Knife Sharpening - CPM M4

This is a video documenting the sharpening of a knife in CPM M4. There’s discussion on the abrasives used and the steel.

[@lamprozar1]

Michael you seriously need to put out a book thank you for sharing 👊👊👊

[@michaelchristy4982]

James Case this channel is my book, brother.

[@Mrplacedcookie]

Thank's for the run down of M4. Just got a PM2 Jade.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Jorgen Sandstrom nice.

[@holdernewtshesrearin5471]

Great info! I love the para 2 and I love M4! A great combo! I want a knife in M4 that gets very thin down at the edge. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[@FearNoSteel]

That was what I needed man. Loved the video. Captured the essence of Sharpening man. Trying different things, seeing what works, what doesn't. Holy shit that got sharp man. M4 steel is just one of those steels that makes guys like us happy. Great performance man. You stated it beautiful.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Big Brown Bear thank you brother.

[@chrisheath284]

Micheal M4 is way up in my favorite steels. I agree with your opinion. Freehand you are a bad ass

[@michaelchristy4982]

Chris Heath thank you.

[@SuperSteelSteve]

Mr. Christy... I am a sharpener of about 5 years... Long story short im a chef so my experience up until this last year was kitchen knives( sujihiki, gyuto, honesuki ect). I sharpen as a very small side job and in the last year i got a few folding knives to sharpen. I found your videos along with others as i started to search for different approches as folding knives are far different than kitchen knives size, blade shape and steels! So many new steels! Lol i love to sharpen and i think about it constantly... Grit progressions, performance based on starting grit, performace based on starting medium(diamond, ceramic ect) performance based on finish, performance based on finish medium, where to start based on steel composition... It goes on and on! Just wanna say its a pleasure to watch you and BBB... You Two guys make me feel less crazy. Great job brother

[@michaelchristy4982]

steve callari thank you. I’m good you enjoy the channel.

[@murrayannandale]

If Bach and Mozart had a child; and he sharpened knives by hand instead of playing piano, this would be him...

[@LegBuilder]

Gayle bradley 2 vs pm2 in m4. Which would you say is a better overall knife. Excluding the lock. I am looking for cutting performance and function

[@michaelchristy4982]

GLORY BOUND I would take the PM2 in M4, but both are good.

[@user-ph1nc7ux3u]

Really enjoy your channel. You are a master at free hand sharpening no doubt I use a kme and can get my knives extremely sharp but rarely to the point that it will wittle a free hanging hair. And if so it’s always a course beard hair. Never a finer hair like you seem to use. You Sometimes a 600 grit micro bevel stropped to .01 micron will do it and sometimes I can’t do it with a 15 degree bevel that was taken to 1500 grit, lapped to 10,000 grit and taken through the same strop. I always remove as much of the burr as I can with my last stone whatever that may be but just curious what the trick is to get consistent hair whittling edges if you don’t mind sharing ? I don’t think I’m leaving a burr They will cleanly slice phone book paper And the edge hasn’t lost its bite It bothers me because in my sharping like you I’ve tried a bunch of different stones, methods, and processes trying to find what works and what is a waste of time. I’m happy with my edges, I sharpen for all my friends and they love it but when I see your end result, time after time I realize as sharp as my knives are they could be a little sharper

[@michaelchristy4982]

Bj Hutson for your case... burr removal is essential. Also, angle consistency through the whole sharpening. And lastly, check out my rant video on Maxamet. Pay close attention to the scratch pattern discussion. See if those things don’t make the difference.

