In response to customer demands for knives that are easier to sharpen, Buck Knives is instituting a new process called Edge2000 that puts a thinner edge on its blades.
"In talking with people through the years," noted Chuck Buck, president of BK, "I never heard many complaints about our knives, but I often heard two comments: 'They're too hard to sharpen' and 'I can't get the blade back to the factory edge.' So, I decided it was time to listen!"
Buck said the thinner edge is achieved by going to an included angle (the total of the angles on both sides of the blade) of 26 to 32 deg, compared witht he old range of 35 to 50 deg.
"The majority of our models will fall between 26 and 32 deg. Function and blade size will dictate whether it's at the higher or lower edge," he said. "Our fillet knives will have slightly smaller and included angles. The main thing is to match angle to function."
Though the blades are thinner, they are reportedly just as strong, hardened to a Rockwell of 58 RC. According to Buck, every Buck knife will have an Edge 2000 blade by early this year.-Blade Mag June 99
Side bar: The Buck new Edge 2000 includes stropping the edge on a leather-stropping wheel; measuring the precise edge angle required on the Goniometer laser test; and undergoing the C.A.T.R.A. test for edge retention. C.A.T.R.A. is the computerized international standard test for edge retention that reportedly recorded dramatic improvement in edge holding as a result of the Edge 2000 process.
