# Some of my work.



## Sadden (Sep 12, 2016)

Hey there, my name is Colin, I am a semi professional knife sharpener. I specialize in hard, vanadium rich steels. 


Heres some of my gear, i primarily use a modified edge pro. I have a large collection of synthetic and natural stones, compounds, and strops




Cold Steel Rajah 2 in BD1




Customers CRK in S35vn




Customers Forum Knife in S90V




My EDC, an S90V Spydie/Phil Wilson Southfork




My Maestro Wu, made from ww2 era bombshells, thats one of my wifes hairs...
I import these for the Canadian Market




A customers Yojimbo2, in S30V







Thanks for looking in


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## nbp (Sep 12, 2016)

Oooh that Insingo looks fantastic! I love my Insingos. Might need one touched up one day... 🙂


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## Skimo (Sep 12, 2016)

Not bad, it's hard to see past 2k in pictures, at least for me. :thumbsup:


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## vadimax (Sep 12, 2016)

Edges look like a state of the art


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## roger-roger (Sep 12, 2016)

Bombshell steel sounds insane. I'm guessing you're probably higher end than I want to afford, but out of curiosity how does one access info on your products and services?


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## Sadden (Sep 13, 2016)

Hey guys! Thanks for the interest. I dont do a ton of customer knives due to my day job keeping me pretty busy. But I am double checking with the mods before posting up a link if you guys want more information. Mostly this is a hobby. But i do take on customer knives via mail order.


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## vudoo (Sep 13, 2016)

Knife sharpening is an art. Wished I was good at it. LOL


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## Sadden (Sep 13, 2016)

Sig Test


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## blah9 (Sep 13, 2016)

Great work! Those look amazing. I just started getting into knives and am proceeding slowly so at this point I can only dream of getting my knives anywhere near as sharp as that haha!


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## roger-roger (Sep 14, 2016)

Stunning pics, and a great collection of stones.


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## Sadden (Sep 15, 2016)

So my sig and link are all cleared via Bill, so looks like its good to roll out, looking forward to hearing from some of you, stay tuned around here as i will be updating this thread with pictures


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## lucca brassi (Sep 15, 2016)

Great work ! I also think that sharpening knives (or any other cutting tool ) it is very challenging work .


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## roger-roger (Sep 15, 2016)

Sadden said:


> So my sig and link are all cleared via Bill, so looks like its good to roll out, looking forward to hearing from some of you, stay tuned around here as i will be updating this thread with pictures




You have an interesting collection of Japanese polishing stones.


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## Goodmak (Sep 15, 2016)

Nice collection! Sharpening is my biggest headache so I have to use Lansky sharpeners.


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## Nitiwat (Sep 16, 2016)

Wow fantastic work! You have so many stones I'm so jealous  . I've gotten into sharpening my own knives too but damn I can never get my edges to a mirror polish like that. Could you list out your stones and paste/spray? Pretty interested in that stuff! Also how often do you freehand vs guided system?


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## Bullzeyebill (Sep 16, 2016)

Nitiwat said:


> Could you list out your stones and paste/spray? Pretty interested in that stuff! Also how often do you freehand vs guided system?



Might be a trade secret, after all he does have a blade sharpening business.

Bill


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## Sadden (Sep 17, 2016)

roger-roger said:


> You have an interesting collection of Japanese polishing stones.


Yeah I have around 25 different Jnats, And a big box full of Naguras  Although not all are strictly polishers, I have some that are fairly coarse.




> Wow fantastic work! You have so many stones I'm so jealous  . I've gotten into sharpening my own knives too but damn I can never get my edges to a mirror polish like that. Could you list out your stones and paste/spray? Pretty interested in that stuff! Also how often do you freehand vs guided system?


I use so many different things, it would be a very long list. But my most used products are....

Atoma Diamond Plates- 140, 400, 600, 1200
Shapton pro Stones - 220, 1k, 1500, 2k, 5k, 8k, 15k, 30k
Cubic Boron Nitride Compound (Ken Schwartz)- 1u, 0.5u, 0.25u, 0.125u, 0.1u
Polycrystalline Diamond Compound (Ken Scwartz)1u, 0.5u, 0.25u, 0.1u, 0.05u, 0.025u
I strop with Kangaroo leather or nanocloth strops coated in the aforementioned compounds.

I normally use the edge pro to do my initial edges. On personal knives i will touch up or sharpen freehand sometimes. On customer knives i primarily use the edge pro.


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## Nitiwat (Sep 17, 2016)

Wow I didn't think anyone actually used the Shapton 30k. Do you think it's overkill in your opinion?


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## Sadden (Sep 17, 2016)

Nitiwat said:


> Wow I didn't think anyone actually used the Shapton 30k. Do you think it's overkill in your opinion?


IN all honesty, my stone is not very good. leaves very large scratches for a 30k stone. Kens compounds are much more finely graded.


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## Nitiwat (Sep 18, 2016)

Sadden said:


> IN all honesty, my stone is not very good. leaves very large scratches for a 30k stone. Kens compounds are much more finely graded.



That's pretty interesting you say that. Personally, I've only used up to a King 6K which is probably no where on the same level as Shapton's stones in terms of quality but I think it fits my skill level.


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## Str8stroke (Sep 18, 2016)

I find sharpening hard to do. I can make a sharp knife dull in a heart beat. I find sharpening a little intimidating. I am bad about selling or giving away a knife when it gets dull. lol I have though lots about getting a Wicked Edge system. But that price! The only reason I can rationalize buying it, I am too nervous to mail out a $400 plus dollar knife to be sharpened. I don't trust the postal system and UPS costs too much. lol 
Anyways, that is a nice set up you have. Looks like you have mastered the hobby of sharpening. What is a fair price to pay someone to put a mirror edge on a knife? I thought I read $10 was fair, but that seams cheap to me. I have a few knives in S30VN, they feel like they are very hard to sharpen. <--I have never done anything other than a strop. But I didn't use a compound. I think that was my problem. I have been thinking about getting a strop and some compound. 

