What is the best or recommended way to sharpen your bigger tools. Like axes, cleavers, machetes etc. What's your favourite technique to achieve good and sharp finish?
If it is really badly blunted I use a grinder the lop off some material and then use a cutlass file to file it down sharp enough that it will pass a nail test.
>>944114
files
belt sander
japanese stones
etc
I have an AK platform bayonet, and the metal is fucking hard. Apparently a normal knife sharpener won't work so is there any other household way of effectively sharpening this thing without ruining it?
>>944114
A bench belt sander, putting a nice convex edge on all that stuff.
>>944308
>Apparently a normal knife sharpener won't work
Depends on what you consider a normal knife sharpener.
It is too large for some gimmicky carbide sharpeners.
It should work on a lansky or croc sticks.
Could use a work sharp type sharpener
You could convex it with a belt sander
Or you can simply sharpen it as standard as possible with a set of sharpening stones.
>>944308
AK bayonets are chrome plated. The steel is soft.
Do not try sharpening them. Like most bayonets they are not made to have a sharp edge.
>>944536
Thank you for telling me this before I did something stupid
>>944536
Really?
Yes its a soft stainless steel by todays standards, it is by no means chrome plated.
And while it is a bayonet, it was also meant to be pulled off and used as a working blade.
Its not supposed to be blunt just because its a bayonet.
>>944694
You can sharpen it perfectly fine, not going to do shit to it.
>>944114
Mill bastard file. Finish it to a nice edge with any normal sharpening stone. Don't use power tools, you'll fuck up the heat treatment and soften the edge. You can forget the last bit if it's already a POS though.
>>944860
>it is by no means chrome plated.
>You can sharpen it perfectly fine, not going to do shit to it.
>meant to be pulled off and used as a working blade.
Wrong on all three counts.
I use an 80 grit flap disc in an angle grinder on yard tools but I don't overheat the edges.
Also nice for removing spalling on old axe heads that were used for splitting.
Bayonets are toys so I don't molest mine lest it affect resale. Military bayonets and "survival" knives seem to have been chosen for uselessness, though if you have a hammer handy you can use the combination to open shipping crates in the field. That's what I did with mine. The job matters, the tool less so.
>>944952
Interesting
But really, calling me "Wrong on all three counts" doesnt really stand up when all you have to do is make a short google search.
There is loads of information out there on these knives, and everything you have said is abundantly wrong.
>>945038
>Bayonets are toys so I don't molest mine lest it affect resale.
They made so fucking many of them, they arent really worth anything
>>945729
Bayonets are usually left with a blunt edge to reduce the chance of it getting stuck if you strike bone.
>>946063
Just because it was originally left with a somewhat blunt working edge, doesnt mean that it "chrome plated" or that sharpening it will hurt the blade in any way.
There are versions of it with a hammer pommel, in case they needed to use it as a survival knife.
There are tons of threads on sharpening this particular knife on blade forums.
Im not sure what you are trying to do here, except blindly give this guy misinformation. He isnt using it as a bayonet and wanted to know how to sharpen it. There is literally nothing special about it and can be sharpened up just like any other blade.
>>944114
I clean up the edges with a 260 grit wheel on my bench grinder and call it good for shit like lawn mower blades and hatchets. For my pocket knives I usually just run them over a bit with a kitchen knife hone once a week unless the edge gets dinged up. Then I usually just bust out a finish file and take the dents down by hand so I don't take a lot of material off, then clean it up with a stone and finish with a hone.
>>946063
>/k/uck reporting in
False. Pike bayonets (straight pieces of metal with sharp pointy tips) didn't have edges so the blade would break out of bone instead of slicing in and getting stuck.
This, however, is not a pike. The Soviets would often keep these AK bayos very sharp and use them as all-purpose tools. Many even come with a pivoting lug and groove in the metal scabbard so you can use it to cut razor wire in the field (next to impossible with a dull knife). Both the bayonet that came with my Bulgarian AKM, and the 80's era Egyptian bayonet I bought for my dad's AK came razor sharp out of the box (technically the Egyptian surplus one was shipped to me inside a Nike sock stuffed in an oversized envelope...)
Roughed up paper wheel on a bench grinder and buffering compound. Works like a charm. Fast as fuck too.
