Thread: Sharpening S30V Steel

After finally managing to teach myself to sharpen ordinary steel knives I am having some issues sharpening my folder which has S30V steel

Any tricks to this, I cannot seem to get my folder sharper than just / almost near enough which is not as good as it should be.

Tried 300/1000 & 6000 grade water stones I have been using for kitchen and filleting knives etc and they barely touch it.

Dug out the lansky sharpener ( I have with a vengeance) with diamond stones and better BUT i cannot seem to get rid of the burr
Sharpened to 17deg angles each side with 30degree micro bevel which seems to be what the interwebby reccomends

I don't have a strop and to be honest was preferring to not have to buy anything else, but would rather do it myself not "send it to a chap to do for me" except as a last resort

whats the knife? possibly a knock off with substandard steel. i had a spiderco in s30v and it sharpened like a dream not that it needed it often

Originally Posted by gonetropo

whats the knife? possibly a knock off with substandard steel. i had a spiderco in s30v and it sharpened like a dream not that it needed it often

Benchmade Bugout

Originally Posted by mikee

Benchmade Bugout

Good steel. Great knife.
I think the Benchmade steel must be quite hard. My Bugout hardly sees a stone or strop as it just stays sharp. Mines used as EDC so will get used at least once a day.

Originally Posted by kiwijames

Good steel. Great knife.
I think the Benchmade steel must be quite hard. My Bugout hardly sees a stone or strop as it just stays sharp. Mines used as EDC so will get used at least once a day.

Yep thats the one

I can put it over a Tormek and set the bevel if you want?

I have a Benchmade Proper also S30V steel.
I'm using a Lansky delux, plus two strops (one with black compound and one with white).

Yes it takes a while to put a hair popping edge on it and definitely needs the strop. But ones its there, it lasts.

BTW, if anyone has any white compound left, any change they can cut off a inch long chunk and send it to me. Postage from US is heaps for a single bar.

You can buy it here at a good engineering shop.

I would recommend you get a magnifying headband. Best thing I ever did in terms of sharpening. Lets you get a real close up look of the edge profile and what "issues" might be holding back your edge. 2.5 power is all you need, but the one I got came with 4 different lenses.

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I would recommend you get a magnifying headband. Best thing I ever did in terms of sharpening. Lets you get a real close up look of the edge profile and what "issues" might be holding back your edge. 2.5 power is all you need, but the one I got came with 4 different lenses.

Attachment 115446

also great optics for COL members to have a w..k

my simple 2 ceramic rod sharpener is so simple to get good edge on hard/stainless and the angle has to be right as rods are set on angle of choice...recently bought a diamond oval shaped steel....it seems to work rather well when used the way we used to do it in the fisheries....put end of steel on bench and LOOK down it when stroking knife down towards bench....it takes a bit to get used to doing it backwards like this but you get a more consistant angle...its also a good trick when you really ding an edge and dont have a stone handy...you can bring edge back somewhat.

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I would recommend you get a magnifying headband. Best thing I ever did in terms of sharpening. Lets you get a real close up look of the edge profile and what "issues" might be holding back your edge. 2.5 power is all you need, but the one I got came with 4 different lenses.

Attachment 115446

use one of them at work quite often

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I would recommend you get a magnifying headband. Best thing I ever did in terms of sharpening. Lets you get a real close up look of the edge profile and what "issues" might be holding back your edge. 2.5 power is all you need, but the one I got came with 4 different lenses.

Attachment 115446

Where do you get these from? I'm having trouble reading case head stamps. Once they are worn its difficult to see the difference between 300saum and 270wsm case brands for sorting. My reading glasses aren't much help so I use a magnifying glass at present.

Apologies for the side track.

https://www.jaycar.co.nz/led-headban...ifier/p/QM3511

Probably just need more time on the polish man. relatively big carbides in s30v and will take quite some time on entry level or standard water stones. Diamond or high quality stones are generally a must on the harder steels.

Remove the burr by running it through some soft wood then strop on some newspaper or the 6k stone.