Thanks for posting your set up. Your edges look outstanding. That mirror polish you do makes me drool. I have a few CRK blades I would love that on!

PS: Sorry for the rambling of this post. I am up early fighting a bad cold.


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## roger-roger (Sep 18, 2016)

I had a 50's Gun Digest (annual publication) that had an article, where they reviewed and metallurgically analyzed a highly respected turn of the century German straight razor. Pretty cool stuff from back in the days when 'cool' was new thing, hahaha.


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## Sadden (Sep 18, 2016)

> What is a fair price to pay someone to put a mirror edge on a knife? I thought I read $10 was fair, but that seams cheap to me.


Ill spend 2 or 3 hours working on a knife to get it perfect. I dont know about you but 3.33$/hr leaves no room for material costs. Those little 2oz bottles of stropping compound are 60$ each.

I was doing it too cheap before, and am currently restructuring my cost.


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## roger-roger (Sep 18, 2016)

Sadden said:


> Ill spend 2 or 3 hours working on a knife to get it perfect. I dont know about you but 3.33$/hr leaves no room for material costs. Those little 2oz bottles of stropping compound are 60$ each.
> 
> I was doing it too cheap before, and am currently restructuring my cost.




I'm thinking he means $10 an inch. That's competitive more or less, but I'm not sure it's exactly relevant to to your process.


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## Skimo (Sep 18, 2016)

Good, I ended up telling guys that heavy damage and deep nicks were pretty much going to double the cost. $3 per inch for a coarse edge, $5 for a fine edge and polished edges would go from $7-$10 per inch. Granted, like you I use Edge Pro for perfect edges, if they're willing to take a power sharpened edge that isn't as even the cost comes down quite a bit.


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## Sadden (Nov 15, 2016)

Got a package with some supplies in the mail today, heres a sneak peak. A Botan Nagura


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## Sadden (Dec 12, 2016)

Customer CRKT Ereaser
140 Atoma
220 shapton pro
1k Nubatama platinum
2k Nubatama speckled
5k shapton pro
8k Shapton pro
2u, 1u, 0.5u, 0.25u CBN on roo
0.1u poly diamond on nanocloth


Sharp with plenty of bite.


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## RedLED (Feb 22, 2017)

Bullzeyebill said:


> Might be a trade secret, after all he does have a blade sharpening business.
> 
> Bill


I would say he is an artist at what he does. There and not many secrets these days, and even if you told people they may not ever be able to accomplish what he does. This is a real skill and there are so many people who think they know what they are doing in regard to this task. In so many of the skilled fields, there will always be someone who stands out.

Also, if you are really good at something and are truly talented, you want to help, and assist people - it shows that you are secure in your profession and with yourself. I am always skeptical of people in my field who try to hide something as if they are the only person that has a certain knowledge of something, and won't say anything, as if it was a secret, however, guess what, in my field...there are no secrets.


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## RedLED (Feb 22, 2017)

If you don't mind, where are you located? Also, don't sell yourself short, with that cool set up you have you are a professional at this, and also, you should charge a good rate as you have taken the time to learn this skill, and have an investment in your gear. Frankly, I see you as an artist in this field, not a tradesman, and people with expensive, high quality knives would pay well for your services. People don't mind a high rate if it is important to them, and you know what your doing. 

You have skill which seems easy but, are not. Not at all. 

Some me of us may want to be able to contact you for your services do you have a Web-site? Or are you on the forum enough to use PM? Some of here do not engage in social media. 

Best wishes,

RedLED


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## n800 (Feb 23, 2017)

Edges look perfect my friend and I love the shot of the shaved hair. One has to be very patient to obtain results like this.


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## Sadden (Feb 27, 2017)

First and foremost thank you very much for the kind words.



> Also, if you are really good at something and are truly talented, you want to help, and assist people - it shows that you are secure in your profession and with yourself. I am always skeptical of people in my field who try to hide something as if they are the only person that has a certain knowledge of something, and won't say anything, as if it was a secret, however, guess what, in my field...there are no secrets.


Im pretty open about what i use, its plastered all over my social media and various fora. The main that holds people back from investing in a setup like this is the costs associated with it. If someone does spend the coin to invest in a setup similar too mine i will be more than happy to help them learn too use it.



> Some me of us may want to be able to contact you for your services do you have a Web-site? Or are you on the forum enough to use PM? Some of here do not engage in social media.


Im around here nearly daily, if not 4-5 days a week. But my day job has been crazy busy so a PM will garner my attention quicker. If you want to contact me and dont use social media feel free too shoot me a PM and we can setup a phone or skype call.


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## asqasu (Mar 27, 2017)

Beautiful knives. thanks for the sharing. and the words, are they Chinese?


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## Sadden (Apr 3, 2017)

The knives or the stones?

Most production knives are actually produced in Taiwan, some are produced in Japan and united states, very few are produced in China.

The stones are primarily produced in Japan, and cut for my edge pro in California by my mentor and friend.


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## roger-roger (Apr 7, 2017)

Not sure if this has been posted but great video, great knife. I'll hopefully be ordering a Sprig shortly.

Can you comment on what factory bevel came on the South Fork?


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## Sadden (Apr 20, 2017)

Hmmmm its been so long, i want too say 15 degrees. It might have been higher though.

Oftentimes factory edges arent super accurate. Many are applied freehand via beltsander and will vary between blades/sharpeners.


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