Did I unknowingly put a recurve on my Gerber Evo Jr?

[Etna]

As per topic ^ . Been using this knife for close to a year now, so it has been sharpened quite a fair bit. Original image from Gerber's homepage:

My knife after a year's of usage and sharpening:

 

[Dadpool]

It looks fairly slight from your photos, but yes, I'd say it now has a recurve.

Based on the rounded-off tip -- unless it was blunted by use -- I suspect your sharpening technique is a bit off. I don't know much about sharpening, so hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will weigh in.

 

[Armadew]

You removed all that material in less than a year?!

What did you use?

 

[Etna]

You removed all that material in less than a year?!

What did you use?

Nothing exotic. Just the standard 3-stone Lansky kit. Starting with the coarse --> medium --> fine.

Oh, and on the first sharpening I reprofiled the edge to 20dps, that's all. Well, I was never skilled in sharpening. But at least I can push cut newspaper and magazine pages after every sharpening session.

I suppose the softer mystery steel also plays a part in how much metal was removed each session...

 

[NJBillK]

Do you use all three stones when sharpening?
Do you have a strop?
How dull does the knife get prior to sharpening?
What do you do daily with the knife?

A softer alloy should be able to be stropped or honed back to life easier than a harder one. A butchers steel, or a ceramic rod will extend the life of your knife and save time on sharpening.

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

There's a lot going wrong here. I'd check out some sharpening videos on YouTube. There's plenty of good instructional videos on how to use a Lansky kit.

Mild recurves also cut better than a straight edge; I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Etna]

Do you use all three stones when sharpening?
Do you have a strop?
How dull does the knife get prior to sharpening?
What do you do daily with the knife?

1. Yep. As per Lansky's own video on their homepage. About 50 strokes per side with the course until I feel the burr. Then repeat the process with the medium and the fine stones.
2. No strop. But I strop it against my pants occasionally.
3. When it starts to rip standard 80gsm paper or packing tape.
4. Not much really. Boxes, packing tape, the occasional ziptie. I'm also a conscript, so when back at the barracks for mandatory training (about two to three weeks every year), it sees usage against gunny sacks and thin nylon ropes.

Based on the rounded-off tip -- unless it was blunted by use -- I suspect your sharpening technique is a bit off.

I quite like the rounded-off tip. Gives the blade a worn down look.

 

[jbmonkey]

1. Yep. As per Lansky's own video on their homepage. About 50 strokes per side with the course until I feel the burr. Then repeat the process with the medium and the fine stones.
2. No strop. But I strop it against my pants occasionally.
3. When it starts to rip standard 80gsm paper or packing tape.
4. Not much really. Boxes, packing tape, the occasional ziptie. I'm also a conscript, so when back at the barracks for mandatory training (about two to three weeks every year), it sees usage against gunny sacks and thin nylon ropes.

I quite like the rounded-off tip. Gives the blade a worn down look.

im not with ya at all on the rounded tip. pointy knive should be pointy. rounded tip looks odd to me and serves no useful purpose.

 

[NJBillK]

Ok, well, you can change a few things that will save the functional lifetime of your knife.
- You don't always have to go down to the coarse stone.
- You can probably get away with using the extra fine stone every other day or so, and instead of one long sharpening session, yu have a short one sitting in front of the TV, or prior to heading to bed.
- You are likely (and inadvertently) taking a longer portion of the stroke on the heel of the blade. Mark the spot that is halfway down the stone with a marker. On the yellow, orange or red handle, just put a dot halfway.
- Start to sharpen the knife. By the time you are hitting that dot, you should be near halfway down the blade. This will start preventing you from using half of the stone stroke in the first 1.5" of blade.
- You don't have to start at the heel of the blade on each pass. You can start in the middle and work forward to start balancing out the belly.
- A strop will save you a lot of work. They are fairly inexpensive, and last a long time, so long as you take care of it.
- The rounded tip is likely from rolling the stone off of the tip as opposed to keeping the stone flat and using the leading edge of the stone to sharpen the tip. You are likely allowing the stone to pass all the way off of the tip of the knife. This is causing the stone to, in essence, pivot around the tip.

But, one thing to keep in mind. As was stated earlier, a recurve is actually pretty good for cutting some materials (gunny sacks, rope, soft fibers and fabrics, organic materials). When you are performing a pulling cut (pulling the knife from knife tip to butt of the handle), the recurve will present the edge more aggressively to the material needing to be cut.

Not only that, but you already know you can sharpen a recurve.

 

[gazz98]

Recurve? Yep.

Like NJBillk said, get a strop. Hit the local thrift store and buy the widest leather belt you can find. I like to use a little of the green (fine) strop compound when I strop. For about $10-14, you can find a belt + strop compound and be set for years.

 

[knives_in_nature]

That's a very soft steel and a very cheap knife I wouldn't worry to much

 

[PirateSeulb]

Not to sound like an attack on OP but this is precisely why I don't sharpen my knives myself I would end up doing this though I would consider my own sharpening if I had very good system and more knowledge on how to properly sharpen.

 

[RevDevil]

Nothing exotic. Just the standard 3-stone Lansky kit. Starting with the coarse --> medium --> fine.

Oh, and on the first sharpening I reprofiled the edge to 20dps, that's all. Well, I was never skilled in sharpening. But at least I can push cut newspaper and magazine pages after every sharpening session.

I suppose the softer mystery steel also plays a part in how much metal was removed each session...

The coarse stone should only really be used when you extensive edge damage, fixing a flat spot, or reprofiling. In most cases, sharpening can be done with a 600 grit stone or similar with a little patience, specifically on that knife you have (a few passes on a white ceramic stone would be more than enough in most instances). The coarse stone eats that super soft 7Cr steel like nothing.