Sharpening Para 3s, I can't reach the very bottom of the edge! Any advice?

[Dwight K Shrute]

Hello folks,

Obviously the Para 3 doesn't have a sharpening choil.

So my issue is after about 5 sharpenings of my BD1N para 3 LW i started to get some significant recurve from not being able to reach the very bottom.

I've since replaced that Knife with my dream Para 3 LW (CTS-XHP w/AWT aluminum handle) and was hoping some of you could share your knowledge on how you prefer to sharpen the choil-less blades.

I would like to avoid causing the same issue with this new one.

Currently I am using a Worksharp Precision adjust for all sharpenings.

Any suggested methods or different systems would be appreciated.

[Ric]

I used diamond plates to form an edge all the way back to the choil.
Originally there is an unsharpened part of a few mm.

I do it mainly at my users and quite quick and dirty. With the sharpmaker you do not reach completely to the end anyways.

[vivi]

This happened to me on my Police 3.



Visuals aside, what exactly is the problem?

My Police 3 still cuts just fine. It's never been an issue during use.

Is it causing you functional issues or is it just bothering you to look at?

If you must fix it, you just need to find a stone with a hard corner instead of slightly rounded like the sharpmaker rods. Plenty of cheap natural stones come that way.

BTW - You're removing a lot of steel every sharpening if you got this to happen after 5 sessions. It took me hundreds of sharpenings to develop one.

[Guts]

I just sharpen all the way down to the plunge. I always used to nick that small unsharpened section on accident anyway while sharpening, so I just get rid of it altogether these days. Not a fan of sharpening choils on knives, but to each their own. Like others mentioned, a stone with a hard 90 degree edge will do the trick.

[Dwight K Shrute]

I just sharpen all the way down to the plunge. I always used to nick that small unsharpened section on accident anyway while sharpening, so I just get rid of it altogether these days. Not a fan of sharpening choils on knives, but to each their own. Like others mentioned, a stone with a hard 90 degree edge will do the trick.

Thank you! I have tried to do this with my WSPA but because the diamond plate sits in a rounded stone I can't seem to get it to sharpen all the way down. I'm gonna pick up a decent stone and work on my freehand sharpening. That should allow me to get to it.

[Dwight K Shrute]

This happened to me on my Police 3.



Visuals aside, what exactly is the problem?

My Police 3 still cuts just fine. It's never been an issue during use.

Is it causing you functional issues or is it just bothering you to look at?

If you must fix it, you just need to find a stone with a hard corner instead of slightly rounded like the sharpmaker rods. Plenty of cheap natural stones come that way.

BTW - You're removing a lot of steel every sharpening if you got this to happen after 5 sessions. It took me hundreds of sharpenings to develop one.

You're absolutely right. This was knife i learned how to sharpen on years ago so even though its only seen 5 sharpenings, the first 3 were excessive as I fumbled around and tried to learn. I'm only marginally better now lol

I agree too, I think the WSPA plates are too rounded. Gonna look into getting a stone and freehand, at least for a couple of my knives. CTS-XHP isn't too bad to sharpen luckily.

[Wartstein]

No offense meant, but I never really understand what´s the issue when this comes up (it might very well be that I am the one who is missing something).

- You can´t sharpen all the way back
- Which means that there is a very short unsharpened section at the heel of the blade
- BUT: If there was a sharpening notch... well, instead of that unsharpened section there would be that notch in its place, in my view worse than a short section of dull blade, cause the notch can catch on things....

- Plus: You can always make that unsharpened section sharper and at least somewhat useful for cutting - and be it with a metal file or sandpaper or whatever.
Again: In my view in any case better than a notch, even if just crudly sharpened

And then: If you really want a notch, I figure it is not hard to create with a round metal file (though I would never want one!)

- Makes me recall a nice proposal of David / Evil D and probably also some others:
Instead of a"useless" notch there could be a single, sharp serration scallop...

[Meadowlark]

No offense meant, but I never really understand what´s the issue when this comes up (it might very well be that I am the one who is missing something).

- You can´t sharpen all the way back
- Which means that there is a very short unsharpened section at the heel of the blade
- BUT: If there was a sharpening notch... well, instead of that unsharpened section there would be that notch in its place, in my few worse than a short section of dull blade, cause the notch can catch on things....

- Plus: You can always make that unsharpened section sharper and at least somewhat useful for cutting - and be it with a metal file or sandpaper or whatever.
Again: In my view in any case better than a notch, even if just crudly sharpened

And then: If you really want a notch, I figure it is not hard to create with a round metal file (though I would never want one!)

- Makes me recall a nice proposal of David / Evil D and probably also some others:
Instead of a"useless" notch there could be a single, sharp serration scallop...

