Blade issue - hit with ferro rod- question

[nyhuntfish]

I have a wonderful new scandi grind knife. The blade is sharp except for one little problem:

Problem: In the dark last weekend I was trying to get a spark from a ferro rod and I used the Blade side by accident! I did it like three times.

What I have now: A great blade with about 7.8" worth of "washboard"

My concern: I don't want to take off too much metal fixing it, it's a dang new expensive knife.

Question: Does anyone know how to fix this without taking off too much metal AND if I left it alone and eventually sharpened through it....would that hurt my knife by further dulling it down or damaging it?

Actions I have taken to no avail: I used 1000 grit and 6000 grit Japanese water stones on it (again didn't want to take off too much metal, I'd like to keep this knife for a long time). It didn't do much good.


Thank you for your help.

 

[Spey]

Probably Dependant on what direction the washboard damage is.

If left/right, probably a steel to straighten then a sharpening and not loose too much metal (but edge will be weaker than pre-damage due to stress of bending).

If up/down, probably gonna need to sharpen through the damage.

Either way, be careful not to create a low spot inducing a recurve in front of ricasso area. Entire edge will most likely need to be profiled.

Unfortunately, a difficult question may be introduced - the possible consideration to micro-bevel, secondary-bevel, or scadi-vex the cutting edge. All of those would in my mind be last resort on a new knife. Those considerations should only be related to a knife that has already been tested, and found wanting (weak steel, and/or some type of inherent performance difficiency - therefore valid reason to consider changing the geometry from the makers design).

A smart man learns from every mistake he can

 

[nyhuntfish]

Thanks for your answer.

There is already a little low spot in front of the ricasso area and I'm almost 100% sure it came like that new; Meaning it dips a tiny bit if that's what you're talking about.

I might just try stropping it for like an hour to see how good I can get it. I hope that doesn't hurt it.

Question: Say I just left it alone and Eventually got to it by sharpening over time....would it hurt the knife to keep using it that way?

I wonder if there is anyone in NYC who could help me with this? It's so hard to find anyone in the city who specializes on anything but kitchen knives on a bench grinder. There is this place called "MastersmithS" I'm going to talk to, maybe they're smart, but...still I don't want to take off too much steel.

Thanks.

 

[nyhuntfish]

Here are two pictures. The affected area starts about 1/2 inch from the handle...

(They are high quality, you should be able to zoom in)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ds6Ux-2qNdVXBTYnB6Szh4cFU/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ds6Ux-2qNdbkZyT09CcjlBX1k/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for your help.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Here are two pictures. The affected area starts about 1/2 inch from the handle...

(They are high quality, you should be able to zoom in)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ds6Ux-2qNdVXBTYnB6Szh4cFU/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ds6Ux-2qNdbkZyT09CcjlBX1k/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for your help.

That actually doesn't look nearly as bad as I envisioned, based on your description. For a Scandi, it looks like all the dings are confined to the small secondary bevel along the edge (a complete Scandi grind often won't have that bevel anyway). Looks like it could just be sharpened out, without removing too much steel; the secondary bevel actually would make this easier, as you can just focus on maintaining that. If you think it's sharp enough to keep using, with some light touching up along the way, you might just follow that route. I personally wouldn't worry about messing up the blade at this point; the blade is no longer brand new after ANY use or sharpening or edge damage, so I'd just treat it like the tool it's meant to be.

Those dings could likely be cleaned up pretty fast with a medium/fine hone in diamond or SiC (they'd work the fastest). Could likely even do it with some wet/dry sandpaper on a hard backing, like glass or stone. Not sure why your waterstones seem not to have repaired it, UNLESS you're being a little too careful in using them, in trying not to remove much metal. Edge damage is still damage, and the damaged steel has to come off anyway; don't worry about doing what needs to be done.


David

 

[nyhuntfish]

Thank you for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it.

I didn't think Battle Horse knives came with any secondary bevel on Scandi knives but I guess so. Unless I did that when sharpening (I'm quite a novice) but I really just pressed down and sharpened like I saw Ray Mears do it.

I'll keep up on the water stones I have I guess although I recognize and appreciate your advice and will follow it if I need to buy something new.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Thank you for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it.

I didn't think Battle Horse knives came with any secondary bevel on Scandi knives but I guess so. Unless I did that when sharpening (I'm quite a novice) but I really just pressed down and sharpened like I saw Ray Mears do it.

I'll keep up on the water stones I have I guess although I recognize and appreciate your advice and will follow it if I need to buy something new.

Ordinarily, a 'true' Scandi grind shouldn't have that secondary/micro bevel at the edge, so far as the purists are concerned. Not a big deal with it being there, so long as it's sharp & usable. But it seems pretty common on new knives; I've seen commentary here on the forum about it, and I had a similar, very minimal, secondary bevel on the Helle Scandi I bought just a few weeks ago. With that secondary bevel on yours, it should be easier to fix the dings on it, as opposed to having to regrind the entire primary bevels to get rid of the damage. As thin & small as the microbevel was on mine (which didn't cut well for some reason), it was still a BIG project in getting rid of it, taking the wide bevels to a true zero grind at the apex. If yours was sharp already, or reasonably so with good geometry, that should be easier to deal with.


David

 

[nyhuntfish]

Thank you.

 

[nyhuntfish]

This seemed to work well...

1.) I glued 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper to some scrap wood.
2.) Got the sandpaper wet and sharpened out the knick (like 99% of it, I could still feel it just slightly).
3.) Then progressed to my 1000 and 6000 grit waterstones (Ray Mears method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm53mCOQTR80)
4.) I finished with a strop block I made from some old leather glued on to scrap wood which Really makes all the difference (80 strokes).

It's so sharp now I can vertically push cut through printer paper on most if not all of the edge. And push cutting regularly is the smoothest I've ever seen.

I don't think it took off any visible amount of metal. So if anyone is concerned about turning your knife into your worn-down pocket knife you've had for a million years....at least what I did, did not do that....it really looks like I didn't do anything to it.

UPDATE: Next Day: After thinking about this, I bet you could get the same or really close to the same results if you just found the right grits of sandpaper (wet/dry) then got them wet. I only used the waterstones because I already
bought them. Just a thought.

 

[Spey]

nyhuntfish,

Way to take ownership of your problem!

As you continue to use & maintenance this knife, progressively work on the deficient areas of the blade (where previous nicks were and any areas that are slightly less sharp after this repair sharpening). Most of us do not need that "perfect edge" (perfectly symetrical bevels, 100% apexed tip to ricasso & of 100% equal cutting throughout the blade), and what we think is "perfect" today will most likely change as our knowledge increases and our usage of the tool progresses. 90%+ of the fun of sharpening and maintenancing is learning, progressing, and adapting along with usage skills of the tool.

Thanks for following up with your positive outcome, it's great to hear.

Regards,