Condor knive, what steel they use?

Komitadjie said:
Well, I wasn't talking using the spine to actually remove metal, but more as a butcher's steel for maintenance between sharpenings. When you're steeling a blade, you're not removing metal, you're just re-shaping it to put the edge back in line.
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I agree, I think that is possible..I saw that when a was a kid but I don't on these days.
 
It's odd that it seems to have fallen out of favor, it's a tremendous way to restore a damaged edge without having to resort to actually grinding off metal. If it's not chipped or actually abraded away, you can quite easily keep an edge sharp for many, many times longer than it would last without the steeling. I suspect in part it's due to superior blade steels that do not roll as easily as the older 55-58Rc ones, so it doesn't have quite as much of a place any more. I still steel my blades if I see them starting to shine on the edge a bit.
 
As an experiment, I tried using a cheap Food Network kitchen knife to cut cardboard, going as long as possible using only the side of a wide bladed chef's knife as a steel. It worked really well. As long as you don't wait too long to start steeling, it can keep a good edge for a long time. However, miss the window, and it's back to the stones. Also, the window is smaller after each steeling. The edge misaligns easier the more it's steeled. My little experiment sold me on flat steels. When I do use a steel, flat is the way to go.
 
The knives showed up this afternoon! I'll be getting some photos, then seeing what I can do with the belt. :D
 
First impression is that they're the nicest mostly-finished knives I've ever seen. It's like they used GREAT materials, then just never really bothered spending the time to finish them up with regard to edge grinding and scale fitup.

Oh, incidentally: No worries about the blade temper, those things are harder than heck. I am finished with the Bush Buddy at this point, I took it on first so that if I screwed something up horribly, it'd be the cheap one to replace. It will now shave hair off your face smoothly, and slice typing paper with effortless ease. :D I'll take on the Bushlore later this evening. Pictures in just a minute, soon as I can download them from my camera.
 
And the promised photos! This is just the Bushbuddy so far:

The two of them to start with:
knifework01.jpg


The blades:
knifework02.jpg


The original edge geometry:
knifework03.jpg


After re-grinding:
knifework04.jpg


The re-ground edge geometry:
knifework05.jpg


As you can see, the convex is much steeper now, and the edge more acute. It is very slightly off-center still, I do not have the equipment needed to really re-grind a hardened blade, unfortunately. The photo makes the off-center look far worse than it actually is. It is decently sharp now, it will easily shave facial hair and slice paper.
 
And the Bushlore is done! Not much to see there, the blade did not require re-profiling to get a good edge on. It took a few strokes with the 180 grit belt to raise a burr, then the 320, 400, 15u and 9u ground it down smoothly. Green and white on SurgiSharp leather belts finished the job. I'll see if I can figure out my webcam to post a paper-slicing video tonight, it's quite smooth now.
 
Hah! A challenge has been issued! :D

I'll pack 'em up and have them back in the mail to you tomorrow. The real test will be to see how well they HOLD that edge in regular use!
 
Komitadjie said:
Hah! A challenge has been issued! :D

I'll pack 'em up and have them back in the mail to you tomorrow. The real test will be to see how well they HOLD that edge in regular use!
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As long the edge bite hair...is good to Go!:thumbup:
My video to replay yours:D my ugly face, its not included:D
Thanks to help me OUT!:thumbup:

 
That's how 'ya do it! :D

They shipped back your way tonight, via USPS First Class International. The lady at the post office said you could expect to see them middle of next week or so. Shipping receipt scan sent to your Email. :)
 
I bought two of the condor Hudson Bay knives in 1075. I stripped one and did a bit of edge work on the profile with my belt sander. It is now my heavy kitchen knife. I use it all the time in the kitchen.

I am actually temped to order one of the new forge finish versions.

I really like it for food prep. For the price, it makes a great camp knife. Chops decent for it's size. I would like a bit more handle size for chopping.

The steel seems to retain an edge fine. Very easy to keep laser sharp with the strop! That is one of the things I love about the simpler steels like 1075, 5160 etc. Really seem to get sharp easily, and very easy to maintain.

I have not tried their stainless knives yet.

I did have to remove the lacquer that was on the exposed steel on the edge before getting a great edge.
 
