Full convex Fiddlebacks

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Dec 29, 2008
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Hi everybody and happy Friday!
How many of you have turned Andy's convex grind with secondary edge into a "complete" convex (for the lack of a better word, I don't like the word zero convex...), meaning the curve of the main convex grind goes all the way to the apex, no secondary edge ...

... and how?

Thanks!
 
I did it on my Recluse. I used sandpaper and a strop and countless hours. I had already done the same with my Fallkniven A1 and F1 with good results so I decided to go for it.

Hi everybody and happy Friday!
How many of you have turned Andy's convex grind with secondary edge into a "complete" convex (for the lack of a better word, I don't like the word zero convex...), meaning the curve of the main convex grind goes all the way to the apex, no secondary edge ...

... and how?

Thanks!
 
Sorry guys, must have missed that.
Thanks solid4ever for the link!

Double sorry, I actually read some comments of that thread, must be the anticipation of Friday morning that froze my brain this morning ...
 
To answer your question directly, awestib, I have done that with my Bushfinger and plan on doing it with the rest of my Fiddlebacks as well (once I have some free time, as it is a bit of a time investment to do the initial re-profiling).

I have actually re-profiled my Bushfinger entirely, thinned out the blade all the way to the point, given the blade slightly more distal taper, knocked some of the metal off the flats to make them blend more seamlessly with the high saber grind and brought the edge up a little bit so that I have a bit of a finger guard. I am almost finished with this process, I am just going up through the grits to put a final micro-convex bevel and I'm still deciding how high I want to take the polish on the primary grind itself.

The only reason I did all of this to a knife that worked perfectly well was to repurpose it: I have turned my first Fiddleback, this Bushfinger I'm talking about, into my ultimate hunting knife and I plan to only use it for that particular purpose. It's special to me since Fiddleback knives completely opened my eyes to the world of custom knife making and, although I don't get out hunting more than a few times a year at most, I have decided to put this knife aside to use only on those occasions: hunting is a special experience to me and the knife is extremely special so I thought it's be nice to have one knife that was used only for that purpose.

I love the original Bushfinger shape and plan to get another one for general camp use some day when funds permit.

As for the rest, I do plan to work out the secondary bevel, take them full convex and then put on a micro-convex bevel. The process I've been using is slow but sure: 3M wet/dry sandpaper over a leather strop, starting at 320 grit and progressing up to 2500, then onto Bark River Black, Green and White Compounds and finishing on naked leather. I hope that helps!
 
No apologies necessary. This will never be a settled discussion. That thread was probably my favorite version of that discussion though simply because of how much really good back and forth we had going... And that Andy and Oeser joined in as well (as pro-forgers)
 
Thanks Sean. I agree solid4ever, it's great when knifemakers join the discussion!
 
From thefirst time i got a full convex, it was instantly a favourite edge, I love it!

The first recluse I got I changed to full convex by hand; took weeks, with emery paper and the same motions you would when sharpening a full convex, but when trying to round the secondary bevel I would keep to one side for a bit and moved back and forth quickly in an area. Once everything was where I wanted it, I went back to regular convex sharpening motion, moving thru grits. It pops hairs like BRKT. (I hope that isn't blastphemy, to mention other knife makers)

The second was my hunter; after a bit of convincing, I was able to get a local knife sharpener to belt grind it to a convex. He charged 10 bucks. Then took it home to my emery paper to really bring edge

Both are sick, very happy!!!
Hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know!!
 
Thanks Sean. I agree solid4ever, it's great when knifemakers join the discussion!

No worries Andy. Despite the time investment involved with manual re-profiling, IMO it is definitely worth doing if you are interested in having a full convex knife. It's sort of like Fiddleback knives themselves, though: once you go full convex you won't want to go back :p

My first full convex knife was an heirloom knife inherited from my Grandfather, which I have now passed on to a younger cousin, and I have not had much interest in any other blade geometry since then...convex is just so damned sexy and IMO has the best balance of features of all commonly used geometries.

I was pretty scared to try and work out the secondary bevel on a Fiddleback however...it's simply more money that I have ever spent on a knife so the fear of "ruining" it was very real...I think the key is just to take it really, really slow. I rushed a bit in the beginning and ended up bringing the edge up (thereby reducing the width of the blade) a bit more than I would have liked, so had I been more patient this wouldn't have happened. You know how it goes...you can take it off but you can’t put it back on, so take your time!

However if you take your time then I really think anyone can follow the steps needed and easily re-profile any Fiddleback to full convex. If you’re interested you should really check out YouTube, there are all sorts of useful convex sharpening videos to be found there for sure.
 
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