Now that's a novel idea..

[Accutron]

I've never had a problem sharpening the whole edge on a KME. Just park the side of the stone up against the plunge line.

Here's my Rex 45 Chief...

[RustyIron]

Here's my Rex 45 Chief...

That's some pretty nice "close-up" work. I'll sometimes use a square-edged or triangular stone to improve the work from the factory. I had to put on my glasses just now to examine a couple of my knives, and none have as nicely-squared corners as yours.

[Josh Crutchley]

I've never had a problem sharpening the whole edge on a KME. Just park the side of the stone up against the plunge line.

The KME uses normal stones that can reach. The WSPA has narrow plates set into a wide holder so the plate holder hits the plunge not allowing the whole edge to be sharpened. The only way to fix it on the WSPA is to get a new stone holder and stones.

[Bill1170]

If your stones can’t get right up to the plunge, you can freehand that last bit with diamond paddles. I also use them to touch up my carbide router bits on the flat face grind.

[RazorSharp86]

The ultimate “hack” is to use a DMt rod and make an actually sharpened choil.
I usually sharpen it at a steeper angle (50-60 degrees inclusive), and it works well as a wire stripper, or simply doesn’t snag as much as a choil that’s unsharpened.

[Traditional.Sharpening]

If you watch starting at 2:27 minutes into video you'll see what I'd generally do on something like this. Anytime you have any part of the blade that you need to reduce width on is best done by grinding perpendicular with a hard bonded stone as shown in video. The Sharpmaker Rods can work well if not too much is needed, I'd go with the ceramics though as it will be hard on the Diamond/CBN rods. Basically use it like a file or conversely use an actual file similar to what a gunsmith would use to fit pistol sights, etc. You may need one that's diamond coated depending on how resistant the steel is to cutting.

Then you would have to cut in that portion of the edge bevel to bring it to meet the rest of the edge bevels plane. You may need a different tool for this but most benchstones would work, diamond plates, etc assuming the corner is not rounded heavily or chamfered aggressively. Many stones actually come with a hard corner just because it's more work to round/chamfer and it keeps the price down. Norton oilstones would likely be a good choice as well.

[Traditional.Sharpening]

***double tap***

[Dwight K Shrute]

No offense meant, but I never really understand what´s the issue when this comes up (it might very well be that I am the one who is missing something).

- You can´t sharpen all the way back
- Which means that there is a very short unsharpened section at the heel of the blade
- BUT: If there was a sharpening notch... well, instead of that unsharpened section there would be that notch in its place, in my view worse than a short section of dull blade, cause the notch can catch on things....

- Plus: You can always make that unsharpened section sharper and at least somewhat useful for cutting - and be it with a metal file or sandpaper or whatever.
Again: In my view in any case better than a notch, even if just crudly sharpened

And then: If you really want a notch, I figure it is not hard to create with a round metal file (though I would never want one!)

- Makes me recall a nice proposal of David / Evil D and probably also some others:
Instead of a"useless" notch there could be a single, sharp serration scallop...

I am by no means saying "I wish it had a choil" its not so much that the part of the blade doesn't get sharp, its that over time you start to get this sort of recurve effect from not being able to remove material down the whole length of the edge. I know its possible to avoid that so I was just asking how the folks here sharpened their blades.

[Dwight K Shrute]

I've never had a problem sharpening the whole edge on a KME. Just park the side of the stone up against the plunge line.

The KME uses normal stones that can reach. The WSPA has narrow plates set into a wide holder so the plate holder hits the plunge not allowing the whole edge to be sharpened. The only way to fix it on the WSPA is to get a new stone holder and stones.

Thank you! This is the reason I'm having this problem. I'm looking into another sharpening method for certain knives I've got

[Josh Crutchley]

Thank you! This is the reason I'm having this problem. I'm looking into another sharpening method for certain knives I've got

The plates are held on with two sided tape so you could always pop one off and put a spacer under it.

[bdblue]

People don't like sharpening choils but that is one thing that they accomplish- they eliminate that little bit of edge that disrupts the geometry when using a flat stone. I don't like any edge with recurve because you can't properly get to it with flat stones. Most of my blades have the little bit unsharpened at the bottom end and that forces me to stop sharpening before I get to that point. If you sharpen a lot then your edge will recede and that little unsharpened bit will get larger and larger. At some point I'll have to deal with it. However as already mentioned I never cut anything using the very bottom bit of the edge so having it unsharpened is a non issue for me.

[vivi]

What issues does it cause you guys during use?

It seems to bug people visually, but when using knives with that little bump it's never been an issue for me.