Ruby Blade Maintenance

[DomsLeather]

How to Maintain ruby blades...I was shown to strop them...I have also heard you never sharpen or strop them..Tell me whats the right way to Maintain them.

[hidepounder]

IMHO the best thing to do with a RubyAt blade is to put it on the shelf and admire it while using a quality steel blade in your swivel knife . Barring that RubyAt blades do need to be stropped and even sharpened from time to time. The problem is that it takes some pretty expensive and sophisticated equipment to sharpen them. I do seem to recall that BearMan said he had successfully sharpened one with diamond stones, but don't hold me to that.

Hope this helps.....

Bobby

[BearMan]

Good Morning Bobby, & Doms,

Yes, Bobby is right, I believe the best thing is to get a Good high quality steel blade. But, yes,,, you can sharpen the "Ruby" blades. What I use is a thin diamond coated sharpener, that Stanley Co. puts out. It's the size of a credit card, & about the same thickness. As long as the blade is just dull,,, & doesn't have any bad nicks, just sharpen as you usually would, using some water to lubricate. Then after that, start with some 1000 grit 3M,,, or Norton wet & dry sand paper, that has been soaking in water for a couple hours. Lay the wet paper on some flat glass, & holn with the 1000,,, then go to the 2000. If you can find it, get the next finer grade, & do the same. After that, it's just the matter of stroping corectly. Make sure, the blade is stroped at the same angle, on each side, without rolling & rounding the edge. If done correctly, you will now have a sharp "Ruby" blade.

On a side note: Your strop, should be a very thin piece of leather, or,,, a piece of card stock. If you're using something thicker,,, & softer,,, you'll wind up, just rounding the very corners, you are trying to make sharp.

I hope this helps,,, Ed the"BearMan"