Giving a Bark River a V grind

troutfisher13111

troutfisher13111

Joined
Mar 30, 2006
Messages
2,465
Can it easily be done? What are the disadvantages? I am not a fan of convex, but I like a lot of their patterns. Thanks
 
There's no disadvantage. the advantage of that is you will sharpen out the burnt edge that they typically produce.
 
In theory, a convex edge is stronger than a V, but I can't really tell the difference in actual use.
 
knife chop said:
There's no disadvantage. the advantage of that is you will sharpen out the burnt edge that they typically produce.
Click to expand...

It's post's like these that cause everyone to think that the factory edge is burnt and the reason for all the edge problems. It's the blame game played by knife users that cannot explain the damage caused to their pretty penny by what is most often negligent abuse. There is much more I could add but I will stop here and resume with our regularly scheduled programing.

My brother has a Bravo 2 that was zero ground very thin from the factory and suffered damage to the edge. I thickened it up with the standard sandpaper method but eventually moved to using waterstones to keep the primary bevel thinned while setting a standard bevel (secondary bevel) at the cutting edge. It's not as pretty as using sandpaper but is much faster and yields the same types of edge cutting performance.

The theory of a convex edge being stronger is just that and nothing more, convex is just a shape and without the knowledge of the steel, the heat treatment, blade stock thickness, grind angle, thickness for the first few mm past the cutting edge, final apex angle, and a laundry list of other variables.
 
I haven't had a burnt edge from BR. Their knives (for me) are typically very sharp right out of the box. I typically convert all of them to a v grind, simply because that is what I'm familiar with and comfortable with. Some day, when my kids are grown and I have the time, I'd like to try convexing again. But it will have to wait. It is very easy to go from one to the other, even in the "super" steels. If you are worried about taking their convex grind to a v grind, it is no big deal at all.
 
I agree with Jason B and sodak. I carry any one of several BRKTs from time to time. I haven't had any edge issues with the 20 or so BRKT's that I've had. In fact, their M4 and 3V blades are as well done as any I've seen and handled. When my BRKTs need real sharpening, I use a SM at 20 dps. That produces a small V-ground bevel. If they just need a touch-up, I'll strop them. That kind of takes them back to being convexed, a bit, since it's done freehand and I'm none too steady these days. The knives work well either way.
 
You don't have to "convert" the edge.
Just use the knife and sharpen it the same way you sharpen your other knives.
Yes, it is that simple.
 
It can be done, but to match the factory edge in terms of cutting angles you'd have to grind well up the blade face. That's one of the advantages of the convex - at any given terminal edge angle it has less bulk behind the cutting edge.

I switched my Bravo Necker 2 to a V edge initially and then changed it back. Is the knife that prompted me to learn convex maintenance on a hard stone - is not difficult and in many ways is much easier than using a hard stone on a V bevel.

The only thing "wrong" about my BR is the acute angles it has - is a tremendous cutter but will not tolerate much lateral abuse before the edge begins to collapse. For EDU and light bushcrafting it works beautifully. The HT, from what I can tell, is excellent.
 
Just sharpen it normally,no difference in performance, I give all my convex knives micro v edge on sharpmaker and sharpen it that way, no difference in performance and its easy.
 
knife chop said:
There's no disadvantage. the advantage of that is you will sharpen out the burnt edge that they typically produce.
Click to expand...

This is what I would characterize as a "keyboard Commando" post. BR makes excellent stuff. On rare occasions, a problem knife will slip thru (just like with any mass produced product), but Stewart will make it right if such a thing happens. I've owned well over a dozen BR's, and a bunch of Blackjacks as well. I have yet to see one of their knives exhibiting "the burnt edge that they typically produce."

To the question at hand - I did a flat grind on a Bravo I once as an experiment. It cut like a laser and withstood being battonned thru some pretty gnarly red oak & hickory, and would still shave hair or cut newspaper afterwards. I still have that knife...
 
Thanks for the responses. I was under the impression that I had to sharpen it using the sandpaper method, I did not know I could use the conventional method.
 
I bought a Bravo 1 on here that somebody put a v-grind on, and failed to tell me about in the ad, and I guess I failed to see, but I was disappointed in it. Yeah, it was sharp, but it wasn't what I wanted. It bound up in deep wood cuts, and performed like crap except for shallow slicing tasks. I don't see the point in getting a pretty thick blade like most of Bark River's and putting a V-grind on it. Maybe somebody can explain it to me?

I really like Bark River's A2 convex grinds from the factory, but on my Bravo Necker 2 and my Lil Carver in 3v, I found they had a pretty obtuse microbevel that needed to be reprofiled to a zero degree convex before they worked good, then they performed awesome.
 
Danketch said:
I bought a Bravo 1 on here that somebody put a v-grind on, and failed to tell me about in the ad, and I guess I failed to see, but I was disappointed in it. Yeah, it was sharp, but it wasn't what I wanted. It bound up in deep wood cuts, and performed like crap except for shallow slicing tasks. I don't see the point in getting a pretty thick blade like most of Bark River's and putting a V-grind on it. Maybe somebody can explain it to me?

I really like Bark River's A2 convex grinds from the factory, but on my Bravo Necker 2 and my Lil Carver in 3v, I found they had a pretty obtuse microbevel that needed to be reprofiled to a zero degree convex before they worked good, then they performed awesome.
Click to expand...

That bolded part, to me, is the best reason to maintain a convex on thicker blades like these. Just 'smoothing out' the hard shoulders of a V-bevel on a thick blade can immediately improve cutting in thicker/deeper materials, like wood or heavy cardboard. I noticed it myself, in attempting to cut heavy cardboard with a thick(ish) V-bevelled blade. I could actually see where the hard 'corners' of the upper edge of the V-bevel were catching and binding in the cardboard; those corners left little 'notches' in the cardboard, where they'd dig in and stop the cut in it's tracks. Convexing just the shoulders of the V-bevel (don't even worry about the flatness of bevels below the shoulders) is usually enough to make a big difference, and polishing that convexed portion makes cutting even slicker.

On thinner blades, a V-bevel and it's 'hard' shoulders won't necessarily make as much of an impact on deeper cuts, though it still can be noticed if one is looking for it (it can even be heard in the 'drag' of the shoulders while slicing paper). I couldn't ignore it, after first seeing the difference it makes on a thicker blade; and I 'fixed' it the same way, by just stropping on some medium-grit wet/dry paper to round off and smooth the shoulders. Only takes a few passes on appropriately-selected sandpaper to do it.


David
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top