I finally picked one up. I am slowly going back through all my edc knives putting a new edge on them. Hopefully this will slow down my knife buying to one knife for every one and a half months (Yeah right!).

I was wondering if anyone could give me any tips on how to best re-profile a 710HS. I already know about the painters tape. Should I worry about this making my stones uneven? I would hate to re-flatten them so soon.

I already re-profiled a S30V Manix with good results. How do I get a scary hair popping sharp? The edge that I now have on it is nice I just think that I need to use a finer grit to give it more bite. I went from the 320 to 600. Isn't that a big gap in grit? Wouldn't I have to do twice the amount of strokes to get the metal at the edge to that finer grit?

On a recurve blade it will make contact on the edges of the stone and try to round your stone a bit.

EdgePro sells stones that are about half the width of the normal stones specifically for use with recurve blades.

As for time spent on each grit of stone, my experience has been that the great majority of your work is done with the first stone you use. Once having established the profile with that first stone, you can zip right through the rest in practically no time.

As for getting that hair popping edge. One point is spending enough time on that first stone to be sure the initial profile goes all the way to the edge. The other thing that comes to mind is putting very little pressure on the stone as you work toward the finer grits. On the final stone, the weight of the stone and slide arm alone are enough weight.

Also remember that all your sharpening should be done over the bench itself. If you have a long knife that hangs way over the bench, don't take your slide out there trying to sharpen it. Move the knife across the bench, keeping your slide over the bench.

Hope that helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Taxesblow,

congrats on getting the edge pro.

Taxesblow gave some great advice.

when i sharpen the recurve portion of my dad's 710, i only focus on one corner of the stone ( left corner when the knife tip is facing left, right corner when the tip is facing right ), and I make sure the part of the blade it is sharpening is parallel to the front of the bench.

also as Taxesblow said, you must have the edge fully profiled before you move to the next stone ( this is especially true for M2 ). if you do not then the finer stones will simply be polishing the unfinished edge, and it will take you a very long time to make any progress.

So I really should wait for that wire edge then. I guess I should hold off on the recerve blades for now, at least until I get a little more practice. Taxesblow I think you are right I will try going back to my starter stone and play around with the stone pressure.

No ......sharpen the recurve just like any other blade. The only difference is , is that it only sharpens with the outer edges of the stone.
Be sure to use the full length of the stone (no short strokes) You,ll have cupping in your stones after a while , then you,ll have to re-flatten them (which isnt hard to do).
My best advice is to watch his Video and email him with any questions you have , his customer service is excellent.
On a quick note here ...... you do know that the course stone is only for re-shapeing the blade correct ? It takes metal off fast ........dj
No pressure is better than any pressure ...... you automatically put enough pressure , with out realizeing it.

I am now using less pressure than the weight of the arm and its getting better. I still can't get a wire edge though.

My Spyderco Manix had such a bad factory grind that when I tried a lower grit in the beginning the stone would wipe off all the magic marker from one spot but not others. It was like their were areas where the edge would not sharpen because it had a higher angle then other parts. Think of it like their are valleys in the actual edge bevel. This is why I decided to use the higher grit stones and just redo the edge.

I think my major problem is pressure. Sharpening by hand is a lot different. I just have to get a feel for it. PS I watched the dvd and read the manual before even setting the Edge Pro up.

Darren, I think the slimmer stones are a good idea, but I have sharpened many recurved blades with the regular stones with no problema. Including 710's and Gaucho's...they both became shaving sharp.

When you talk about not getting a wire edge, I take that as meaning you aren't getting a burr...right? If you don't get a burr, go back to the course stone and don't leave it until you get a burr down the full length of both sides of the blade. Then switch to the next finer stone and don't leave it until the burr is there again. It doesn't take much to get a burr with the finer stones once the course stone has cut all the way to an edge and made the first burr. When you get a few stones down into it you will have a hard time feeling the burr because it is so small, but it should be there. Once I get to the 600 stone or finer, I no longer expect to feel a burr. I'm more looking for the polish of the edge.

Hope some of that helped.

-fj

the big thing for pressure is to not add any at all. the weight of the stone and the edge pro's arm will be sufficient. you are just guiding the stones across the knife. keep the stones wet, clean off the slurry often, and go slowly. if the edge is dull or out of spec it will take little while.

your 814 and the 520 should be good knives to practice on, as they are pretty stable on the bench and have nice long edges to work on. be sure to remove any thumbstuds, though, as can interfere with the stones.

good luck and let us know how it goes.

with recurves i try to be sure to move the stone laterally across the blade as i push it in, being sure to not work any one spot overmuch

quote:

Originally posted by muad'dib:
with recurves i try to be sure to move the stone laterally across the blade as i push it in, being sure to not work any one spot overmuch

Very Plus 1 ......... I always use a sweeping motion
Wouldnt want to make it a serrated edge