Bark River Sharpening

J

jvan

Joined
Apr 19, 2006
Messages
863
I recently purchased a Bark River Fieldsman knife and have been told that because of the full convex grind on the blade that I should not use my Sharpmaker on it. Would those of you who have a Bark River please advise me as to what you use to sharpen them?

Thanks.
 
I do it like Mike Stewart shows at the website (SEE: Baron 1999 post).

I have a mouse pad. On one of the long sides, I've taped 1000 wet/dry, a strip about 2-1/2" x 8". On the opposite long side, I've taped 1500 wet/dry. I keep a 2-1/2" strip of 2000 wet/dry for later use (final stropping). At the final stage, I tape it on top of the 1500 wet/dry.

Remember to sharpen a Barkie (or any convex) like you were stropping it. Mike Stewart shows you how in the pictorial instruction guide.

Strop the knife on your choice of sandpaper grits, basing your decision on how "dull" the blade is. Use light to moderate pressure. Make sure you have a sharp, crisp edge before movin gto the next higher grit level. Whatever your final grit is (say 1500 or 2000), make your stropping passes very light on the final stage.

Move to a leather strop. *light* passes on the strop at the same angle used to sharpen.

Don;t worry about the scratches you'll get on your nice BRKT blade. They're inevitable. The only way not to scratch your blade is to not sharpen it... at least, as far as I'm aware of. You'll get better and scratch it less with practice.

Scratches can be buffed out with black or green rouge on a leather strop. Just work and work and work the blade around in circles on the rouge-laden strop *before* you sharpen. Then go through your sharpening stages. If you try to buff out scratches after sharpening, you risk dulling the edge with the strop.

When you finish, your Barkie should be the sharpest knife you own. It may or may not "pop" hair (mine don;t), but it will pass all push-cut, arm hair shaving, and other sharpness test with ease. If it doesn't, you need to go back to the mousepad and keep trying...practicing.
 
With a little practice, you can get hair popping sharpness out of a Bark River.

If you are not good at figuring out when you are hitting the exact edge, the marker trick works very well:
Use a black marker and mark the edge of the blade on both sides. When you strop, start with a low angle, and then raise the spine of the knife further and further off the strop until you find the sweet spot, which is when there is no marker left on the very edge. Take note that depending on the knife, the sweet spot will differ, because of different grinds for different cutting purposes.

David
 
Thanks to all for the help, I'm off to the hardware store for my paper inventory. Just how many uses can you get out of a sheet?

Thanks again.

John
 
Generally you will get more use out of the finer grits.
As you use the paper, you will figure out when it loses 'bite'. It becomes intuitive.

David
 
My BR Woodland responds well to DMT hones... stroke backwards to maintain the convex edge. The A2 takes and holds a fantastic edge.
 
The stropping stroke on a mousepad method is idiot proof (I should know). I have awful sharpening skills, but can sharpen my Mini Canadian quickly and well.
 
It works on any kind of knife that already has a convex edge, or a knife you want to put a convex edge on.

David
 
John -

If you can't find the really fine grit papers at the hardware store, try an auto parts store. They're used for paint prep on cars.



And yes, you can use the technique on any knife, but on flat grind knives you will end up gradually convexing them.
 
simms65 said:
With a little practice, you can get hair popping sharpness out of a Bark River.
.........
David
Click to expand...

I would agree it can be done and many here can probably do it with ease. I managed a time or three, after working awhile on a mini-Skinner, to pop a few hairs. But it seemed like it would pop a couple or three, then just stop. So I don;t consider it "hair-popping" sharp.

I aint giving up though! I find that the smaller the blade, mini-Skinners and mini-Canadian, the easier to sharpen for me. I think there's less edge to concentrate on during each stroke.
 
Grampa said:
John -

If you can't find the really fine grit papers at the hardware store, try an auto parts store. They're used for paint prep on cars.



And yes, you can use the technique on any knife, but on flat grind knives you will end up gradually convexing them.
Click to expand...

You can also go to a beauty supply shop and get nail files up to 4000 grit.
 
Are the hard to sharpen with a whetstone? I just ordered my first one and want to make sure I don't mess the blade up to the place where its dull. Usually I keep knives razor sharp and touch them up lightley before they get dull. Can stones be used? I never really heard of a knife stones couldn't sharpen but then again I've never owned a BRKT.
 
Well I already have stones. I will look at the blade once it gets here. Thanks for the imput.
 
Actually I just got done looking at a thing on Bark Rivers knife forum about canvex grind. It all makes since now. I see what I was missing so I will try the paper once the knife gets here and needs sharpening.
 
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