Few knife questions.

I've been doing some reading and decided to buy a Spyderco Delica plain edge knife (or maybe not since total cost of knife and sharpener is >$100US.) I choose it mainly because of price and fear that customs will seize anything larger than a 3 inch blade.(Endura) I did read up about VG10 and have been satisfied that this is a good steel.

With respect to sharpeners, I've read MANY times how great the sharpmaker 204 is however, I love the idea of diamond sharpeners which in my uninformed opinion, have a higher durability. I'd like to buy the DMT Aligner Delux kit because 1) I figure at a comparable price to the sharpmaker, DMT diamond hones are a better deal than ceramic. 2) I really don't care to use ceramic hones for super sharp blades and 3) I figure the DMT hones will be much more practical in the field than the spyderco hones. (I'll also like to buy an additional 4 in extra coarse hone for shaping numerous cutlasses etc we have.)

Have any of you used the DMT kit or any of their hones?

I'll also like help finding a place where I can buy these items at a good price. I first came across knifecenter some time ago but recently realized that they may not have the best prices. Most recently, I found Bladematrix.tv and their prices are great but, are they safe? Do you have experience with them? Can you make some suggestions as to were I can buy safely?

Checking through bladematrix (and other sites), I see that they have some Smity&Wesson knives such as the Homeland Security Linerlock for chump change ($12) and it's made from 440C steel. I have to be missing something right? Why shouldn't I buy one of these and expect it to perform as well as any benchmade or spyderco 440C blade? (I was thinking about getting it for my brother.)

Thanks a log guys!

You can buy these items at CPF member lighthound's site for a good price. Let him know that you are a CPF member. BTW, might as well get the new wave version of the Delica

lighthound doesn't have all what I want.

Greetings eebowler!

Have you tried perusing NewGraham.Com?

http://newgraham.com/default.aspx

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

I buy almost all my knives from newgraham, unless I stumble across something on ebay or a private seller. Newgraham has a stellar reputation at bladeforums.com, where there just happens to be a lot of people who buy knives.

cheers

The white ceramic stones of the Sharpmaker will never wear out. The grey ones will, but only after a lot of sharpening. I recommend the Sharpmaker wholeheartedly, as it makes it incredibly easy to put a razor sharp edge on my knives. To my knowledge, diamond tends to be coarser than the ceramics, taking off more steel from the edge, and with the Sharpmaker you can not only sharpen your knife, but polish the edge as well for a superb push-cutting edge.

Regarding the Delica4, it is a wonderful knife and among my favorites. I have now downgraded it to beater status now that I have a more expensive Spyderco, but I usually carry it and it has seen a lot of use.

I buy all my knives from NewGraham as well, unless they happen not to stock an item, or they're out of stock and I'm too impatient to wait. Great service, prompt shipping.

With cheaper knives, you don't know about the quality of the heat treatment. There are a few aspects of knives beyond just the steel that makes one a good matter-splitter. There's heat treatment, blade geometry, grind type, and less important (because you're going to sharpen them anyway) edge angle. I don't pretend to know a lot about the aforementioned aspects of knives, but I can name a few who do.

eebowler said:

With respect to sharpeners, I've read MANY times how great the sharpmaker 204 is however, I love the idea of diamond sharpeners which in my uninformed opinion, have a higher durability.

Click to expand...

Diamond hones have less durability than ceramic -- in my experience, quite a bit less. The diamond dust is bonded to a metal matrix, and always ends up falling off, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. Not trying to change your mind, I love diamond hones for their quick cutting action, especially on hard-to-machine high-carbide stainless, but those ceramic stones will last a lifetime, and diamond stones definitely won't.

Joe

sorry, doubletap

Just checked out newgraham. They don't have the DMT kit or any affordable hones if I go with the sharpmaker. What about knifeoutlet.com? Any experience with them?

Joe, you're bursting my bubble man! I'll have to do some more reading...

I am pretty new to the knife thing, but have learned a lot in the last few months.

Bladeforums and knifeforums are both excellent resources, with very cool people eager to help.

I have a much older model Delica, with the AUS8 steel. Excellent knife, and I am about to order a new Delica 4 plain edge...and a Sharpmaker. The Sharpmaker is allegedly an excellent and easy to use sharpener. I like easy.

