Experience with Roselli UHC?

C

Carboniferous

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Jul 15, 2015
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I've been eyeing a Roselli Carpenter in UHC, but as with most puukkos it's rather thick at the spine and behind the edge. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with UHC such that they could speak to how UHC would do when thinned down. I'm thinking of using the knife as a pocket fixed blade for relatively light EDC tasks, so maybe 0.08-0.1" at the spine or so.

The steel has a lot of carbon but not a lot of carbide volume (as far as I know), and it's run over 65 HRC, but UHC claims the grain structure is something special (they etch it to reveal the grain pattern and call it 'wootz') and that it remains quite tough, so I'm pretty curious as to how it performs at ~thin geometries.
 
I have that knife, but haven't felt the need to thin it down. The grind starts pretty high up on the blade, so while the spine is thick, the edge isn't too bad, especially for woodworking. At the hardness that the knife is supposed to be at, it should handle being thinned down quite well. Hardness = strength, so I would think it would do quite well for you.

Another plus, it is extremely ergonomic and comfortable to use. Let us know if you get it!
 
My Roselli Carpenter UHC has been a disappointment. The bevels were asymmetrical which is not a concern but they were convex. By convex i do mean convex, spoon shaped.

I ground the bevels, keeping them at the same width, just flattenning them. I got an inclusive 20° edge angle. A 5000 grit stone gave a very sharp edge which whittled seasoned ash very easily... and chipped. Microchips i could barely see naked eyes but they were there. I have sharpened the knife several times but it still happens; it's not an overheated edge problem.
At a 25° angle i guess the problem would be solved but it would be a lot of work to regrind the blade, i give up. Too bad, it's a very well designed knife, very comfortable.

I certainly got a lemon, if i had to buy an other Roselli it would be a regular carbon steel one. As said Sodak, hardness means strength; at 65 HRC, with a 20° angle, it means brittle.

Good luck.

Dan.
 
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dantzk8 said:
My Roselli Carpenter UHC has been a disappointment. The bevels were asymmetrical which is not a concern but they were convex. By convex i do mean convex, spoon shaped.

I ground the bevels, keeping them at the same width, just flattenning them. I got an inclusive 20° edge angle. A 5000 grit stone gave a very sharp edge which whittled seasoned ash very easily... and chipped. Microchips i could barely see naked eyes but they were there. I have sharpened the knife several times but it still happens; it's not an overheated edge problem.
At a 25° angle i guess the problem would be solved but it would be a lot of work to regrind the blade, i give up. Too bad, it's a very well designed knife, very comfortable.

I certainly got a lemon, if i had to buy an other Roselli it would be a regular carbon steel one. As said Sodak, hardness means strength; at 65 HRC, with a 20° angle, it means brittle.

Good luck.

Dan.
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Hm, that doesn't sound too promising! Did you try contacting Roselli to see if they believe your experience to be representative of how the steel should be performing? Chipping out at 20 degrees is pretty subpar if typical.

You both mentioned the great ergonomics, something I guessed just from looking, so maybe I will snag one with their standard carbon to play it safe.
 
Can't speak for Roselli's UHC, but I have a Carpenter in their standard steel, I believe Krupp W9 (you can Google it) which is very tough and takes a hair-splitting edge. Also a Roselli erapukko in the same steel. Great blades. The sheathes though are rather cheap. I made new ones out of thicker latigo leather, using the originals for patterns, and kept the excellent plastic insert for both. Roselli blades are die forged, then roughly ground to shape. Here's some of a review I did a while back: The blade is 3 3/8” long, 1/8” thick and the birch handle is a palm filling 4 ½” long. The blade retains its full thickness right up to about ½” back from the tip, no distal taper, so it’s not at all delicate. It must have been ground on a fairly coarse slack belt, as the blade has a subtle convex grind right down to the edge; no secondary bevel whatsoever. The blade is well set into the handle, but does not extend al the way through. I’m not worried about it working out or loosening, though; you can see epoxy gleaming just inside the small (stainless steel) bolster that surrounds the front end of the handle." I treated the handle with a few coats of tung oil, which works well.
 
Carboniferous said:
Hm, that doesn't sound too promising! Did you try contacting Roselli to see if they believe your experience to be representative of how the steel should be performing? Chipping out at 20 degrees is pretty subpar if typical.
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I didn't contact Roselli. I don't speak Finn, my english is not the best. I did a good job on the regrinding, in vain; it has annoyed me enough to don't want to know all the good things they think about their steel and how good is their quality control. But again i've to say: excellent design which could be well served by a classic carbon steel eventually reground.

Dan.
 
Sorry to hear of your troubles with the UHC. I haven't had any, but I only use it for wood processing, and fairly soft wood at that. 20 deg inclusive at these hardnesses shouldn't be that brittle (of course that depends on the steel), I wonder if you got one with a slightly off heat treat.

One thing you might want to try (since regrinding takes so long) is a microbevel. I have used it with success on some of my D2 blades that are too thin.
 
I have both the Roselli Carpenter and the Carpenter UHC. I found the UHC very, very difficult to sharpen needing to use my diamond stones. I prefer the regular Carpenter for routine use. Rarely use the UHC; basically a box sitter now.