Based on my experience here, I don't think I'd have any problem ordering one myself. Just expect that you will need to do the final edge geometry adjustments and sharpening yourself. If it was a hundred-dollar blade that would really torque me off. Since it's a $20 blade? Not a big deal IMO, just part of 'fine tuning' the tool to be exactly how you like it. I especially liked the way the Bushlore felt in my hand, it was a good, solid, hand-filling grip with a decent balance.

I'd bet a fairly good business could be done in just purchasing them, doing the finishing work, and re-selling.
 
An update from Cliff Stamp.... from http://knifetest.com/forum/showthread.php?p=23519#post23519
Cliff, also is trying to contact Condor with no response!
Cliff.Stamp said:
These knives are kind of interesting, I just played with the thicker one this evening for a few minutes which is an odd design for a knife, if this is intended for wood working then the user better be Žydrūnas Savickas as the blade is extremely thick with a very narrow edge bevel and it looks more like a splitting wedge than a knife.

The edge would appear to be sharp, it will catch on the thumbnail easily and it feels aggressive if you drag your finger across it on a perpendicular but it has no slicing ability at all. To be clear, I took the knife and pressed it the full width of the edge bevel into the edge of a roll of toilet paper.

I then maintained a downwards force of 10 lbs and sliced the corner of the toilet paper the full length of the blade, this cut fives pieces of the toilet paper and just dented the rest. In contrast taking a random Mora and using a downwards force of less than 1 lbs (it won't even register on a scale), it easily cuts the full width of the bevel into the paper.

So I take the edge and cut it right into a 1000 waterstone to grind off the edge to remove the possibility that the metal on the edge is weakened. It is not easy, it takes five cuts into the stone before the edge stops biting on my finger nail which is a bit odd, it would only take one on the Mora.

I then regrind it on a 200 grit SiC water stone, the bevels meet clearly, feels aggressive, thumbnail says a-ok, and you can press this into a tomato so hard it squashes it flat and it has no slicing aggression at all and this is off of a 200 grit x-coarse stone.

I figure that the edge is micro-fracturing so I take a 600 grit DMT rod and extremely lightly apply a micro bevel, and I mean feather light, not close to the weight of the knife. After five passes per side the edge starts to respond and parts of it start to shave and repeating the toilet roll cutting sections of the edge bit in deeply as normal.

If anyone is curious as to why this works, diamond is harder than any steel or even carbide in steel by a large amount. It is so much harder that compared to diamond the metal in the knife is basically butter. Because of this you can sharpen with diamond at extremely low forces this allows you to sharpen edges which will fracture with any other abrasive which need more force to hone.

So, initial impression is that the edge is not properly heat treated and most likely has untempered martensite, or heavy grain growth and significant embrittlement or both. In any case it would be extremely frustrating for someone to try to sharpen, it does not form a burr, it passes most feel tests for sharpness, but if you try to slice something it behaves like a prop knife.

kurodrago, I would like to put a primary grind on these if you don't mind as right now to sharpen them takes a massive amount of time due to the very wide edge bevels so each time I have to sharpen I have to plane down a piece of steel which is 3/8" wide.

I would like to reduce the edges down to about 0.005" thick. After sharpening, edge retention cutting etc. the edge will thicken back to 0.010-0.015" or so and be stable for heavy wood cutting.
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............ by Cliff....
Cliff.Stamp said:
Here is the knife as shipped :

DSC00148.jpg


It is brutally thick :

DSC00153.jpg


The other knife is a Mora 2000



DSC00160.jpg


some grinding


DSC00162.jpg


some more grinding

DSC00167.jpg


and finished with a more acute primary bevel of 8.5 (5) degrees per side. Note the grind goes right to the visible edge, that is just light reflecting near the choil which makes it appear to be a secondary bevel there.


There is a very tiny secondary bevel which is the Scandinavian style edge it originally came with of 13.5 (5) degrees per side. This is now only 0.005-0.010" thick.

Now I can reset the edge at will whereas before any attempt to sharpen required a planing down of a 3/8" wide bevel which is ridiculous aside from a machete or similar.

As noted by kurodrago, the finish on this is extremely poor, the scales don't fit the tang, the laynard tube is extremely rough, the grinds are not symmetrical at all, that was obvious when I was planing down the sides.
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Those knive have HT issue, I have hard time to sharp my bushlore too maybe the same problem?
please keep updating thanks
 
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