In my eternal search for the best "bang for the buck", I found some interesting info on budget knives: there are some VERY nice choices for a reasonable price.
The examples I found were the Byrd line (the Meadowlark is similar to the Delica, and costs around $20, I think), the Ka-Bar Dozier line, Benchmade Vex, SAK's, and several others in the Kershaw line are well-regarded.

I am interested in the Ka-Bar line because I admit that I like the looks.

If you go with the sharpmaker, you can just use ordinary sandpaper wrapped around the rods for coarse grinding and reshaping the surface. No diamond needed. Cheap and easy. The sandpaper won't last as long as diamond rods but it's so much cheaper.

By the way, ceramics will cut through any metal, no matter how hard. Ceramics are just harder.

eebowler: I don't think knifeoutlet.com will take international orders.

carrot said:

By the way, ceramics will cut through any metal, no matter how hard. Ceramics are just harder.

Click to expand...

Very true infact ceramix rods will actually cut sharpening stones! I saw it on the sharpmaker video performed by Sal himself (Sal is the CEO of spyderco)

pendalinbob, thank you for those suggestions. I'll check them out now.

PhotonAddict, thanks for the info. I'll email them to find out though, it may not be a problem since I'm shipping to a US address. I doubt that'll be my biggest problem as customs here is a real bother. I called them this morning to find out what size knife would be legal (if I can get an Endura, that'll be better) and they said that I'll have to go to the police to find out. Will do that this afternoon.

I have bought several knives from Bladematrix, Kellen is a great guy and will work to find you what you want.

He does a good job in my mind

I was trying to deal with bladematrix and after waiting about two weeks for them to give me an estimate cost of my order, (they were waiting on some items from DMT) I discovered that my credit card doesn't have billing address verification. I offered to send a bank draft as payment and they said: THANK YOU FOR YOUR INQUIRY.
ON OUR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WE ONLY ACCEPT PAY PAL OR WESTERN UNION MONEY ORDER. Western Union, how primitive. It'll cost me over $15 US to send the money for my order. I am truely dissapointed. :shakehead

well i am sorry that kellen did not take better care of you, but frankly the misuse of funds issue with credit cards and the like on foreign orders is just insane now.

I would ask you this.

Do you now regularly carry a knife EDC and if so, how long have you been able to keep it. If you teach yourself to never put the knife down but to put it back in the pocket every time, you will keep it for a long time, My grandfather carried one pocket knife for nearly 21 years. My father can not keep a knife in his pocket as he sets it down and walks away. My brother and I both have pocket knives from grade school that we carried for years before moving up. I am currently on the 9th year on this knife. Yeah I got lots others, but the knife that travels with me is this one.

If you have a good record for keeping aknife in your pocket, then do not worry about spending 50 dollars for a good one, you will like it more, it will stay sharp longer and you will trust it more. After a couple of years, looking back and saying gee 50 cents a week is not a bad price to pay for something I use ten twenty times a day.

If you are not ready to spend that kind of money consider the Byrd collection from Spyderco. the raven is a very nice no make that a terrific knife for the money. i bought my dad three for christmas for 16 bucks a piece. If he loses that, i would not cry. but after seeing them, boy they are knives far in excess of the cost.

http://newgraham.com/detail.aspx?ID=6185

http://newgraham.com/detail.aspx?ID=4846

http://newgraham.com/detail.aspx?ID=4844

Try River's Edge Cutlery at

http://riversedgecutlery.com/construction.html

Shoot Mike a email from the website. Good guys there!

I use a DMT diafold? and it works well. I bought it because a guy I worked with had one that he used 1-2 times a week for years w/ no problems. Got mine from Cabelas, as it was cheaper to get from them w/ shipping than to buy locally. I also use a ceramic crock stick, as it is finer than my diamond hone. Usually use the crock stick to touch up, then the diamond hone when I have to thin the edge a bit.

Am I crazy when I hone my edge of my blade with the back of my leatherman or a kitchen honing steel? Sharpening is another matter, but for me honing is just to make straight the microscopic edge. If i get too many chips in the edge I have a wetstone, and if the blade needs a new shape I have a wet wheel grinder.