Christmas dinner carving knife!!

[sar5]

I hope all of your holidays were great gang. I got a chance to carve the traditional family dinner of roast duck, dumplings, stuffing, wilted salad, corn, yum yum, using my loved BK5!

The BK5 was razor sharp out of the box, hair popping, paper cutting sharp.

It split the two roast ducks in half with no problem. Duck does not have large or hard bones, like a chicken more than a turkey but it still went tru with no effort.

Now a question, I split two ducks, and cut some of the meat on a wooden cutting board. That is the extent of the BK5's use. It is now rather dull!!!

It will not shave, nor will it cut paper from just one use. The edge did not roll or chip from the soft bones but it is like one of my work knives at the end of the week.

Is this common with the type of steel used by Kabar for the Becker knives? This is my first Becker that I got a chance to use,. I am going to read the thread on knife sharpening to see what is the recommend way for Beckers.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks again, I have to go eat some left overs now!!!

p.s. have a great new year!!

 

[Wolf_1989]

It's possible the fine edge oxidized off.

 

[Moosez45]

Is this common with the type of steel used by Kabar for the Becker knives? This is my first Becker that I got a chance to use,. I am going to read the thread on knife sharpening to see what is the recommend way for Beckers.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks again, I have to go eat some left overs now!!!

p.s. have a great new year!!

More than likely, the wooden carving board flattened the burr on the knife. Sometimes, the edge comes with a small burr still on it from the factory. I've gotten more than a few this way, I never really have issues with it, as my knives get sharpened first thing, when I get them.

Sharpen it up, and see how it does for you on the second go around.

Moose

 

[SteelThumb]

I like Wolf_1089 idea of the oxidation, because the 1095 steel used on the BK-5 rusts easily. Did the knife go through the dishwasher?

Another good thought from moosez45 on the burr. When cutting paper, lots of sharp knives will easily saw through the paper because they have a rough burr. Another paper test is whether the knife can be pushed through the paper with no sawing motion. Compare to a razor blade swiping through a piece of paper. If the usage was really light, I wonder if gentle alignment of the edge on a smooth steel would realign the edge. If not, move to a gentle resharpen with a fine grit. It sounds like nothin serious is amiss to warrant much more than a light touch-up resharpen.

Another tradeoff of the 1095 steel is that it's easy to sharpen, also meaning that it is less wear-resistent, or resistant to abrasion. Sawing through rope, bones and other tough stuff- or lots of wood cutting board work - can abrade away the edge. It doesn't sound like this is a factor in this case, since the work was minimal. "Abrasion" is a comparative term and doesn't happen quickly.

 

[mac_heath]

I don't think I've ever gotten a factory knife without a wire edge. If it comes aligned well, it will shave easily. It also bends as soon as it hits any resistance. The wire edge bending causes these blades to feel dull. You can realign the wire with a honing steel (found in a lot of kitchens) or sharpen it correctly. The wire edge needs to be polished off. You may be able to do it with a fine ceramic stone, but I find a strop does the job thoroughly.

I nearly always take my stones (and maybe belt sander) to new knives. I knock down the shoulder, reprofile the edge, then polish the hell out of it. That said, I'm not an expert. There are far more knowledgeable folks here. In fact, I seem to remember there's a video of some dude named Fisk reprofiling the BK5.

I really doubt the oxidation encountered from cutting a few birds could dull the edge that noticeably in such a short time.