Bulldog Sowbelly

[dleaton@wideopenwest]

I just received a Bulldog Sowbelly in the mail. It is a great looking knife. The fit and finish is very good. However, I cannot get it sharp. When I took it out of the box all three blades needed work. But no matter what I try, I cannot get it as sharp as the Case 63032 CV amber bone stockman I normally carry. I have tried natural stones, crock sticks, a Lansky sharpener and I have reprofiled the edge, but I still cannot get it to shave hair. I can put a great edge on my Case in a few minutes with a couple of natural stones and then touch it up thereafter for weeks with crock sticks. I figured the Bulldog would be similiar or easier to sharpen than the Case given its hammer forged carbon steel blades, but I was wrong. Any thoughts or tips on this would be appreciated.

 

[georgegilstrap]

i use nortons fine india stone and norton corse stone you will have to use the corse stone till its roughly sharpe then the medium till its sharp then the fine till it shaves the get a razor strop put green jewlers roug on it then strop the knife i had a bulldog it takes time to sharpen a new knife just have patience.

 

[Rebus777]

I have a Bulldog Copperhead that is very hard to get an
edge on. To me the steel seems to be very hard. It's a
broken chain celluloid that I probably will never carry
anyway. My other Bulldog is a stilletto lockback that
actually came pretty sharp. I think they look better
than they use...

-Rebus

 

[Gryffin]

I just received a Bulldog Sowbelly in the mail. It is a great looking knife. The fit and finish is very good. However, I cannot get it sharp. When I took it out of the box all three blades needed work. But no matter what I try, I cannot get it as sharp as the Case 63032 CV amber bone stockman I normally carry.

I know what you mean. I love my Bulldogs, but they use very hard steel. It's not as hard as the D2 tool steel Queen uses, but close.

It's a harder steel then Case CV, so it's more work to get an edge; but once you get it sharp, it'll stay sharp through a whole lot of use.

I sharpen mine similar to georgegilstrap does, with my grandfather's old India stone, coarse on one side, fine on the other. The watch-word is "patience". But, once it's sharp, nto only will it hold an edge forever, but unless you beat it up pretty bad, a little stropping or a few strokes on the fine side of the stone get's it back to a fine edge again.