[@user-ph1nc7ux3u]

Thanks Michael Christy

[@samuelmarmolejo4378]

I know this is an older video but I hope you respond, does carbide tear out happen with m4 I have a manix 2 that was real sharp and I kept it nice for a year or so but lately I’ve been struggling

[@brandon_crow1291]

Yaaaa I think I made a mistake when I got a Benchmade in M4 rather than a Spyderco. For a LOT of reasons.🙃🙄

[@thomaszinecker1785]

So you like m4, do you suggest keeping it heavily oiled for outdoor daily usage? Lawncare grass clippings All over me, a light rain, some sweat. How do I keep my m4 safe? I don't care of it looking ugly, just keeping it strong. I just bought lava edition of pm2 m4 satin and m4 dlc coated. 2 lava models

[@zakgrovenburg7726]

The Michael Jordan of free hand sharpening. Love the content man

[@michaelchristy4982]

zak grovenburg thank. Glad you like the channel.

[@Hungrybird474]

I slice deep and hard into some oak to remove stubborn burrs . All the sharpening I’ve done and I’ve only had a burr come off as a wire 2 times off a ceramic rod .

[@Hungrybird474]

Haha , yeah bro I ordered one of these when I saw a drop yesterday for $140 w the fat carbon and m4 . Maybe someone will see this and do the same 👍. Edge looks good .

[@jesseespinosa9739]

I got the same blade and couldnt agree more about quality. Drops free, handle scales are superb and grip more than g10. I put a lemon juice patina on it though. I agree it sharpens pretty well. I only use a basic sharpmaker but i still can push cut printer paper. I dont need it much sharper for my usage as an HVAC tech. Cheers!

[@tacticalcenter8658]

man i love nerding out. excellent video. now i want to take my spyderco M4 pm2 all the way. need to get some more stones and strops. i coat mine in "fluid film" keeps the corrosion away.

[@jimmycricket7946]

What do you like better M4 at at say 64 HRC or Rex45 at about 67 Hrc?

[@crrassh69]

Hey thanks for the info that makes perfect sense. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer me because I’ve wondered that for a long while.

[@officeedcs7335]

Im really impressed with you sharping method and skill.

[@michaelchristy4982]

OfficeEDCs thank you.

[@mikexter6860]

Again...Great Video bud! Thx👊🏽

[@michaelchristy4982]

MikeXter thank you.

[@p700walk]

Thanks for your channel. I have been using various wood blocks for strops...hickory, walnut, cherry, soft maple all sanded to glass smooth. I know you to use balsa and basswood. Can you comment on what effect wood hardness has on your stropping results? I know you touched on sanding the wood in this video so I look forward to hearing about your findings over time with the more refined wood surface.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Todd Macrorie you need a wood that’s soft enough to hold the compound well, but hard enough not to deform. Basswood is a nice medium. I don’t use balsa.

[@cordobadebear]

Sharpening and strop overkill!

[@dbfcrell8300]

I have a Manix 2 M4 that could use your knowledge and skill. Tiny amount of edge damage at choil guard and ceramic sharpened by an idiot (me!). How much $$ and where do I send it :) Stones, leather, wood and talent works for me.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Dbf Crell email me. [e-mail]

[@PaulK390S90V]

Hey Michael if you had to guess what angle would you say you sharpen your knives to free hand? Im sure you have a certain angle that your hand naturally wants to do. I notice you have some pretty good size bevels. That must be how you get the hair whittling sharp edges...real low angles. If you had to guess what would it be per side? I WILL get my edges like yours someday...maybe the low angle is key!

[@michaelchristy4982]

Paul Lonardo I usually sharpen at 30 inclusive (15 DPS).

[@PaulK390S90V]

Michael Christy Nice, I did a kizer feist at a super low angle free hand and I have to say that one did whittle hair. So I think I will try to go 30 inclusive and see how it come out! Thanks man.

[@PaulK390S90V]

Michael Christy Hey I have another question for you! A while ago you recommended the venev diamond bonded stones and I know you have used them. Did you know or maybe can confirm that they use the fepa-f grit scale? So the f2000 is equal to say just under a shapton 15,000!!? Or the f800 is even finer than a shapton 2k. Gritomatic has a chart that shows how all the different brands translate to each other and i think you will find it very interesting. Search gritomatic grit chart on Google and you will see a lightly colorful chart with most brands showing what they are equal to. I couldn't believe some of it. Check it out and let me know what you think. And after using the venev bonded stones would you agree? I think up to about f500 is equal to the ansi scale then it starts jumping ahead. Hope to hear from you!

