Edge 2X

A

Alberta Ed

Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Messages
9,783
Was cutting some peppers and tomatoes up for fajitas the other day with my 110 and noticed that while it was sharp enough to shave, it wasn't slicing quite as well as I liked. It's just your ordinary every-day 420HC 110 (albeit with C.J. Buck's signature engraved on the blade:thumbup:). Seems that after a couple of years of free-hand sharpening, I had honed it to a much steeper angle than it came with. Time to bring back that original Edge 2X profile, geometry being as important to cutting ability as steel and heat-treat. So I dug out the antique Buck Honemaster I bought around 25 or 30 years ago, clamped it on and set to work on a DMT extra coarse hone (black). Five minutes work and I had a nice burr and had thinned back the edge about 1/8". Another 15 minutes of honing, progressing from the DMT coarse (blue) to regular (red) to ultra-fine (green), a few licks on the strop (green chromium oxide) and I had a hair-popping edge. Past scary. Good old 420 HC (as heat treated by Paul Bos) is a fine-grained steel that rewards a little attention with a lot of performance. OK, enough bragging, got to go cut something :D.
 
We had done quite a bit of testing for edge retention and geometry played as big a role as hardness when you were comparing 58rc to 60rc. It kind of surprised us and was the foundation for the push for Edge 2000 which we later shortened to Edge 2X.

The process starts in Fabrication with the proper heat treat prior to hollow grinding, then hollow grinding to ensure the edge thickness is uniform from the choil to the tip. Then with consistent finishing in assembly you get that consistent geometry.

It is our focus because when we are out signing knives, as my father and I do, there is nothing more embarassing then a dull knife right out of the box...so keeping the focus on proper sharpening is personal. I end up shaving bare the top of my left hand and start up the arm testing edges...it is obvious when I come home from a successful event...hah
 
CJ Buck said:
It is our focus because when we are out signing knives, as my father and I do, there is nothing more embarassing then a dull knife right out of the box...so keeping the focus on proper sharpening is personal. I end up shaving bare the top of my left hand and start up the arm testing edges...it is obvious when I come home from a successful event...hah
Click to expand...

Heck, now I'm embarassed... that 110 was nowhere near as sharp as it should have been when you autographed it:o.
 
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