Farm Life

jbmonkey said:
Sir, no secondary micro bevel to 40 total on it......wonder if it would roll or chip on those cornish with a secondary micro bevel a bit wider like 40 or 50 or so inclusive?
Click to expand...
This is a good point and I may do it. The bevel on my Blue 110 looks to be a 16-18* which I like for most general work. When the bevel is increased the performance is decreased. And I don't care for that. But the point I'm seeing at the heart of this is one cannot have everything.
If you have a more durable edge bevel you give up some slicing ability. On my Empress Trio 6" boning and 9" slicer I set them up totally for
slicing. What I want is performance out of them. On my everyday carry knife I have some options and that's what I need to consider is how
much hard cutting I do. Thanks gents for your comments as this causes me to think. DM
 
Last edited:
In my younger days, I used my knife to cut things it wasn't meant to, would it sure just means you have to sharpen it more, causing premature wear on a knife you like or at the least wasting time sharpening.
Personally I enjoy the challenge to cut thru a joint without dulling my knife. (squirrels and such my dad taught me to break the bone then cut). If I don't have the patience for that my tomahawk or cordless sawsall is nearby.

When I started getting knives I appreciated more, I started using prybars for prying, screwdrivers for screwing, etc. Or in short using the right tool for the job. I started using game shears 10 yrs or so ago and always have those handy now as well.
And go out of my way not to dull my knife on something it shouldn't be cutting. (Reminds me of my first stag handle knife, I once used to trim shingles down the gable major scratches on the blade, lol that won't happen again!)

Good post 300.
 
While on the dulling knife subject, I kringe when I see someone use a glass cutting board, or continue cutting hard once thru the meat, or smack thru hitting the cutting board, I just see the edge rolling when I hear that.
I always so to speak "pull the punch" as I get thru the meat so as not to cut the cutting board and often stack one piece of meat on another just to not even cut the cutting board.

Sorry Dave if we've stayed off topic, but it kinda relate's dudn't it. lol
 
st8, still you made a good point and 300 as well in his post.
Ok, I have cut 35 live oak brush limbs. Some as large as my biggest finger. I started noticing the knife was not so willing to make the cuts after 24. The remaining I moved
the blade around to a spot that was willing to initiate the cut and kept slicing the limb at that spot until it was removed. Had I sharpened
the blade more coarse I think it would have made more cuts. Which is the manner I'm going to set it up.
I stopped and checked the blade and it had at least 3" of rolled area. I now took it straight to my shop where I had a 7.75" brass rod waiting
in the vise, standing on it's end. I gave it 1 light edge trailing scrape up the brass rod and could still feel the rolls. Then 2 and 3. Now they were
disappearing. I flipped it over and did the same on the other side and they disappeared. Then I retreated the opposite side another stroke or so.
Flipped it and did the opposite side. Now, I'm not feeling burrs or rolling. To tiguy's credit. I then sliced several areas of copy paper. It could make these cuts.
I went and got my headset and examined the edge under bright light. I found Many areas of burrs. More than 2". So, the brass rod did indeed
straighten the rolled area to a working edge but could not remove the burrs left. I'll have to do this on a diamond stone. Which is what I saw before. Have I said, this knife really gives a solid grip in my hand.? DM
 
View attachment 920351 David, if you put the rod in the vise this way, you get more control and more pressure (if needed) by using 2 hands to reshape the curl. Once the curl is straightened, a touch up sharpening may be in order. In the end your knife will last longer using this technique.
 
Ok, I'm confused, If the brass will almost do it why not just use a steel?
 
A steel does not have a uniform diameter, so it is hard to clamp in a vise. Also a steel usually has a textured surface which will leave marks on the curl. A cold rolled steel rod would work as well as a brass rod if clamped in a vise. A steel is designed to align the “teeth” on a micro edge. The brass rod is meant to give form to the macro edge.
 