[@michaelchristy4982]

Paul Lonardo I don’t worry too much about grit scales. The Venev 2K is no where near a 16K Shapton (I know you said 15K, but 16K is the closest Shapton actually has to that). However, the 2K Venev is still a great stone. All the Venev stones are great. I still highly recommend them.

[@PaulK390S90V]

Michael Christy I was just trying to get a diamond stone for my kme to go after my 1500 gold diamond but before my 2k chosera. So I can make sure all the diamond scratches are gone with minimal work with my chosera. So then my 5k and 10k chosera can just be working on refining the 2k chosera scratches. Its a minor thing but I just did not know the venev stones were on a different grit scale, so now according to that I can get the 800 venev and the 1200 venev and then go to my 2k chosera. Or even get the 2k venev for the heck of it. They are only 25$ each for the kme. And while I have you shapton ha no kuromaku 8k....yay or nay? Lol my naniwa ss 8k specialty thin stone snapped trying to straighten it after it warped on me after the first time using it while it was drying. Should I dry my stones on their sides leaning against something to make them less likely to warp? It sucked ...thanks for always answering my questions man I absolutely love knives and sharpening and hope to get as good as you some day free hand. 🔪✔💸

[@aleks2194]

Damn dude

[@kissmychainmayne]

@james case I agree with you man this guy really is top tier. Love his channel.

[@0zmosis2001]

really good info on m4. have you ever thought about making a video on different m390 since everybody's using that steal now these days

[@michaelchristy4982]

osmosis 01 I have videos on M390 and CTS-204p.

[@jl9752]

Hey Michael, so after a higher polish finish, what’s your verdict on performance and edge retention on M4. Seems like you are not quite sold on the Naniwa Diamond 6000 either. Do you think you could have done without it and jump straight from the last Venev stone to spyderco ultra fine? Thanks!

[@michaelchristy4982]

Josh Lee I think there’s still more to do with the Naniwa Stones.

[@jl9752]

Gotcha, thanks for the reply, I'll look forward to future videos after further testing :)

[@morati1963]

Amazing how you can hit those angles so consistently. The MASTER! Very much enjoy the vids. Thank you...

[@michaelchristy4982]

morati1963 thank you.

[@crrassh69]

Hey Michael thanks for all the info on sharpening I’ve learned a lot and have gotten freehand hair whittling edges on most of my knives. I do have a question though do you recommend blunting and edge before sharpening? As in running your blade across a stone to remove a fine layer of steel. I’ve heard some sharpeners say do this to remove a layers of weakened steel. So far I haven’t done this at all I would be curious to hear what you think. Thanks very much and have a great year.

[@michaelchristy4982]

crrassh69 that’s something that Cliff Stamp would do before sharpening. I don’t think he was wrong to do it, but his procedure in sharpening was very different then mine. He caused no burr formation (or very little) and utilized a micro bevel, so if he wasn’t removing the stressed steel from the edge by dragging the blade on the stone, it might not get removed. I cause burr formation as I’m moving through the stones repeatedly, so the fatigued steel on the edge is getting removed. The reason I’m confident in that answer is my testing... I’m satisfied with the performance I’m getting, both in a testing environment and in real world use.

[@StoneHands25]

Have you used gunny juice yet?

