reprofiling GEC slipjoint

[Jmora]

I have been using my GEC trapper knife for a few days, and it needed to be resharpened. The bevels on the blades looked very shallow, and indeed, when I put them on the sharpmaker, with some black sharpie marks to see where I was hitting the blade, I saw that the 40 degree angle it the spot where a backbevel would be, not the edge at all.
so I want to get the blade to a convenient 40 degree angle, here are some questions:
1) The steel is 1095 carbon steel. would people recommend the coarse diamond hones that spyderco sell separately with the sharpmaker for reprofiling? or are they somehow too coarse for a carbon steel?
2) is there actually some reason that the edge is so obtuse? Would I be better off trying to maintain a  45-50degree angle somehow? e.g. by mounting the sharpmaker at an angle or something?
3) any other suggestions?  I'm not brave enough to try convexing the edge I don't think

I do wonder what the reasoning was behind the blunt blade profile of GEC knives, I've heard others also have this problem, its kind of inconvenient. Some purist traditional reasons?

[jzmtl]

Seems a lot of knives, especially the traditional types comes with insanely obtuse angles, can't tell you why, maybe it's cheaper and quicker for them to do. This is the main reason I bought a 1x30" belt sander.

Spyderco's diamond stone isn't coarse at all, as long as you stay above 300 grit or so it's not a problem (even if you don't you won't hurt the steel, just making remove the deep scratches harder). You can also just lean some other stone or even sandpaper against the rod on sharpmaker to get different grits.

Personally I've always reprofile them to 30° and sharpen at 40° for a microbevel.

[dks]

I assume the angle of the edge is to make it "tougher" for cutting the harder stuff too.

1095 is supposed to sharpen easily.

[Jmora]

I'm wondering whether to invest in the diamond rods, or just be patient with the standard ones. I'm leaning towards the former, as I will probably have to do this for GECs or other trads that I buy in the future. I think I'll aim for 40 degrees, sounds like the best compromise, its worked so far for me.

[Sparky415]

A convexed edge is just a bunch of flat angles smoothed together 

[Jmora]

A convexed edge is just a bunch of flat angles smoothed together 

it does sound appealing. I think I'll do this reprofiling thing first, because I've never done that before, and then one day graduate to convexing.

I have been reading reviews of the diamond rods, which are mixed, I might go and get some sandpaper to put over the rods, seeing as that is supposed to work well and I have no money for anything more expensive right now and am impatient to get this done.

[jzmtl]

Chances are if you reprofile by hand your result will be convex anyway. You can't hold it at a precise angle even if you want to.

[Jmora]

I've been trying the sandpaper method, attaching sandpaper to the sharpmaker rods that is, and sharpening on the angle, not the flat. I think I'm doing something wrong, because I've probably put 3 solid hours into this all up over the last week, and have succeeded in maybe creating a tiny backbevel on one of the blades of this knife. The sandpaper grits were 240, and 320, the paper is meant for sanding steel. Its getting a bit frustrating, as the steel is only carbon steel, not some crazy supersteel.
Any advice on what might be going wrong? I've kept the pressure fairly light, just the weight of the knife. and maybe I should have replaced the sandpaper more often, as it wears down a bit. Would purchasing a diamond hone to lean on the sharpmaker work faster? 

[jzmtl]

I've been trying the sandpaper method, attaching sandpaper to the sharpmaker rods that is, and sharpening on the angle, not the flat. 

Use the flat side, make sure your sandpaper is either aluminum oxide or silicon carbide, although you said it's meant for steel so it's probably is. Put a little pressure on it, without flex the rod/base.

[Jmora]

I've been trying the sandpaper method, attaching sandpaper to the sharpmaker rods that is, and sharpening on the angle, not the flat. 

Use the flat side, make sure your sandpaper is either aluminum oxide or silicon carbide, although you said it's meant for steel so it's probably is. Put a little pressure on it, without flex the rod/base.

thanks, I'll try that 

[Jmora]

well I finally gone one of the blades of my trapper reprofiled. I actually had to put a bit more force into the movement, and then it seemed to work. It was great to finally run the blade along my arm and see the hairs pop off.
Now I feel more confident buying other GEC slipjoints, as I know I can reprofile them.
This was me before:
and this is me now:
I have a few scratches above the bevel on one side, I will need some finer paper for that, and I put the tiniest dent in part of the edge, but the thing is useful now and that is the main thing.