I suspect that would do the same thing. Merely straighten the rolled edge, leaving the burrs. However, this allows one to continue on cutting
with the knife and put off sharpening until afterward. The best approach may be to use a fine diamond rod and use a edge trailing stroke to straighten the rolled edge and lightly refine it with some burr removal, quickly. Which would put off a full sharpening for later, straighten the rolled edge for now and remove some burrs w/ a few leading edge strokes. I have one of these I'll give it a few strokes and report back. DM
 
Ok, I used the Smith diamond coated 1/4" round rod that Buck sells in their catalog. I don't use this much and I'll admit I'm not competent at it. But I held it pointing up and holding the knife at the same angle it was sharpened at I gave it a few edge leading strokes. Then examined it using my Opti-Visor head set. I could tell this had removed some burrs and it was now cutting better. So, I gave it about 6-7 more strokes and examined it.
I could see that most of the burrs were gone and the edge was cutting much better. With more refinement than after the brass rod or the first
strokes on this diamond rod. Cutting decent now. I stopped here as this is about as much as a meat cutter would do to his knife during his shift
to get on through. Doing this he would make it. DM
 
Last edited:
I am sure that abrading the curl away will yield a working edge. I just like to hold off with material removal until the curl is straightened. That way my blade will have a longer life. Similarly when I chip an edge, I don’t grind the chip out. I continue to use the knife with the chip until normal sharpening shrinks it and it eventually disappears.
Don’t confuse shaping a curl by abrasion with shaping a curl by bending it.
To sum up: removing a curl by grinding is not as efficacious as straightening the curl physically before restoring the edge to sharpness.
 
Last edited:
tiguy, the manner I placed the brass rod in the vise was upright on it's end then I braced the rod with a 2x6" block beside it. So, it had no give when I began scraping the blade against it. Still, it straightened out the rolled areas.
I was thinking about the number of oak limbs I cut with a tuned, burr free edge. That would equate to processing 9 Cornish if I cut through their bones. Which is what I had done before. This would have been a good work day for me. Allowing some time for clean up afterward. We only raise 25 for a year's meat supply. Thinking about on it, I learned about some options on how to handle a rolled edge with s90v. DM
 
I was thinking about the the old Buck nail cutting trick where a harder blade was hammered through a softer nail. That nail would be hard enough to straighten a rolled 440C edge and also hard enough to roll the edge if the blade was not kept at a 90 degree angle to the nail. So when you’re cutting branches or bones, the edge will probably keep its shape as long as the blade is perpendicular to bone or branch. But if the blade is twisted slightly, the material being cut has a chance to bend the edge. If you are holding the knife in your hand, the odds of the blade going off vertical (say cutting a limb) are pretty high.
We’re talking theory now, but there is a slight chance that bones and branches may be harder than a nail. Bones are full of Calcium salts (marble and teeth) and wood contains some Silicates (like quartz). The concentration of minerals is higher in bone than in wood. So experiment with wood and baton the blade through the branches paying close attention to the verticality of the blade. That way the branch cannot get a hold of the edge and deform it.
It is much less likely that a branch can “grab” an axe blade edge and bend it because the bevel angles are so obtuse and cutting edge has so much more meat behind it.
I think that harder steels, higher HRC, have more strength and thus more resistance to rolling. The goocher is a harder edge may be more prone to chipping. So we’re looking for balance and thoughtful technique.
 
Getting further off topic,
Ti, When cutting wood it is much more difficult to cross cut at a 90 then to cut at a strong angle around 45* or so.
Wood or bone definitely not harder than steel.
 
Molokai, thanks. I have had your Kona coffee.
st8, yes. When I was cutting those limbs,-- just the nature of the way they grow and me walking up to cut one puts it more at a 45*.
Then some torquing is going on as well. Not as nice a cut as when I'm standing over a cutting board. There I can position the chickens
leg at a 90* angle and slice and push the blade right on thru, while dividing it at the sweet spot. So, I'm actually nicer to the blade while
doing chickens than cutting oak limbs. Still, a good real world test on this 110's steel. Also, 'I was given'er all she's got Captain' (Scotty on Star Trek). Pushing on the lock, torquing on the blade pivot pin, while forcing the blade thru them. There was no 'Love tap' going on. There was
some real muscle being put on that knife. It took it like it was built for it. DM
 
st8yd said:
Getting further off topic,
Ti, When cutting wood it is much more difficult to cross cut at a 90 then to cut at a strong angle around 45* or so.
Wood or bone definitely not harder than steel.
Click to expand...
There are some things in bone and wood that are harder than steel, but steel can also be displaced by something softer than itself like the brass rod mentioned above. My recommending batonning for oak branches would get better results on a cutting board. My contention is that wood can move an edge, and slant cutting helps the wood to do so.
 
A valid hypothesis. The reason the brass rod works is because the metal is very thin at the apex. DM
 
I use knives for meat and machetes for branches when I have that option. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top