Chips on a BK-7

C

calvinw

Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
584
Hi, Beckerheads!

I got a BK-7 a while back that sat mostly untouched for a few months as I waited for a reason to use it in my suburban environment. A couple of weeks ago, I had to break down an old cabinet. There was a 3/4" thick board of solid wood that would not fit in the trash can, so I decided to use the BK-7 to help me break it down. My plan was to baton the 3/4" board into strips small enough to snap in half. It was a brand new factory edge and I got two chips on the blade.



1.jpg




Here's a close up of the larger chip (sorry, it's a bit out of focus):

2.jpg




I'm wondering if this should be expected. The factory edge came nice and sharp, but was maybe too thin to baton with out of the box. Or, is this unusual?

Also, I just discovered that Ethan Becker is the same guy as from The Joy of Cooking. I know it's been said before, and this comes as no surprise to the regular Beckerheads, but for me, I was cooking long before getting into knives, and my copy of The Joy of Cooking is in much worse shape (more used) than any of my knives.
 
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I'd say you hit a nail, staple, or something else hard too. If you look at the close up picture, you can see part of the edge that is folded over like it caught something hard that bent it over.
 
I done basically the same thing thru a book shelf. After I saw the chips I went back and saw that I had cut thru some small nails. Took about 15 min on a stone tho, and better than original.
 
I made sure to check for nails. It was an old discarded cabinet, so before handling it, I inspected it carefully. Also, I didn't notice any nail afterwards either.

Of course, there might have been a snapped off nail that I couldn't see...
 
On second thought, I really doubt it was a nail. I was going with the grain, there just wouldn't have been a nail going in that direction.
 
i don't think grains of sand in the wood could do even remotely that much damage. I can't think of anything but tack nails or staples. Since you say there were none, my noodles in a twist
 
My only guess is either cabinet grade hardwood (kiln dried, etc) isn't as easy to baton through as natural branches. Or, maybe this particular BK-7 I got was heat treated too hard.
 
calvinw said:
My only guess is either cabinet grade hardwood (kiln dried, etc) isn't as easy to baton through as natural branches. Or, maybe this particular BK-7 I got was heat treated too hard.
Click to expand...

It is hard to say. In the last picture, it looks like the edge dented and rolled over. If that is the case, then there must have been something in the wood that you didn't see. A dent/roll is much easier to fix than having a chunk of steel missing.

In the second to last photo, it looks like there is a pretty good scratch in the coating between the "smaller" dent and the spine, possibly indicative of some sort of contaminant (nail, staple, rock, etc) in the wood.
However, since you checked the wood, it is hard to say what actually caused them.

If they are big rolls and not chips, I suggest using edge trailing stroke next time you sharpen it, to sort of steel the edge.
 
It's kinda hard to tell by the angle of the picture, but it's more of a chip than a roll. It's like a chip with a small burr on it. The steel is gone/missing (except for the small burr).

So, from the responses, it seems the consensus is that this is unusual - unless I hit a nail or something, I shouldn't expect chips from batoning through a 3/4" hardwood board. Is that right? Or should some chipping be expected from that kind of activity?
 
I've heard sometimes that factory edges could have caught too much heat off of the grinders they use to put the edges on to slightly affect the heat treat on the edge, a metallurgist posted that on here that even just the slighted bit too much heat can do this in a fragile area like the edge. If that is the case after resharpening then you will get to 'the good steel', the steel not affected by the grinder. Otherwise I'm stumped.
 
Got me, that 7 should have tore through that wood like it wasn't there.

Other than some inclusion in the wood unseen, or a flaw in the knife, I say steel that roll out, sharpen it up, and get it back in action.

If it happens again, send it to Kabar.

Moose
 
Hey Calvin.....

The "chip" appears to not be caused by over hardening because of the rounded edges......There may have been an inclusion in the wood such as a harder than average knot....Old seasoned hardwood is hard...It sure looks like a small brad or tack is what got it but, who knows ?.... Sorry that it happened to you, especially on a first outing.

The good news is that the deformations are small enough to sharpen out without too much trouble......

The Moose, I think has the best advice......

Ethan
 
I was once chopping up a broken desk with a cheap kukri, and I put some chips like that in the blade. There were no nails in my wood either. The steel in the kukri was not as good as the Becker steel, so the chips were bigger, but other than that it's mostly the same situation. I have no idea what exactly caused the chips in my blade either. I've wondered if the desk was even real wood: it mostly looked and felt like it, but it had a really cheap quality to it that's hard to explain in writing. I wonder if there was at least some other sort of substance in there.

Oh, and at the time, my kukri was new and unused also.
 
Thanks, Moose and Ethan, for the advice. I started sharpening it out yesterday night, but got tired - I never tried to sharpen a knife that big before. And I always intended to convex the edge - good opportunity to do that now.

Might as well strip it while I'm at it. And patina. And stainless hardware. And maybe Micarta... Oh, you guys are getting me sucked into your world...
 
if it was a chip or such, as pointed out, the coating would not have that gouge in it.

probably caused by a bit of steel somewhere in the wood. staple, brad, nail, what have you.

butchers steel to remove the burr, or a stone, and a good sharpening and it should mostly vanish. in 2-3 sharpening, probably won't even know it was there.... (and you'll get down to the mythical "better" steel anyway; nobody likes the factory edge :>)
 
if it was a chip or such, as pointed out, the coating would not have that gouge in it.

probably caused by a bit of steel somewhere in the wood. staple, brad, nail, what have you.

butchers steel to remove the burr, or a stone, and a good sharpening and it should mostly vanish. in 2-3 sharpening, probably won't even know it was there.... (and you'll get down to the mythical "better" steel anyway; nobody likes the factory edge :>)
 
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