got my bk16, now what?

F

foundastick

Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
14
So I got my bk16 a couple of months ago with every intention of taking it camping this summer with the family, but plans change and ankle surgeries get in the way. Now I have my 16 and time on my hands. I've already asked about the stripping the coating off and received some great input and will hopefully get around to doing that sometime. Now I guess, I just have questions on how to best take care of my knife, how to sharpen it and with what, and how do I protect the blade after I get around to stripping it?

Love the knife, hate not being able to do anything but stare at it.
 
I use DMT diamond bench stones to hand sharpen my knives. I use the Fine and Ultra fine grits the most but the coarse comes in handy when you are trying to re-profile the edge. DMT sharpeners are available on the internet as well as many hardware stores. The Smith diamond sharpeners work okay too. I carry one of the kind woth a handle on it in my field bag I keep in my vehcile. The coarse grit works well on axes and lawn mower blades.

Keep the blade lightly oiled or if you haven't used it, just keep it dry and it should be fine as long as it is not in a high humidity environment.

There are a lot of knife sharpening threads and I suggest a search to learn techniques. General sharpening is not so hard and the steel on the BK-16 is pretty easy to sharpen. It can be a pleasant break from your normal routine.
 
For protection most folks might recommend mineral oil.
It just depends on personal preference. I use olive oil because its readily available.
Tuff cloth, wd40, silicone based lubricants. Lots of stuff will work.
Just make sure its not toxic if you're going to use the knife for food prep.

Sharpening with a med/fine Norton stone works well.
I use a Spyderco sharpmaker and for me it works wonders.
 
^^^What he said.^^^
I know there's a temptation to sharpen it right away but it isn't really necessary. I got into the habit of sharpening every knife as soon as I touched it but lately I've been trying to show a little bit of restraint.
If you decide to sharpen it just because you're bored, we've all been there, I can only recommend checking out Moose's thread about the KME sharpening system and of course Youtube.
 
monstrum said:
Just use it out of the box.
Click to expand...

Ya know, this was my initial thought until I began seeing all of the cool things that folks have done. I just finished trimming the bark off of a stick I had laying around in the back yard so one of my kids can have a walking stick. Tell you what, my bk16 was plenty sharp to get through that task and it was still sharp when I finished. Maybe I'll leave it alone for now, but I still really like the way they look without the coating. One day... maybe.
 
Do what you want! If you want to sharpen it, sharpen it! I always like mine sharper than the factory's edge.
As for stripping, you can do what you please, but I tend to let it rub off naturally.
 
definitely strip! Soak a clean shop rag in mineral oil and wring damp and keep in a ziplock bag in your pack or cargo pocket. After every use, wipe your knife clean with your pants or shirt and then wipe down with the rag. :thumbup:
 
i think it's time after a year to forgo the factory 16 edge and put a razor hone on that bad boy. should work nice in the kitchen it should :D
 
Good advice above - I would add though, get a 15 and a 17 and a 14 and ... well you get the idea. And you absolutely cannot not have a BK9:D
 
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