Hello all,
I'm trying to sharpen a sabre whose blade is made from 1065 carbon steel. I have the DMT diafolds extra coarse/coarse (black/blue) and coarse/fine (blue/red), as well a extra extra coarse (silver). The edge was partially sharpened when I bought it but after doing some test cutting, I was rather unhappy with the quality of the edge, so I've been trying to resharpen it. My most recent trial included the following:
1. Cutting the edge off with two light passes into the brown side of a Spyderco DoubleStuff.
2. Placing the hilt of the blade on the floor with the point pointing upwards, pinching the blade with a paper towel in one hand and a stone in the other hand.
2. Trying to set the bevel at ~20dps with the silver DMT.
3. Trying to shaping the edge with the black side of the diafold.
However, I haven't had good results, I can still see light reflecting off the edge even after about 30-45 minutes of trying to shape the edge.
While I fully admit my freehand sharpening technique is probably not the best, I was able to at least sharpen a beatup stainless steel kitchen knive to about 20dps using the same technique and stones (silver/black) so that it can slice paper at least.
I'm requesting feedback as ideas as to what I could be doing wrong. Perhaps I should try to use the blue or red DMT to instead of the black/blue DMT to try to shape the edge and remove the reflection I'ms seeing along the edge? I'm used to using the Spyderco sharpmaker to sharpen knives but that really isn't an option given the length of the sabre blade.
Thank you for your time and patience
Kind regards,
TJA
P.S. There is also a slight chance the sabre is 1095 carbon steel (the manufacturer changed steels at some point so I am not 100% clear what batch my sabre is from).
P.P.S For reference, here's the DMT grit chart: [www.dmtsharp.com]
I'm trying to sharpen a sabre whose blade is made from 1065 carbon steel. I have the DMT diafolds extra coarse/coarse (black/blue) and coarse/fine (blue/red), as well a extra extra coarse (silver). The edge was partially sharpened when I bought it but after doing some test cutting, I was rather unhappy with the quality of the edge, so I've been trying to resharpen it. My most recent trial included the following:
1. Cutting the edge off with two light passes into the brown side of a Spyderco DoubleStuff.
2. Placing the hilt of the blade on the floor with the point pointing upwards, pinching the blade with a paper towel in one hand and a stone in the other hand.
2. Trying to set the bevel at ~20dps with the silver DMT.
3. Trying to shaping the edge with the black side of the diafold.
However, I haven't had good results, I can still see light reflecting off the edge even after about 30-45 minutes of trying to shape the edge.
While I fully admit my freehand sharpening technique is probably not the best, I was able to at least sharpen a beatup stainless steel kitchen knive to about 20dps using the same technique and stones (silver/black) so that it can slice paper at least.
I'm requesting feedback as ideas as to what I could be doing wrong. Perhaps I should try to use the blue or red DMT to instead of the black/blue DMT to try to shape the edge and remove the reflection I'ms seeing along the edge? I'm used to using the Spyderco sharpmaker to sharpen knives but that really isn't an option given the length of the sabre blade.
Thank you for your time and patience
Kind regards,
TJA
P.S. There is also a slight chance the sabre is 1095 carbon steel (the manufacturer changed steels at some point so I am not 100% clear what batch my sabre is from).
P.P.S For reference, here's the DMT grit chart: [www.dmtsharp.com]