Convexing question

I

IAKimber

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Mar 28, 2010
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I got my first Bark River knife a couple of weeks ago. The same day I got it, I was looking at my wife's Rachel Ray kitchen knife. It was in horrible condition. Chipped all over, the tip was broken off and it was overall incredibly dull. Having just got my first convex knife, I figured I would try to convex the RR knife and hopefully fix the edge while doing so. That was my first time trying and it turned out great! I was very proud of myself.

I also have a Knives of Alaska Pronghorn Hunter. It was also very dull so I figured what the hell, I'll convex this too. That was a bad idea. After moving through the sandpaper on the mouse pad and stropping it, it is dull as hell. It probably won't cut butter. I'm very confused since it worked so well on the other knife. Could the D2 steel be causing my problems? I think I'm using the same technique as I did on the other one. I tried starting all over working up through the grits again with the same results. Any ideas?
 
Any correctly sharpened knife should catch on your nail, even at low grits. If not, then you haven't created an apex.
 
Any correctly sharpened knife should catch on your nail, even at low grits. If not, then you haven't created an apex.
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^That.

D2, as compared to whatever steel is used for the Rachel Ray, is a LOT tougher stuff. Some very abrasion-resistant carbides in it. In all likelihood, it'll take much more time to reach the full apex on the D2 blade. I'm betting it's not there yet. If you inspect the edge closely, under magnification & bright light, I think you'll see it's not finished (compare what you see to the edge on the Rachel Ray knife, inspected in the same manner).
 
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^ Both of That

Sharpie it and check your edge, you're not down to a finished apex yet. You'll get there, just takes a bit more time on the early grits! :)
 
The angle and pressure are important. If you think you can press harder to get there faster, you'll probably just round off the edge and never get an apex.
IMO, start cheap. I convexed machetes, Old Hickory's and a cheap kitchen knife before I started in on something more expensive.
 
foxx said:
The angle and pressure are important. If you think you can press harder to get there faster, you'll probably just round off the edge and never get an apex.
IMO, start cheap. I convexed machetes, Old Hickory's and a cheap kitchen knife before I started in on something more expensive.
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That's also a good point. :thumbup:

It's too easy to do, in sharpening more abrasion-resistant steels like D2 or S30V. The work seems to go very slow, so it's too tempting to 'bear down on it', to speed things up. Never turns out well.

One thing that can help, is to use a firmer backing under the sandpaper. Some thin/very firm leather works better than the mousepad, especially if the pressure is heavy. If so, keep the angle conservatively LOW, so there's less tendency for the backing & sandpaper to roll over the edge and round it off.
 
Start with the coarsest grit available(40-60 IIRC) and don't move up on the sandpaper until you feel a burr. When you do, repeat on the other side. After that, move up to a higher grit.
 
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