Benchmade Folder

Hi,
Merry Christmas folks and thanks once again for visiting my little world.

       I used to sharpen knives like the Benchmade in the photo above using the Edge Pro exclusively.  I still use the Edge Pro on certain shaped knives, it is very nice for getting at those little curves in and making everything nice and even and of course sharp.

       However, if the knife is in good shape, if I am the only one to have sharpened it after it was purchased, I like to sharpen them freehand.  Some folks ask for a mirror finish and there was a time when I really fussed about that and also a time when I could only achieve a mirror finish using the EP.

       I really do love my EP however I love sharpening freehand much more, so I decided to tackle folders that came to me freehand, it only made sense since I have all the water stones and more to put any type of edge on the knife I want, or the customer wants.

       This is not to imply that having an abundance of water stones makes one a better sharpener,  I had to work very very hard on just a few water stones before I felt comfortable opening a business. What I mean to say is that you don't need to go out and buy a lot of stones to be a good sharpener. 

   
        Speaking of mirror finishes, I can remember a time when every folder I got had to be completed with a mirror finish, it was a goal of mine to first of all be able to create one and then basically I thought I would just impress the hell out of people by doing it on every knife :)

        I sharpen smarter now, a 2k to 3k edge on these knives is all that is needed and it will still have a very nice looking bevel, in fact that knife here was sharpened up to 2k on the Naniwa Aotoshi, (Green Brick of pure Joy) and then I just applied some very very light trailing strokes to clean the edge on the 8K Kityama, the one in the picture.  It is funny how we often think we need to go all the way up to 10k on these knives when they come from the factory at about 800 or 1,000 grit. I could be wrong but I just don't think there is a little old bald guy sitting there fretting over the edges of these knives like I do.

       People that sharpen professionally or just sharpen a lot often believe that edge retention is improved with a 1-3k edge over a 8-10K edge for example.  I am not one of those people, I have a different view on edge retention.

      I was asked to write articles for Knifeplanet and I have placed a couple of links in my previous posts to those articles I have already written. The article on sharpening with water stones was very well received and has about 90,000 views. (I'm over myself now :) )

      Speaking of Edge Retention, I mentioned it because that is going to be the topic of my next article and some of the things I put there may be surprising to you but it is something I think about a lot, I mean A LOT.

      Please remember that my posts are just my opinions, I didn't go to Sharpening University and write a Thesis on sharpening. However,  I do sharpen knives every single day so it is my experience that I am basing the things I write about on.  I am sure that many folks disagree with some things, which is cool.

    There is one thing we can all agree on, one thing we all have in common: the topic/process of sharpening knives and knives themselves fascinates us. The method we use is our method, it works for us, we can make knives sharper, whether it is on stones, belts, Tormeks, Edge Pro, Wicked Edge, KME and other devices created by intelligent folks, it is all the same basically, we are driven to make things sharp. 
 I just happen to drive Japanese Water Stones :)

   I'm no better than you,  I am probably just a little more obsessed with the art of sharpening, it doesn't mean I am better at it.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my Blog.

Peter Nowlan