Rich
 
Sodak,

Thanks for the advice, i will end up setting a microbevel as tiny as possible to don't affect the precision required for a wood carving knife. It's very possible indeed that the heat treat is in cause; the steel is very very hard, there's not much knives treated as hard and i lack experience at that hardness but the feeling on the stone doesn't lie, very very hard.
Fortunately i own a couple of Mora 106 (that's a carving knife!) so i will try the microbevel to solve the problem, if it works, great; if not, never mind. Thanks.

Dan.
 
Other than regrinding, unfortunately, it's probably your only option. Please let us know how it goes, I hope it helps you!
 
"I believe Krupp W9 (you can Google it) which is very tough and takes a hair-splitting edge"

W9 is O-1, yes? A good steel certainly. These steels do have carbides. Iron carbides. Smaller but still carbides. How much/what size depends on the heat treat of course.

As far as these steels microchipping I've found this also in Hitachi White steel.

Much of this can be lessened when sharpening. Start out with not too large grit abrasives and don't press hard. It takes longer but it pays off. I also stay away from diamonds and use a SiC stone or wet dry sandpaper . Finishing it at 5000 or 8000 grit is wonderful but it can also just hide damage done when first removing steel. Skipping too much between grits in the progression can also work against the edge.

At times it's essential to de-stress the edge before resharpening. Failure to do so can cause hidden problems to surface later. I also never would use a round sharpener on a very high hardness steel in this class and wouldn't burnish it on a steel like I would a carbon steel knife run at rc56-58 like the older butcher knife type. These type jobs on wood with this class steel need to be prepared for what they are asked to do. A much different edge is needed on wood than one for cutting meat proteins or vegetables for instance.

Joe
 
Rich S said:
I have both the Roselli Carpenter and the Carpenter UHC. I found the UHC very, very difficult to sharpen needing to use my diamond stones. I prefer the regular Carpenter for routine use. Rarely use the UHC; basically a box sitter now.

Rich
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I also have some UHC knives and without diamond stones there's no point to work... But if someone can sharp well, this steel will give much longer sharpness than most other steels.
 
The Mastiff said:
"I believe Krupp W9 (you can Google it) which is very tough and takes a hair-splitting edge"

W9 is O-1, yes? A good steel certainly. These steels do have carbides. Iron carbides. Smaller but still carbides. How much/what size depends on the heat treat of course.

As far as these steels microchipping I've found this also in Hitachi White steel.

Much of this can be lessened when sharpening. Start out with not too large grit abrasives and don't press hard. It takes longer but it pays off. I also stay away from diamonds and use a SiC stone or wet dry sandpaper . Finishing it at 5000 or 8000 grit is wonderful but it can also just hide damage done when first removing steel. Skipping too much between grits in the progression can also work against the edge.

At times it's essential to de-stress the edge before resharpening. Failure to do so can cause hidden problems to surface later. I also never would use a round sharpener on a very high hardness steel in this class and wouldn't burnish it on a steel like I would a carbon steel knife run at rc56-58 like the older butcher knife type. These type jobs on wood with this class steel need to be prepared for what they are asked to do. A much different edge is needed on wood than one for cutting meat proteins or vegetables for instance.

Joe
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Re-reading this thread, how do you de-stress an edge before sharpening? I don't think I've heard of that before, sounds interesting, thanks!
 
Hello Sodak. Essentially it means ruining the edge and starting over with a new one. One way is to take the knife edge on the stone and straight up and down run the knife edge over the stone. Not too hard obviously. Now refinish the edge. It's for edges that have been repeatedly touched up and or stropped and need a new edge. There may be a technical term and if there is I don't know the name.

Sodak, you are truly one of the last of the old timers. It's good to see you posting.

Joe
 
The Mastiff said:
Hello Sodak. Essentially it means ruining the edge and starting over with a new one. One way is to take the knife edge on the stone and straight up and down run the knife edge over the stone. Not too hard obviously. Now refinish the edge. It's for edges that have been repeatedly touched up and or stropped and need a new edge. There may be a technical term and if there is I don't know the name.

Sodak, you are truly one of the last of the old timers. It's good to see you posting.

Joe
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Thanks Mastiff, I always enjoy reading your posts also. And you Blues, as well!!!! Gotta love BF! I hope this doesn't mean we are all old, lol!
 
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Hey there. I thought I might post into this older Thread because this one is pretty dominant when google searching for UHC. I personally have owned the Roselli Carpenter in carbon steel for 12 years before i broke it (out of my own stupidity). Now I own the Carpenter in UHC (for 2 years as I'm writing). I personally prefer the UHC over the regular carbon steel. The edge retention on this knife is unbelieveable. I like to keep all my knives at a shaving sharpness. The UHC Carpenter can be used for hours of carving hard wood without loosing that sharpness. In the two years I own that knife i only stropped it occasionally. But i have to say in my opinion there are two facts about the knife that should be known before buying one.
1. The knife is awesome for woodworking. But not an allround knife for outdoor activities. Stuff like batoning or other high impact usages could break the knife. This is because it doesn't have a full tang and is ground pretty thin at the edge and tip.
2. The knife has a rather unusual grind. I would describe it as a scandivex with microbevel. Meaning the primary edge is ground convex with an angle of less than 12°. The microbevel is extremly small (less than 0.1mm). This means it can be easily reshapened when maintaining that microbevel. In my opinion that grind delivers fantastic wood cutting abilities. I do have knives with true scandi grinds (mora) and i prever this knife for wood working. I do not recommend grinding out that microbevel though. I have done that on my older carpenter. It was a nightmare and didn't improve the cutting abilities whatsoever.
 
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