Bark River PSK: Keep convex edge, or convert to flat bevels?

R

RobbW

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Oct 15, 2003
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Short Read--Just The Question:

My question is this: should I keep the convex edge on my new PSK, or just sharpen it with flat bevels as I do all my other knives? Can I thin the convex enough to perform like my straight bevels, or am I better off re-beveling?

Longer Read--The Background:

A few weeks ago I received one of the new Bark River PSKs, with 13C26 instead of the formerly used 12C27. I bought it to be a fixed-blade, suburban EDC, and it looks perfect for that purpose. Small, light and most importantly thin. The thin steel looks ideal for cutting cardboard, which I do frequently, without binding.

The edge came a bit duller than I am used to, and not as thinned out. Most of my other knives have flat bevels set near 10 degrees on my Edge Pro, and I touch them up on a Sharpmaker at 15 degrees. This works well for what I cut with the D2, CV and 1095 which I mostly use.

This is my first convex edge, so I also bought the Bark River black and green stropping compounds so I could maintain the convex if that's best (I already have the strops). So, what do you think? Can I properly thin a convex edge so it cuts through cardboard like buttah, or should I just grind my usual flat bevels on the edge?
 
I have a few Barkies and give them all a 10 degree per side or less V bevel and often grind the shoulders down a bit as well. No problems whatsoever and simple to maintain. I say go for it. Convex or V bevel doesn't seem to make much if any difference when you get into very thin bevels. I do like a primary convex bevel on a lot of knives though.
 
I prefer convex myself- most of my knives are. However, if you go for a thin V grind and knock the shoulders down, that should give similar performance.
 
For me, getting a Bark River means you want to try/have a convex edge.

Edit: You could also put your standard bevels on the knife and then convex away the "v" edge shoulder which might give you the best of both worlds.
 
ChapmanPreferred said:
For me, getting a Bark River means you want to try/have a convex edge.

Edit: You could also put your standard bevels on the knife and then convex away the "v" edge shoulder which might give you the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...

A shiny smooth thin convex shoulder and a raspy micro-bevel - just the way I like it.
 
OK, thanks for the advice. I'll knock the shoulders down to 10 degrees per side with my usual flat bevels. After that, I may experiment with stropping to eventually create a new convex edge, albeit a much thinner convex edge with narrower shoulders.

Thanks for the insights. I had assumed that creating thin, flat bevels would be easier than trying to thin the existing convex edge using leather or mousepad material for backing--and that appears to be correct.
 
in my limited experience. a convex ground blade push cuts better than V grind does. other than that they seem pretty much the same to me.
 
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