Thread: Best way to sharpen Mercator Stainless?

I got wise in the end, but I must have lost a few mercators, they will be sitting next to a pile of rabbit guts. Flicked into the ground prior to squeezing the guts out and stowing on the motorbike..... turn back around, and were the fuck did that go?
I hit on the idea of polishing off the black paint with sand paper, much easier to see the shiny bit sticking out of the ground! Never lost that last one for 20 years!

Loaned it to a guy to cut some wrapping plastic off at work one day, several hrs later...... bro where's my knife, 5 pocket haka and no knife.
I dont loan knives any more, not even if you stay in my sight... get ya own bloody knife.

bit of colorful string through the wee loop helps no end too...if you watch the Graf Brothers video....the young fell has his on a LONG string....

Originally Posted by Hahn

If it's like any other hardened stainless blade, don't use a steel after sharpening on a carbide. You'll rip chunks out of it... Found that out the hard way with a 440hc blade

90% of times you need to sharpen it it just needs its edge straightened, does not need a stone that removes metal.

Just use a smooth steel nail as a sharpening steel. It does not need to take anything off the blade, all it does is straighten the microscopic bends of the edge / ridge.

Stainless blades have the general advantage that they get work-hardened by the strokes, which helps retain the edge. Not sure if carbon steel work-hardens much, someone please chip in.

Yeah it was fairly dull so put it on the kitchen sharpener then on my hunting steel. Ripped out quite a few chunks. I took it into work and had one of the machinists have a look. He showed me under a microscope what a carbide sharpener does to hardened steel. It had microscopic cracks all the way from the heel to the point. So now use the steel and diamond file every now and then if it needs it.

Originally Posted by johnd

I got wise in the end, but I must have lost a few mercators, they will be sitting next to a pile of rabbit guts. Flicked into the ground prior to squeezing the guts out and stowing on the motorbike..... turn back around, and were the fuck did that go?
I hit on the idea of polishing off the black paint with sand paper, much easier to see the shiny bit sticking out of the ground! Never lost that last one for 20 years!

Loaned it to a guy to cut some wrapping plastic off at work one day, several hrs later...... bro where's my knife, 5 pocket haka and no knife.
I dont loan knives any more, not even if you stay in my sight... get ya own bloody knife.

I got caught with a Mercator in Heathrow Airport!

My check in bag was over weight so at the last minute I moved some stuff and I looked in horror as my faithful Mercator showed up on the x-ray screen..

Apparently a Mercator is over the maximum legal length for a folding knife in the UK..the guy (and his supervisor) was pretty serious about it at first, but after I explained I was a Kiwi hunter and these things are as common as muck in NZ he took it off me and let me off.

Pissed me off because I really tried to look after that one!

Originally Posted by 40mm

Best way I have found (but not the only way) is to replace it with a carbon steel blade!

I have an Opinel #8, only downside is it can be a bastard to open if not used for a while. I cut some of the handle away to allow more grip on the blade when opening. Also a carrrying it daily and using it often helps keep it opening easily.

I have a couple stainless kitchen knives and dislike em, not to say that they are rubbish or un sharpenable though.
I am bias towards carbon steel.


It also sounds way cooler.

@40mm to solve your issue with the Opinel being difficult to open, remove the blade from the handle, and using some sand paper or a fine tooth hand saw, relieve (open up) the cut in the handle where the blade hinge is. You only need to remove a very small amount. Reassemble, and the knife will be a dream to use from there on in.
They become difficult to open because the factory uses kiln dried timber for the handle. Once they get into our humid environment and get washed a couple of times, the wood swells making the blade hinge too tight.

Thanks @hotbarrels

For a quick and dirty hone, believe it or not the top of your vehicle side window glass works pretty well.

Originally Posted by Cordite

90% of times you need to sharpen it it just needs its edge straightened, does not need a stone that removes metal.

Just use a smooth steel nail as a sharpening steel. It does not need to take anything off the blade, all it does is straighten the microscopic bends of the edge / ridge.

Stainless blades have the general advantage that they get work-hardened by the strokes, which helps retain the edge. Not sure if carbon steel work-hardens much, someone please chip in.

Manganese is typically the element responsible for work hardening tendencies in carbon steels, the percentage of manganese in steel is sometimes increased in the manufacturing process for such things as cutting teeth or blades on earthmoving equipment, with a knife its not really desirable to have the blade work harden as it will become increasingly difficult to sharpen and increase in brittleness with a tendency for breakage as usage occurs, so the manganese content is moderated to produce the desirable hardness qualities (Rockwell Hardness) obtained by hardening and tempering but limit the tendency for work hardening. @Von Gruff Knives on here could probably write you a thesis on this subject, I'm 40 years out of engineering but this is how I recall it.

Bought my Son the new slightly bigger ss version of a Mercator a couple of years ago.
I just sharpen it the same as anything else.....stone it till a featherededge...then steel it..
Steel it 4 or 5 times of touch up then stone again.

Always struggled to keep my Mercator sharp, own several used to put a very fine edge on it with an oil stone.
Have been using a lansky knife sharping system and for the Mercator the middle stoning angle works awesome and it holds its edge way better. All knifes when finished get dragged threw the end grain of a piece of 4by2 then a light steeling then check for any more feathering by slopping it on the palm of my hand. Which is a trick learned from sharping Chisels.
If the knife won't shave the hairs off your arms I start again.

The best way to remove the wire edge is with a hard backed leather strop and green stropping compound. This is a video I did a while back on sharpening new knives I had finished for a bulk order. The initial secondary bevel is done of the belt grinder so where I am starting from s where most will be doing so with a knife that has lost its edge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NNQ...annel=VonGruff

Originally Posted by Tui4Me

I got caught with a Mercator in Heathrow Airport!

My check in bag was over weight so at the last minute I moved some stuff and I looked in horror as my faithful Mercator showed up on the x-ray screen..

Apparently a Mercator is over the maximum legal length for a folding knife in the UK..the guy (and his supervisor) was pretty serious about it at first, but after I explained I was a Kiwi hunter and these things are as common as muck in NZ he took it off me and let me off.

Pissed me off because I really tried to look after that one!

They are usually humourless there about knives. You could have got yourself a criminal record. Deeply hope NZ does not go after UK's severe oppressive knife laws as yet another over-reaction after the New Lynn jihadi attack. Collins and Ardern seem to spark each other off to greater heights of hysteria in these situations.

Originally Posted by flock

Always struggled to keep my Mercator sharp, own several used to put a very fine edge on it with an oil stone.
Have been using a lansky knife sharping system and for the Mercator the middle stoning angle works awesome and it holds its edge way better. All knifes when finished get dragged threw the end grain of a piece of 4by2 then a light steeling then check for any more feathering by slopping it on the palm of my hand. Which is a trick learned from sharping Chisels.
If the knife won't shave the hairs off your arms I start again.Attachment 177986

I do the same as you but without the 4x2.

Lansky stone kit followed by two light strokes on each side with a very fine butcher steel.

I sharpen until the entire blade area will grip firmly on a finger nail without sliding.

Once I get the blade to this point I can cut up and bone out three deer before putting it back on the Lansky kit.

In saying that I’m very careful to avoid touching bone and taking the edge off when processing deer.

I also coat the blade with a very thin film of olive oil which does a very good job of protecting the blade.

I have the same kit @Tui4Me (great choice in beer bud) twigged recently to get a bolt of correct size,two nuts for it and clamp the bolt head in vice,put one nut down on thread,slip lanski over it and clamp it in place with 2nd nut....means it stays still and can put a little pressure onto stones...... saves buying the stand LOL