How to sharpen 58mm cut&picker and wharncliff blades?

Haggai · **on:** November 12, 2012, 11:05:39 PM

Hi.

I apologize for the long first message, but I have a lot of questions... hope you understand.

I'm quite new to multitools, I only have a Victorinox Lumberjack I bought 10 years ago and used only occasionally for trips abroad. After gathering a few small keychain gadgets (an amazingly useful Spyderco Bug, a pico widgy, an oscar delta's v-cutter and uncle bill's tweezers), I decided to try to pack the tools into a smaller, tighter package, so I wanted a small SAK.

I just bought a used Vagabond off eBay, and I need to sharpen its blades a bit.

I have DMT diasharp mini kit (325, 600 and 1200 grit) flat sharpeners. I also have a Buck diamond conical pocket sharpener (don't know the grit, quite rough). I also have a Gerber ceramic pocket sharpener which is too rough and isn't too useful for anything in my opinion (I only managed to scratch the blades of my Bug and Lumberjack before using the DMT flat sharpeners on them successfully).

The main blade was quite easy to sharpen to slice paper nicely, using only the 600 and 1200 grit sharpeners.

I have a problem with both the Wharncliff and cut&picker blades.

With the cut&picker I had more luck, using the flat sharpeners. Didn't get to a nice paper slicing edge like with the main blade, but the angle isn't suitable for that, I guess. Cuts nicely through cardboard in straight lines without picking too much material, but not so much through plastic clamshell packages where it's very hard to pull through. How can I sharpen it further? I use the same method I used for the main blade, but the chisel grind is new to me, and I couldn't sharpen the bend with the flat sharpeners and the round one I have seems a bit too rough for the task.

With the Wharncliff I had absolutely no luck.
I did manage to sharpen it a tiny bit with the flat sharpeners, but it's not a completely straight knife and I can't get an even contact with the curve, no matter how slow and precise I try to be.

Any suggestions for how to sharpen these blades?

Also - I sharpen dry. Would water help to sharpen better? I didn't need water to sharpen the Bug or the Lumberjack to shave or almost shave sharpness, so I doubt it...

On a side note - the knife arrived not very clean. I removed the scales and used soap and rubbing alcohol to clean the knife, but I can't remove most of the rust stains, and there are some green corrosion marks [? like of copper] that I couldn't remove at all. Any suggestions for that too?

Thanks!

ColoSwiss · **Reply #1 on:** November 12, 2012, 11:47:25 PM

Hi Haggai,

Welcome aboard!

Can't help you much with your specialized sharpening info, but expect there'll be some along shortly who can.

For cleaning rust and stains off blades, I find a bit of fine steel wool generally does the job.

sergemaster · **Reply #2 on:** November 13, 2012, 08:05:43 AM

Amici,
I use a spyderco sharpmaker for all my blade sharpening needs with the exception of my scandi grinds. For those I use finnish waterstones that seem to produce the best and fastest results when it comes to a scandi.

Try looking into a sharpmaker and if anything, upgrade it with some ultrafine rods when dealing with the warni..

Cheers,
Serge

Steinar · **Reply #3 on:** November 13, 2012, 11:53:54 AM

Quote from: sergemaster on November 13, 2012, 08:05:43 AM

Try looking into a sharpmaker and if anything, upgrade it with some ultrafine rods when dealing with the warni..

The same basic technique as used with the Sharpmaker (there are videos in YouTube) can be used with pretty much anything, like your conical pocket sharpener.

Whether to dry hone or not depends on your sharpening tool, it's a huge can of worms. Short version: Water or oil will creaty a slurry which makes it easier to get a polished edge. (Yes, there are a lot of "buts" in there.) Use whatever your hones were designed for. It won't really help in creating a sharp edge as such, though for some types of hone it is needed to remove material away from the stone so it retains its "bite".

I personally think a round or edged stone of some kind would be a good investment for you for touching up the Wharncliffe, as the rough edge from the diamond hone won't be very... well... nice, in lack of a better word.

Haggai · **Reply #4 on:** November 20, 2012, 04:21:32 AM

huh, I managed to sharpen the wharncliffe quite well with the kinda rough conical sharpener combined with the kinda rough pocket sharpener... now it slices paper rather than tearing it (although I need to hold both sides of the cut for it to do so) and I even managed to get the tip to a usable form.
WTG me!

Didn't have any luck with the cut&picker, but it's still usable as it is so I'll leave it at that.

I think I really need to invest in a better sharpening device, I feel so limited with what I have now. It's a pity these systems are so expensive though, I don't think I'll get one soon...