Can you sharpen a knife?

[HeXen]

What do you do with your knives? It really depends. I'm not a person that handles knives every day, but I've NEVER had the screw come out before.

utility construction. what i do with it is cut stuff.
its the opening and closing of the knife that leads to the screw gradually loosening.
we literally have to carry knives and use them daily. its frowned upon to forget your knife and borrow someone else's.
Stainless is most common and cheap for me...but i'm tired of them really.

Now not all knives have a screw that comes undone, i have one thats not a screw, but seems to be either pressed on or sealed somehow, but you can't undo it. but its a seraded blade and those are'nt as easy to use for my work.

 

[Squisher]

Drill bits are easy. Just weld two hex nuts together and you have a gauge to measure the angle with. A good set of drillbits will last a lifetime and can be kept sharp.

That's not quite true. Although 120 degrees is fine, getting both cutting edges equal and at the correct angle is not easy and that kind of gauge won't help. That doesn't even get into getting sufficient back angle on the land. And, I'm not even getting into all the tricks like reducing the chisel point by cutting the web, putting a zero rake on the cutting edge if the material needs it, or knocking off the spur points.

 

[Howard]

what kind of steel would be considered most ideal for a knife?
i need something that could stay sharp for a while, i use knives a lot at work, of course the screw that holds the blade in usually comes loose and gets lost before i wear a blade out from sharpening so much.
one things for sure, whatever material is used to make "muletape" pulling rope, will dull any stainless knife with only a few cuts to the point it wont cut it anymore. usually about 5-8 cuts and its dull as can be.

Are you talking about the pins that go through the tang?

When you say the knife gets dull, does it actually get dull or is it the edge rolling? What happens when you hone the edge?

 

[HeXen]

Are you talking about the pins that go through the tang?

When you say the knife gets dull, does it actually get dull or is it the edge rolling? What happens when you hone the edge?

yeah, the pins. sorry i'm not technical on knives. when i say it gets dull, its due from cutting this pull rope we use called "muletape" which holds 1600 lbs + pulling capacity.
Razer blades do the same thing with it. after about 5 or so cuts, its mostly done. i could probably cut the muletape about 20 times until i could literally not cut it anymore no matter how hard i push the blade or saw it.
Naturally i can sharpen it, and it cuts just great again. but just repeats itself...after maybe a year of use, i find it hard to get the blade sharp for some reason, but like i said, the pins usually come out long before then.

whatever material that Muletape is, it will dull a stainless blade so quickly, you cannot cut your own finger nail with it.
so i guess the edge is rolling, i can't see anything by looking at it, but i couldnt cut myself with it either.

So i would be interested in some other type of metal that might hold its edge better.

 

[disappoint]

yeah, the pins. sorry i'm not technical on knives. when i say it gets dull, its due from cutting this pull rope we use called "muletape" which holds 1600 lbs + pulling capacity.
Razer blades do the same thing with it. after about 5 or so cuts, its mostly done. i could probably cut the muletape about 20 times until i could literally not cut it anymore no matter how hard i push the blade or saw it.

whatever material that Muletape is, it will dull a stainless blade so quickly, you cannot cut your own finger nail with it.
so i guess the edge is rolling, i can't see anything by looking at it, but i couldnt cut myself with it either.

So i would be interested in some other type of metal that might hold its edge better.

The harder the metal the better the edge retention as long as it doesn't chip also the harder they are to sharpen. Have you tried ceramic knives? They are harder than metal and hold their edge for a long time but hard to sharpen.

 

[HeXen]

The harder the metal the better the edge retention as long as it doesn't chip also the harder they are to sharpen. Have you tried ceramic knives? They are harder than metal and hold their edge for a long time but hard to sharpen.

no. but i'll research it, thanks

 

[BladeVenom]

what kind of steel would be considered most ideal for a knife?

That's something that will never be agreed on. That's why there are so many choices. All the useful alloys have their advantages and disadvantages.

 

[gotsmack]

utility construction. what i do with it is cut stuff.
its the opening and closing of the knife that leads to the screw gradually loosening.
we literally have to carry knives and use them daily. its frowned upon to forget your knife and borrow someone else's.
Stainless is most common and cheap for me...but i'm tired of them really.

Now not all knives have a screw that comes undone, i have one thats not a screw, but seems to be either pressed on or sealed somehow, but you can't undo it. but its a seraded blade and those are'nt as easy to use for my work.

Sounds like you would be better off with a lock saw. I'm not sure thats what it's called but its a little saw for cutting through deadbolts. The blades are cheap to replace, look at them at Home Depot or Lowes. OR you can get a ginsu knife. Never used one but they cut through cans on TV.