[@mforrest1508]

Do you have a favorite steel? I know that question begs another but, everyone has an idea of what there favorite is if they could only have one in a folder. For me it was m4 when I lived in Colorado, now it is M390 because I live in a super wet salty environment. I find they both sharpen well and hold an edge for similar amounts of time with regular edc type stuff. I have done hard use testing between s110v M390 and m4. Cutting thick cable. They all dulled the s110 chipped the most than M390 than m4 had almost no chipping. I loved that! But now living 5 minutes from the beach I have to say M390 is the king of folding Knife steels. Elmax in a close second or even a draw. With M390. And I don’t think the 20cv or other equivalents are the same as M390 I have found them very different. My opinion what’s yours? Crucible and carpenter needs an elmax competitor.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Matthew Forrest I couldn’t choose just one. What I prefer depends on the knife.

[@mforrest1508]

Michael Christy like I said one question begs another. I know it’s a hard question.

[@333turdferguson]

Is there a reason you use basswood for your strops? I have always used leather, but I decided to pick up some wood to try it out. I couldn't find much basswood at the place I went, so I got some poplar.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Marl 71 wood cuts more aggressively then leather. It also woods very well for certain finishes.

[@tonycanniffe2360]

Marl 71 You can get basswood on eBay. Might take a while to arrive. I have some on the way...

[@HeavyJ318]

Can I ask You a question ser, how easily do you think m4 sharpens compared to say 1095? I am looking at getting a survival knife and would like something that could be sharpened on a rock or piece of quartz in a emergency situation. I've read m4 is like an improved 1095 in every way but not sure about ease of sharpening?

[@michaelchristy4982]

HeavyJ318 you’ve read wrong. M4 is nothing like 1095. If you want to be able to sharpen on a rock, get 1095.

[@HeavyJ318]

Thanks for you're reply mate. @@michaelchristy4982

[@koercvf]

Hi Michael another great video! I like the new camera angle you're using now, makes it feel like the viewer is sitting down having a conversation with you. Just wondering if you plan to make an updated video on how you make your strops and the improvements you've found over time and/or an update on your experiences with cru-wear expanding on what you've found out about its edge retention?

[@michaelchristy4982]

Vincent Carmichael CruWear, I’d like to get to, but I’m limited on the number of CruWear knives I can subject to testing, and testing takes a toll on the knives. As for the strops, I might or might not. I may keep that as trade secret.

[@koercvf]

Michael Christy that's fair enough mate! Your videos are extremely packed with knowledge as it is and have been an invaluable for learning about the finer art of sharpening!

[@chucknunface]

Nice video man. I'm currently working with some M4 now so this is right on target for me.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Chuck Nunface nice. What knife?

[@chucknunface]

Michael Christy Blade HQ Military.

[@michaelchristy4982]

Chuck Nunface that’s a nice piece. M4 sharpens great. No worries.

[@ludoll83]

hello, i don't speak english, at 5:10 what is the song you have in your hands, thank you very much ..

[@michaelchristy4982]

lood83200 at 5:10, it’s basswood that I’m using as a strop, with compound on both sides.

[@ludoll83]

@@michaelchristy4982 Merci beaucoup..

[@zeuqramjj2002]

Strop- exists.

[@funurayt050]

Awesome I love M4 it is my favorite. I however didn't know it is similar to cruwear. I have a cruwear military that was collecting dust until now. I'm going to get it out and give it a whirl. I agree with you on fine as possible with M4 I would love to strop finer than the .25 micron diamond spray that I use but its the finest I have. Great video thank you.

[@michaelchristy4982]

funurayt050 M4 has some things in common with CruWear. I wouldn’t say they’ll extremely close, but there is similarities.

[@funurayt050]

Does CruWear strop as well as M4?

[@michaelchristy4982]

funurayt050 I think it does better.

[@tyc4718]

Another excellent video. Thanks

[@michaelchristy4982]

Ty C thanks.

[@danielnguyen6113]

M4 vs M390 opinions?

[@michaelchristy4982]

Daniel Nguyen M390 has a huge advantage in corrosion resistance. M390 has a slight advantage in edge retention. M4 has a large advantage in toughness. I like both steels for a folding knife.

