sharpening a swiss army knife

[hiraethus]

It's truly fascinating what you can pick up on here - I'd never realised that you could use something as simple as a coffee mug to sharpen blades. Thanks gents for sharing your knowledge.

[Scott_Servais]

I just got a lansky turnbox and I spent 4 hours sharpening the small blade on my spartan using the course rods, after 4 hours I finally got all the nicks out.  I only every used it to open cardboard boxes but now I know not to use it on cardboard.  Then I stropped it on the cardboard box hat it came in.  It cuts paper now if you utilize a sawing motion and it cuts sewing thread and masking tape so I guess it's okay now since it cuts. 

I also sharpened the reamer because it had some nicks on the edge of the blunt side so I ran the course rod across just the nicks for like 5 minutes and the nicks are gone now so I guess its okay.

[wjruth]

Cardboard boxes often have a clay material mixed in which makes them dull blades fast. Your small blade on the spartan should do more than cut paper with a sawing motion. I can cut paper that way with very dull knives. The small blade on my climber can cut paper with a swipe. No sawing motion needed. If you have the 1,000 grit fine rods for the lansky, use them. You should never spend more than 30 minutes on a knife. Use more pressure with course grit to get the blade to your rough shape. Use moderate pressure on the finer grit to bring the edge were you want it.

[wjruth]

I just made a quick vid to show the small blade on my climber. It is not razor sharp or shaving sharp but it gets the job done.

[Scott_Servais]

i just looked at my knife that i sharpened and it looks like the bevel is gone on one side, i guess i sharpened it all off.  i should have just left the nicks on there.

[Rossko07]

Diamond hone and always, always finish on a leather strop with some compound. My blades always come up shaving sharp and hold their edge.

[Scott_Servais]

Diamond hone and always, always finish on a leather strop with some compound. My blades always come up shaving sharp and hold their edge.

i should have just honed it instead of sharpened it but the victorinox instruction manual says nothing about a hone it just says to sharpen it on a whetsonte, is there any product like the turnbox that comes with hones instead of sharpening rods so you can hone your knife at the correct angle?

[Aloha]

The Turn box has 20 degree and 25 degree holes for the rods.  Mine came with white ceramic rods that are great for touch up. 

[Scott_Servais]

The Turn box has 20 degree and 25 degree holes for the rods.  Mine came with white ceramic rods that are great for touch up.

the white ceramic rods are 1000 grit and remove metal.  Does this work the same way as a honing steel?  Do honing steels remove metal?

[Aloha]

The Turn box has 20 degree and 25 degree holes for the rods.  Mine came with white ceramic rods that are great for touch up.

the white ceramic rods are 1000 grit and remove metal.  Does this work the same way as a honing steel?  Do honing steels remove metal?

Lansky says the white rods are for polishing.  I don't know how much metal is removed with these rods.  The white rods will remove far less than the other rods that came with the kit and far slower.  A few passes should be all thats needed with the white rods. 

[Rossko07]

Diamond hone and always, always finish on a leather strop with some compound. My blades always come up shaving sharp and hold their edge.

i should have just honed it instead of sharpened it but the victorinox instruction manual says nothing about a hone it just says to sharpen it on a whetsonte, is there any product like the turnbox that comes with hones instead of sharpening rods so you can hone your knife at the correct angle?

Sorry I don't know of any as I free hand sharpen my knives.