Buck Knife Sharpenig

[Thomasgbaron]

I want to sharp my buck knife first time but not sure what will the best sharpener tool for that. What angle should a Buck Knife be sharpened at?

[cudgee]

I want to sharp my buck knife first time but not sure what will the best sharpener tool for that. What angle should a Buck Knife be sharpened at?

If you are sharpening it for the first time, keep the factory angle.

[eveled]

I prefer and recommend diamond plates over natural stones. Smith’s make a pocket one that will work great for you. It stores in its handle and flips over. coarse on one side fine on the other. Its about $20.

Try to maintain the original angle of the bevel.

Are you brand new to sharpening? If you need more details just ask. Find a knife to practice on, old kitchen knives sharpen quickly.

[Steve Warden]

I want to sharp my buck knife first time but not sure what will the best sharpener tool for that. What angle should a Buck Knife be sharpened at?

If you are sharpening it for the first time, keep the factory angle.

And there's the $1,000,000 question - what's the factory angle?

[cody6268]

One trick I've found (and that's if the knife is new, and has a proper grind from the factory; or if resharpened/reprofiled by a previous owner--done correctly) is directly from Buck. Paint in the sharpened portion of the edge with a Sharpie. If it all comes off, you've got the right angle. I tend to not get an acute enough angle, and thus my edges tend to stink. I keep thinking about a Lansky, but they are not that great with small traditional folders with narrow blades.

If what you're working with is a mess, I'd send it to Buck. I'm having them put a thinner edge on a 440C 105 I have.

I still haven't gotten a good edge on a Western R2 and a Queen Mini Trapper. Both were factory leftovers that had no sharpening bevels; and I'm afraid of ruining them.

[eveled]

And there's the $1,000,000 question - what's the factory angle?

The actual number doesn’t matter unless you are setting up a guided system.

Lay the blade on the stone flat, lift it until the edge touches. that’s the angle you want to sharpen at. Use a bright light and a magnifying glass if you need too.

If you need to know the number buy a set of those little angle cubes.

Buck sharpens knives without angle guides on belt grinders, to actual angle will vary.

[eveled]

13 to 16 degrees per side. https://www.buckknives.com/pdf/WEBKnife ... cument.pdf

Coincidentally the stone they ate using on page2 is the Smiths stone I already recommended in my first post

[Railsplitter]

I want to sharp my buck knife first time but not sure what will the best sharpener tool for that. What angle should a Buck Knife be sharpened at?

It depends on if you're doing a re-profile or just touching up the edge. If re-profiling, the advice given by those above is good advice.

If you just need to bring the edge back to sharp then any angle you choose will do as long as it's equal to or higher than the factory angle. When touching up my knives, I like to touch up at a slightly higher angle than factory which creates what some of us call a "micro bevel".

For example, if the factory edge is approximately 15 degrees per side, I like to touch up the edge at approximately 20 degrees per side. This gets your knife sharp and you don't have to try to match the factory angle.

This is one of the reasons that I like the wide bevels that Buck puts on their newer knives. That wide factory bevel leaves plenty of room to do what I just described a couple dozen times before a re-profile is needed.

[Mumbleypeg]

Sharpening a Buck knife is no different than sharpening any other knife. My advice to a novice is DO NOT use a pocket sharpener, of any kind, until you learn how to sharpen on a full size stone. 6 x 1-1/2 inches at least - bigger is better.

Diamond sharpener “stones” are great. There are several different brands available at reasonable prices - the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System is excellent, versatile and comes with interchangeable diamond plates, interchangeable 17 degree and 20 degree guides and a useful pocket/field sharpener in the box. No cumbersome or limiting clamps needed.

There is an entire sub-forum about sharpening here on AAPK, filled with advice and tips. viewforum.php?f=113

Ken

[cudgee]

I want to sharp my buck knife first time but not sure what will the best sharpener tool for that. What angle should a Buck Knife be sharpened at?

If you are sharpening it for the first time, keep the factory angle.

And there's the $1,000,000 question - what's the factory angle?

Take your time to find the angle using the sharpie method. Run the sharpie along the edge, then place the blade flat on the stone and lift it up till you think the bevel is flat on the stone. Slowly start to sharpen and keep checking to see if you are removing all the sharpie from the bevel, if you are that is your angle, if not, adjust the blade up or down till you hit the sweet spot. But, just take your time, don't rush. Once you have your angle, just slowly start the sharpening process, and keep checking the edge, to make sure you are grinding metal uniformly. There is a video on sharpening supplies website about using coins to help you get your angle, you might find this to be of benefit.

[Alien883]

And there's the $1,000,000 question - what's the factory angle?

The factory edge has mostly a 22 degree angle, standard for multi use knives...if you go for sharp...aka fine cutting, it be 18 degrees. A more camp knife aproach will be in the 30+ degree range!!

The actual number doesn’t matter unless you are setting up a guided system.

Lay the blade on the stone flat, lift it until the edge touches. that’s the angle you want to sharpen at. Use a bright light and a magnifying glass if you need too.

If you need to know the number buy a set of those little angle cubes.

Buck sharpens knives without angle guides on belt grinders, to actual angle will vary.