Rough use knife - Sharpening angle?

R

rob350

CGN frequent flyer
Location
Alberta
Anyone know what the factory angle is on the rough use knifes canam sells?

They come pretty dull so I would like to sharpen it but would like to confirm from someone who is more knife savvy that me as to the proper angle before I stick it in the Lansky and carve away at it.

Thanks!
 
Normally the edge on a hunting knife is 25 degrees. 20 - 22 for kitchen and 18 - 20 for some of the specialty chief knives
 
I'm pretty sure these knives are rough ground 45 degrees on each side... They do not have a good knife edge, but it works for all around abuse.
 
I don't know the factory angle, but I use the a Lansky set and I sharpen my old Gerber Bowie at 25 deg.
 
Im a haida carver and i make my own tools I lay the knife flat on the stone and drag it over the bevel edge to get rid of the high spots
Nex I rase it up just a bit on the edge to put on a micro edge dont make the angle to sharp you are after a clean edge
 
Mark the blade with a sharpie, and lightly try different angles with your lanksy, the one that takes off all the sharpie is the correct angle.

On youtube, there are excellent videos showing how to use an edge pro, which will really help you optimize the use of your lansky and get the most out of it and the excellent knife you are sharpening.
 
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Off their website. Depending on what you are using it for, I would say you're looking at 25

Sharpening Angles

17° Angle - A severe angle reccommended for razor blades, X-Acto© blades, scalpels or similar tools. Provides an extremely sharp but delicate edge.

20° Angle - A commonly used angle for higher quality blades and provides an excellent edge for kitchen cutlery and filet knives.

25° Angle - The recommended angle for most knives that need a durable, sharp edge. Ideal for hunting and outdoor knives.

30° Angle - An outstanding angle for knives that see the heavy use of cutting cardboard, wire or carpets. Recomended for heavy duty use.
 
i hope you folks realize these are sub 20 dollar knives that are intended to be used for jobs that nobody in their right mind would put a higher quality knife through, these are cheap, and possibly with a softer than normal temper so they can survive prying and other abuse.... getting these things relatively sharp is easy, however its doubtful these will keep much of an edge. but when you need something sharp that can go through hell and back, these are great.

if you want a good cutter, get something better in high carbon steel, if your afraid of rust or patina, get a stainless variety (440c, ats34, bg42, s30v, whatever)
 
No point wasting your time to sharpen a knife that won't hold an edge. I picked up several dozen of these knives and have one in every truck and quad. A general purpose edge will hold the longest. These are made to cut trees and dirty ropes. If you think you can properly skin a moose with them, you are mistaken
 
fiddler said:
No point wasting your time to sharpen a knife that won't hold an edge. I picked up several dozen of these knives and have one in every truck and quad. A general purpose edge will hold the longest. These are made to cut trees and dirty ropes. If you think you can properly skin a moose with them, you are mistaken
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i have.... just to prove i could... people used to do it with sharp rocks so these knives are an upgrade
 
If you are sharpening it on a stone the quick and easy way to get a good basic angle if you don't roughly know angles is hold the knife at 90 degrees, lean it over half way to the stone to 45 then lean it over half way to the stone again and that will be close enough for general sharpening without being too OCD about the angle.
 
I like 25-20 degrees for mine. Depends what you want it for. If you put a really sharp edge on it, it'll be gone in no time because it's such a beastly knife. I've had a fine edge on mine before, but prefer to leave a more broad edge on mine because it takes a licking.
 
dizzy said:
Mark the blade with a sharpie, and lightly try different angles with your lanksy, the one that takes off all the sharpie is the correct angle.

On youtube, there are excellent videos showing how to use an edge pro, which will really help you optimize the use of your lansky and get the most out of it and the excellent knife you are sharpening.
Click to expand...

I tried that and no angle that the Lansky is capable of can match the obtuse angle of that blade. I ended up spending a couple of hours with a diamond hone and getting it to a decent angle. Can't report on how the blade holds up, as I never used it.
 
Bananatole said:
i have.... just to prove i could... people used to do it with sharp rocks so these knives are an upgrade
Click to expand...



They are good knives for rough use and work well for what they are made for, but it doesn't hold a candle to a proper skinning knife so why bother? Its doesn't make any sense to downgrade from a high quality blade with a good edge just to prove a point. I wouldn't recommend anyone to leave their good knives at home.
 
In the case of not matching the edge perfectly with the sharpie method... in most cases you won't. Cheap knives are mass produced and therefore hand sharpened in many cases. The edge will never be perfect on these from the factory. To use the sharpie method choose the angle that removes the most marker. Then go with that angle. Just to put the cheap knife thing into perspective for the naysayers...... Once you have an even smooth edge on ANY knife it will hold that edge longer. I have some 5$ mora knives that are some of the sharpest longest lasting edged knives i own that said i'm also not afraid to cut the rough stuff with them... If i ruin them oh well.... Go buy another and carry on... I own expensive stuff too but i generally use them for task specific things like gutting, skinning etc etc. One more thing.... Get rid of that damn lansky and go buy a wicked edge or an edgepro. I've owned my edgepro for more than 15 years and have never looked back. Best of luck

T
 
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