Sharpening Clicker Knives?

[DavidL]

I have a custom clicker knife that has hard steel and is sturdy. The blade came sharp at first, afterwards it was difficult to sharpen the blade as it is curved and also had no bevels.

The front end slowly started to become more horizontal instead of curved and the first 2 centimetre of blade overtime created a bevel. Compared to the clicker knifes I seen in videos my knife doesnt cut any where as close. What tools would I need to either put a bevel. Do i need a higher grit stone and create a better bevel?

What I have right now is a 200 - 400 grit combination stone, green compound, jewellers rouge, a strop, and a cutlery sharpener.

[rawcustom]

If this is a hooked blade like most clicker knives than you will likely have quite fight regrinding a bevel with a flat stone. You will find most of your effort and stock removal will apply to the point and the base of the blade and miss the middle (bottom of hook).

You could invest in round stones, or my choice, round diamond files, but if this is a custom why not contact the maker and see if they will tune it up?

[silverwingit]

A round ceramic sharpening "steel" would also work.

Michelle

[Trevor]

Some knife steel is hardened. You will find it difficult to sharpen. Be very careful that altering the edge may cause more problems than you started with. The knife doesn't need to be razor sharp. The force of the press will push the knife through most leather. If you really need to sharpen use a diamond grit file. Will remove enough steel to make the edge better but don't take too much off. Remember that a knife is engineered to be very flat and should remain flat after you've finished with it.

good luck

Cheers

Trevor

"Way Down Under"

[DavidL]

If this is a hooked blade like most clicker knives than you will likely have quite fight regrinding a bevel with a flat stone. You will find most of your effort and stock removal will apply to the point and the base of the blade and miss the middle (bottom of hook).

You could invest in round stones, or my choice, round diamond files, but if this is a custom why not contact the maker and see if they will tune it up?

I'd rather learn to do it myself so I can fine tune the knives, so I can sharpen on the fly and let the knife makers make the knives (He may not know how to put a bevel on a curve blade or doesnt have the right machine, otherwise he would have put the bevel on when he shipped it out I suppose) I'll send him an email to see if that is the case or if it was on purpose. If I have no success I'll let one of those guys that ride around in those vans sharpening peoples knives and lawn mower blades fix it up for me.

Do you know if no bevels on a knife is worse than having a dual bevel blade? Is there any instance that anyone would use a no bevel knife? The point is gradually curved until they both meet . The edge is probably as thin as a scalpel blade if you look at it straight down.

A round ceramic sharpening "steel" would also work.

Michelle

I have one of those, a bit used up. Not ceramic though I will look into a ceramic one.

[DavidL]

I took a chance and grinded the steel blade until it had two bevels. Then splashed water on the stone and finished it off. Now it cuts chrome tan like I'm cutting through paper. Needs a bit of polishing now with jewellers rouge to get rid of the marks.

For some dumb reason I thought green compound can produce a cutting edge and I was stropping 30 - 40 times a side.. Now I know its just to touch up the edge for a few swipes with the strop or sharpening steel.

One thing I found odd is that the blade never developed a burr. I guess the steel is so hard the burr is microscopic?

Hope this helps anyone who has a clicker knife.