I think FF has a point there. The factory sharpening is done with quite wide angle. My 411 came with a sharp edge (thanks Mike) but I havenīt used it yet.
One thing is the blade profile. If the profile is a wide V or convex, after losing the best of the cutting edge the blade becomes dull fast. Both sharpening angles (wide V and convex) are made for something else than cutting, they will stay "sharp enough" when chopping etc. If you think only the basic forms behind to wide V or convex thay are very close to flat and round. Flat and round arenīt good for cutting.
A shallow V grind is made for cutting. I ended up reprofiling my WarDog for quite shallow V. Now the knife is a cutter. If you baton with the knife know you will twist itīs edge. A shallow V grind is in my opinion best for cutting, after all a straight razor has a shallow V grind. When you add a cutting motion for a blade like that it should cut very well.
Other thing is the thickness of the blade. Itīs very easy to make a shaving edge to a thin blade (razors arenīt 0.25" thick) so when having a thick blade youīll lose quite much mterial when doing a shallow V or you compromise with wider angle.
If you choose to grind a shallow V on your knife you canīt hurry. It took me four (4)! hours to make a V grind by hand to my WarDog. (I used the Lansky sets and I can tell you a good grind with slow turning stone is something that every man dealing with knives should have!). So take your time. Watch the shape and take care keeping the agle the same all the time. Aim for perfect symmetry. The closer you get the sharp edge the less power and finer stone you need.
Training makes perfect. Train with easy sharpening carbon blade on a cheap knife and then move on to your users.
Maintain the sharpness by "wiping" the edge with ceramic or other fine rod or stone after every use. By doing this you donīt need to sharpen your knife very often.
This is my way of taking care of my knives. Iīm sure itīs not the only way or maybe not the best way either. I do hope there are some useful advices to someone.
One more thing: there are no miracle sharpners! You sould try different ways of sharpning the blades. Some ways are more suitable for thin blade shallow V grinds and some are better for thick bladed knifes and convex grinds. Every shape of the cutting edge has itīs strongest ways of use.
