Has Anyone Ever Convexed Their Police3?

S

stoffi

Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Messages
967
Hi,

I got a Police3 and I'm thinking of convexing it. I know it's really thin to begin with, but since I'm never gonna use it for any heavy-loaded work (prying, carving etc.) I'm thinking it would make a really nice slicer.

What do you guys think? Will I ruin it by doing it? Has anyone done that to a Police3 or similar model?
 
I don't have a Police 3 but I do have several other Spydies. I'm not sure if I would convex one of my Spydies. Most of the edges are pretty thin, even the saber-grinds, and an advantage to a convex edge is having more steel behind the cutting edge. If you are starting with a thing blade to begin with, the edge will probably not be as strong as you might expect. Just my two cents.
 
I have convexed the blade of my lava and it works fine on what I've cut with it (paper mostly). I don't know if it's better or worse than a flat bevel but I like how the smoother transition from the cutting edge towards the spine spine of the blade looks and feels.

You can alter the bevel angle just like with flat bevels so it's up to you how steep you take it. The reason I convexed mine was because it's fun to do and I wanted to try out something new. I have no idea what the real bevel angle is but I tried to keep it reasonably shallow. The method I used was the old trusted sandpaper on mousepad. I didn't have finer than 1000 grit sandpaper so the blade is not very polished. In any case i finished it stropping on leather with Flexcut Gold compound and the result shaves arm hair and slices paper ok.
 
I realize that I'd be weakening the blade, but like I said I won't be using this knife for anything heavy. It's my "gentlemans folder" ; )

Oh well, I guess I'll have to use another knife as a first guinea pig — my Calypso Jr. in VG10, which I've already modified somewhat.

Thanks for the replies! Cheers!
 
i have convexed quite a few folders of various makes and they do just fine. i dont think it would hurt to convex your police 3. i have sharpened several but only to put the factory v edge back on.
 
Thank you. I'm already re-working a norwegian Kongsberg into a full convex blade, which is basically a copy of a Mora. I gotta practice before I start on my Police3 (expensive!), but it's lookin' pretty good; so, I'll probably do it pretty soon.

Thanks for the help y'all!
 
I convexed the edge of mine and I liked the results. Since then I've converted it back to a V edge which is even thinner than the convex edge I put on it, which was already thinner than factory. It cuts extremely well now. My P3 is my "gentlemans folder" as well, looks a little more classy than my digicamo Millie with a patina CPMD2 blade :D

If you don't plan on being unreasonably rough with it (Sounds like you aren't) you should be safe. VG10 can easily handle edge angles in the range of 8 degrees per side for most utility work. It just won't be as forgiving if you do something like run into a heavy duty staple when slicing cardboard, but if you're careful with your knives all it should do is make it cut better.
 
Thanks Vivi. I'm going to do a full convex grind on it though. Waddaya think? Evil slicer or brittle shard..?
 
Or maybe try something like what I remember seeing at Rockstead, flat on one side and convex on the other. :)
 
I just finished modifying the blade on the right. The two blades were the same design, but the convex one is stainless and the scandi ground one is carbon steel. Both are hair-poppin' sharp.

scandivsconvex2.jpg


I'm gonna field test these two to find out which grind is preferable for me.
If I find out that I dig the convex more than the scandi, then I'm gonna have a whole lot of blade modifications ahead of me.

Next blade I do will be the Caly Jr. and if I like it I'll also do my Police3.
 
Ok, here's the Caly Jr. (I just finished it!):

calyjrconvexed2.jpg


calyjrconvexed.jpg


I convexed it and reprofiled the thumb rest for better ergonomics.
This is probably the sharpest knife I have now. It's scary sharp!

Hmm... I'll have to test out the new Caly a bit before I dare to convex my Police3.

One thing I just can't get the hang of is how to sharpen the tip to a point. I always end up rounding it on convex knives but never on v-edged knives. Practice practice...
 
stoffi said:
Hi,

I got a Police3 and I'm thinking of convexing it. I know it's really thin to begin with, but since I'm never gonna use it for any heavy-loaded work (prying, carving etc.) I'm thinking it would make a really nice slicer.

What do you guys think? Will I ruin it by doing it? Has anyone done that to a Police3 or similar model?
Click to expand...

i convexed a paramilitary before and it took to it real well and I was happy with the results. It came out really sharp
 
I did a full convex grind on my ZDP Caly Jr. and it cut better than anything else I owned at the time.

With regards to the tip try using very light pressure when sharpening the tip portion, and make sure you don't drag the tip on the sandpaper as you're coming off the stroke. Post pictures of the Police when you're done.
 
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