[@HardwareG33k]

What do you mean when you say a stone lacks or has good feedback? Very interesting as always!

[@michaelchristy4982]

HardwareG33k it’s hard to explain, but when you know it, you know it. With some stones you can feel or even hear where you are on them, relative to your angle. On the UF, I can feel the burr come off the knife. With the Naniwa, there’s not much feedback.

[@HardwareG33k]

Interesting, thanks for the explanation. I'm just getting started and still mostly f'ing up the angles but maybe I'll get there in a couple years ;)

[@michaelchristy4982]

HardwareG33k keep sharpening. You’ll get better.

[@jeffreyweber8006]

Great video, Michael

[@michaelchristy4982]

Jeffrey Weber thank you.

[@shanescott7724]

in your opinion, what steel gets the sharpest? Or takes the best edge?

[@michaelchristy4982]

Shane Scott it depends on the abrasives used and the sharpener, but there are some that tend to do better then others. A few to name are Superblue, HAP40, M390, M4 and white steel, but there are more.

[@shanescott7724]

@@michaelchristy4982 I have a wicked Edge and Diamond stones up to 1500 and ceramics at 1600. After that I put a strip of sand paper over the stones and go up to 8k grit and then 1 and .5 micron strops. What are your thoughts on this method?

[@michaelchristy4982]

Shane Scott ditch the sand paper. You’re using an extremely expensive (and really, maybe the best) guides system out there for consumer purchase and finishing with hardware store supplies. Look for more products from Wicked Edge to finish with. I’m sure they have some great options for you.

[@shanescott7724]

@@michaelchristy4982 That's just the thing, I have everything they offer and nothing they have goes beyond 1600 ceramic. So I added my own, lol. Can you PM me? I'm so into this shit and I'd love to pick your brain.

[@shanescott7724]

@@michaelchristy4982 Add me on Facebook if you want. Like I said, I'd love to pick your brain. facebook.com/trevor.scott.9469

[@dmontes4192]

Where do yo get the stropping compound and what is it called thanks.

[@crf450rbulletdavid9]

I still really enjoy your review/sharpening videos! It’s great to be involved with other sharpeners and knife people in general because were I live there isn’t anyone that I know of that is into it. Have you gotten a chance to pick up a pm2 in maxamet?

[@michaelchristy4982]

crf450r bullet david not yet. I hear it might be awhile before they’re out again.

[@crf450rbulletdavid9]

Michael Christy I put in notification on a few websites and got lucky. Blade hq got a couple on Tuesday I think. They sold out fast. If I waited a minute more I would have lost out on my chance. They are trickling In slowly. I’m pretty excited to get a chance to finally check out the steel for myself. I kind of take issue with some of the things that are being said about it.

[@michaelchristy4982]

crf450r bullet david yeah, I think it’s more complicated then just a good steel or bad steel scenario.

[@crf450rbulletdavid9]

Michael Christy this model is built very well. It feels great. I really want to be able to sharpen good freehand and I’ve practiced a lot and I feel I’m not getting anywhere. My main problem is that when I move on to finer stones I start changing the angle I’m trying to hold. Do you have any suggestions?

[@michaelchristy4982]

crf450r bullet david slow down. Move slower and get it right. Increase the speed over time.

[@littlewoody5539]

Good video what leather do you like the best in your testing ?

[@booking3136]

Hehehe 1st

[@michaelchristy4982]

booking3136 nice.

[@pcooke9865]

Still want to see you comprise your list of favorite to least favorite steels. Thanks for another great video.

[@michaelchristy4982]

potatochip gaming it’s a complicated topic. I don’t think I look at like everyone else. Might make a good rant video though.

[@tonycanniffe2360]

Ever tried kangaroo leather Michael?

[@michaelchristy4982]

Tony Canniffe yes

[@mikelikesknives428]

Thank you for these videos. I just found your channel. You have an incredible collection of knives and steels. Thanks again.