A question for the folks who actually know something about knives

wilcam47 said:

its your money but I wouldnt spend good money on a good knife to use it as a box cutter. Just my opinion. When they have box cutters for that.

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Well, I didn't buy it as a box cutter, I bought it as an EDC. It just turned out to be a box cutter.

Send it to Benchmade. They'll re-sharpen it for free.

Quoted from their website:

There's never a dull moment with a Benchmade... That's right! We will gladly re-sharpen your Benchmade knife to a factory razor sharp edge (service does not apply to any serrated portion of the blade). If you prefer us to sharpen your blade, or if you may have neglected to maintain your edge for a while, simply ship your knife to us. We'll not only sharpen it, but we will also inspect the knife for any warranted repairs and "tune" the knife for optimum performance.

We understand that our customers may want to modify their Benchmade knife to meet their own expectations. A modified knife will void the Lifetime Warranty, but we will still offer a limited version of our LifeSharp service to these modified knives. Specifically, we will not inspect, clean, repair or replace any parts for a modified knife as we do with our standard LifeSharp Service. We will only sharpen the blade (excluding aftermarket blades) and return the knife to the owner.
Mail Benchmade Knife and Service Form(s) To:

Simply ship the knife to the Benchmade address, postage paid and insured along with the required service forms below. Benchmade is not
responsible for any product(s) lost in transit, to or from, the Benchmade facility.
Attn: Product Services
300 Beavercreek Rd
Oregon City, OR 97045

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Bob A said:

Send it to Benchmade. They'll re-sharpen it for free.

Quoted from their website:

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could buy two then keep rotating

tapeman1 said:

Damn! You guys know A LOT about knives. Thanks everyone for the advice. I ordered one of those "portable" sharpening systems. Maybe staying on top of sharpening it will help. Thanks again.

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Which portable system?
With good steel, you can usually get away with setting and stropping the edge back several times before you actually sharpen it. S35VN, Elmax or M390 will tend to roll the edge instead of actually dulling, you can reset the edge by drawing it across the end grain of a wood block like you are sharpening, but a couple degrees steeper to pull the edge out. This is basicaly a "steeling" technique, and you can use steel, glass, ceramic or other tough and hard materials, but wood is relatively safe, and for me it's effective. Then shape and repair the micro-burr back and forth on leather and it's razor sharp in a couple minutes without removing expensive steel from the blade. I have a leather belt on a 1x30 belt sander, load the smooth side with a little green compound, and it usually takes only a couple passes on each side after setting the edge on a wood block. You can use a peice of leather, just have to make sure you are holding the angle just right, and it takes longer. Between rotating between a few EDC knives, and stropping them back before resorting to sharpening, I may go several months to a year before I actually have to take a stone to a knife I carry often.

When I do sharpen, I use an Edge pro with Silicon carbide and aluminum oxide stones, but same principal with other jig systems or a sharpmaker. First sharpening from the factory edge just sets the angle, grind each side till the edge is centered, then keep grinding one side till I get a burr all the way along the edge, then flip it, and do the same to the other side, usually a 120-240# stone. Once the angle is set, or when resharpening a dull/damaged knife I Start working finer and finer stones, up to 400-1200 depending on how "toothy" I want the edge. Last couple passes are maybe 2 degrees steeper with the final stone to thin and shape the burr while forming a micro edge. Larger knives and coarse steel get a rougher finish. Finish up by stropping the tiny burr left by the final stone. To know when its done, you don't want to see or feel the burr, the blade should cleanly slice paper slowly without catching on any imperfections, run the edge along a wood block lightly, and check it on paper again, if it "dulled" after running along the wood block .there was too much of a wire edge left, and you need to strop more.

As-needed use of a honing steel will solve 90% of everyday problems. I'm fascinated by Alucard's end wood technique and will try it.

I'm a fan of cheap everyday knives because I've lost or had confiscated (thanks TSA) too many pocket knives to count. A decent working edge are all mine require, if they dull a little faster than a knife 10x as expensive that's fine. I don't feel bad creatively honing them on the bottom of a ceramic stone or the edge of a car window.

I have a microtech lightfoot d/a from 2002. The blade is marked 20G-V. Has anyone heard of this steel or had experience with it.

Biggfoot44 said:

The super duper Steels as a class are very difficult to sharpen . Both to initially establish your desired edge geometry , and to maintain once established.

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I own several super steels. They are difficult [at least for m] to re profile. I don't think they are difficult to maintain. I find that if I touch them up from time to time, there are easy to keep sharp.

Pay now or pay later; that's the trade-off with edge retention. Just depends on you personal preference.

WRT to cutting boxes, if you are doing this very frequently then a dedicated box cutter makes more sense. If you just need something on occasion when taking out the trash/recycling, then an EDC is fine.

alucard0822 said:

With good steel, you can usually get away with setting and stropping the edge back several times before you actually sharpen it.

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I need to learn how to, and get in the habit of, stropping my blades. Currently, I just touch up my knives on a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

dreadpirate said:

I need to learn how to, and get in the habit of, stropping my blades. Currently, I just touch up my knives on a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

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Same here. I have a stop that I ordered a while back but cannot seem to get the technique right. My Delica 4 rolls the edge quite a bit and I cannot seem to bring it back with the strop.

BossmanPJ said:

Same here. I have a stop that I ordered a while back but cannot seem to get the technique right. My Delica 4 rolls the edge quite a bit and I cannot seem to bring it back with the strop.

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Try dragging the blade(not pushing as in sharpening) across the the top of your car door windshield edge.

The back part of a stoneware/ceramic dinner plate will work too. You're to use the unglazed part of the base ring.

If you can get your hands on the ceramic filament from a sodium street light bulb, like an ordinary luminair a utility uses they will put a wicked edge on a knife. The knife of course will have to be heat treated in a way that it will take and hold an edge. Properly done, and ordinary skinning knife will cut right through a pair of 30k rubber gloves and leather protectors yielding many stitches.
Usually to the top of the left hand between thumb and forefinger.
The filament is not of the type found in manufactured sharpening systems, it is opaque, coarsely structured and will shatter into shards rather than just snapping in half.
L.E.D's will be making them hard to find.

My EDC is CRKT M16 with an AUS-8 blade. About every month or so I swipe it across the sharpening steel I bought at Target and the edge is sharp again.

outrider58 said:

Try dragging the blade(not pushing as in sharpening) across the the top of your car door windshield edge.

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I heard that and the bottom of a coffee mug both work.

Disclaimer, I didn't read any of the past responses. M390 cuts very aggressive and s30v is a great steel. You can't go wrong with either. 154CM will also do the trick. You need to do a little research on the steel. Does 154CM have small or large carbide? The size of the carbide will tell you if you can sharpen a knife to 600 grit or 1000 grit. If you sharpen to too fine of a grit you will literally pull the carbide right out of the steel, which will cause micro chipping and rapid decline of edge retention. Secondly you need a sharpener that is up to the task of sharpening designer steel. I personally use and recommend a wicked edge. However there are many options that do a decent job. Lansky makes a very resonably priced option, Ken onion works sharp, or any other sharper that holds your knife at a fixed angle and takes all the guess work out of it.