Photos Buck Strider 881 mini tanto convex regrind

[kwackster]

For quite a few years this Buck Strider 881 mini tanto in BG42 steel was gathering dust in a drawer, as to me it was more a knife-like object, literally unable to cut anything.
Over the last few weeks i changed that with the help of my Tormek SB-250 stone (for the point area), a 300 grit diamond file, a Foss 7205 black/green silicon carbide stone, and some 400 grit wet & dry SiC paper on glass (for the straight edge)
The apex on the now full convex blade measures somewhere between 22.5 and 25 degrees inclusive, and i'm first going to do some test cutting to find out if i can safely lower it a bit more.
Also rounded the overly sharp G10 grip plates a bit and sanded the screw heads.

Before:








While grinding the blade with the diamond file:







After the 400 grit SiC paper and removing the tiny burr on a piece of hard cardboard with a dab of 1.0 micron diamond paste:






Considering all work was done with only one eye currently functioning at about 80 % (plus a pair of reading glasses) i'm quite pleased with the result,

 

[kwackster]

I knew beforehand that the outcome wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea, but for me functionality trumps looks every time.
Grinding the rough convex form with the diamond file (without apexing) took a few hours in total.
Most time was spent shaping & smoothing the blade surfaces on the Foss combination stone and the wet & dry paper on glass.
Visually it's still not 100 % perfect, but the current edge already holds up fine whittling an old piece of hard beechwood cutting board.
A few more pics:

 

[bucksway]

That's a wicked looking blade. I bought a hard used 653 with the tanto point and tried..and failed to get it right. I ended up giving it to Joe at the Blade Show. When it came back it had a perfect point and was very, very sharp. How do you like it for a EDC?

 

[tommycopper1]

I like what you did and if it gets it out of the drawer and used is a plus. It must have taken some time to get from beginning until you had a sense of satisfaction and achieve the look you have now. Congratulations I hope you have achieved your goal.