or otherwise...

    Comes in it's own leather sheath, that also doubles as a handle...

    Schrade
    OLD-TIMER
    Honesteel

    Found mine at a yard sale.....I think Schrade still sells them?
    A Planer? I'm the Planer, and this is what I use

  12. #12
    I've been using SAK's for 30 years. My everyday knife is one of my most frequently used tools. It takes a good edge and holds it. I don't whittle or carve with it and I use the blade for work that most people would use a utility knife for.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

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  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    It depends on what you mean by "cheap stainless knife."

    Chinese stainless is different than Swiss stainless. My Swiss Army knives (stainless) will get a decently sharp edge. Not as well or sharp as my carbon steel Boker knife will.
    My experience with Swiss stainless hasn't been great. I have two stainless Swiss Army knives; one Wenger, purchased about 25 years ago, and the other Victorinox, purchased about 5 years ago when the body of the Wenger started to come apart (the rivets started letting go). The Wenger takes a good enough edge and holds it okay. I am not convinced that the Victorinox was ever properly hardened--certainly softer than the Wenger and doesn't hold an edge to speak of nor does it take a very good edge. Cut the tape on a dozen boxes and it's already noticeably less sharp. Mine is probably just a dud rather than representative of the product line.

    I replaced the Victorinox with an old pocket knife that belonged to my grandfather before he passed. The nameplate fell off before it came into my hands, but I recall seeing it labeled "Old Timer" when I was a child. The old knife is so much better than either of the newer Swiss ones; takes and holds a better edge, and easier to refresh the edge.

    My experience with Swedish stainless is better than the Swiss (on a sample of one Swedish and two Swiss, so not enough to make a general statement). I have a Mora camping knife ($20 or so, purchased new--is that considered cheap stainless?) that takes and holds a good edge--almost as well as the Old Timer--and I have no complaints.

    So, my anecdotal evidence suggests that stainless knives even from ostensibly reputable makers can vary from poor to very good. It sounds like Richard's knife tends toward the poor end of the spectrum.

  14. #14
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    Sharpening knives is a little trickier than sharpening tools sometimes, if you're not used to it.

    I've had cheap stainless pocket knives that were super difficult to get sharp. My guess is two fold:

    1. First, and most probably, you didn't get down to the edge. Pocket knives, especially those that have been abused for years and not sharpened, but often even straight from the factory, will much of the time have an extremely rounded off and poorly ground edge. Now, I'm a person who loves a good convex edge on a knife or tool, and all of my pocket knives have curvature on the bevel. But the curvature that you find from the factory, or from years of wear, is concentrated at the edge -- exactly where you don't want it, and is really difficult to deal with. Get out your coarsest stone and grind, grind, grind until you feel a burr. That's my advice. When you get a burr, you know you've finally established the right geometry. Until then, you're just polishing a turd!

    2. Some really cheap stainless steels (not good stainless steels like on my SAKs) are just gummy and won't take a keen edge. So if you do #1 and then move on to a finer stone, and still don't get a good edge, this may be the issue. Try out a few other knives.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Bulatowicz View Post
    My experience with Swiss stainless hasn't been great. I have two stainless Swiss Army knives; one Wenger, purchased about 25 years ago, and the other Victorinox, purchased about 5 years ago when the body of the Wenger started to come apart (the rivets started letting go). The Wenger takes a good enough edge and holds it okay. I am not convinced that the Victorinox was ever properly hardened--certainly softer than the Wenger and doesn't hold an edge to speak of nor does it take a very good edge. Cut the tape on a dozen boxes and it's already noticeably less sharp. Mine is probably just a dud rather than representative of the product line.

    I replaced the Victorinox with an old pocket knife that belonged to my grandfather before he passed. The nameplate fell off before it came into my hands, but I recall seeing it labeled "Old Timer" when I was a child. The old knife is so much better than either of the newer Swiss ones; takes and holds a better edge, and easier to refresh the edge.

    My experience with Swedish stainless is better than the Swiss (on a sample of one Swedish and two Swiss, so not enough to make a general statement). I have a Mora camping knife ($20 or so, purchased new--is that considered cheap stainless?) that takes and holds a good edge--almost as well as the Old Timer--and I have no complaints.

    So, my anecdotal evidence suggests that stainless knives even from ostensibly reputable makers can vary from poor to very good. It sounds like Richard's knife tends toward the poor end of the spectrum.

    Curious if your Victorinox was a dud or was damaged somehow... Because, while my victorinox's aren't shining examples of great edge retention nor do they take the finest edges, I can get them hair popping sharp and they stay that way reasonably well.

    Swedish stainless steel is incredible, IMO. I'm referring to Mora knives and the like. They also come ground really nicely from the factory -- it's rare that I can take a new knife to an Arkansas stone and have it sharpen up nicely without first fixing the geometry / grinding out a really buffed and rounded off edge first, but with the last Mora I bought, that's exactly what I did. There was no need to grind on a coarser stone at all -- a first in my experience!

    Opinel's Stainless is pretty good too. Not sure what they use.
    Last edited by Luke Dupont; 04-26-2022 at 9:00 PM.

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