How to sharpen a heavy knife? (KA-BAR BECKER BK2)

G

Gorka

Joined
Aug 25, 2016
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So I have a Becker Bk2 and I wanted to try to sharpen this blade after using it for a while. I've had little experience with knife sharpening overall, and especially a knife of this size. I'm sure this question has been asked many times on this forum, but I wanted to know the best route I should take for sharpening the Becker Bk2, maybe simplified to fit a newcomer's skill level? lol :p

Thanks in advance, Mark
 
Lots of decent vids on youtube. Knowing what kind of grind the BK2 has might be helpful to know as you watch different videos, not sure about that though. Couldn't hurt having a basic understanding of the different edge geometries in general, and which one the BK2 has.

Have fun with it.
 
Howdy Mark,

The grind angle on a BK2 is 20 degrees. 1095CV is very easy and forgiving, I have found it is excellent to learn how to sharpen with. The great thing about a BK2 is you have so much metal to work with, you don't have to worry about over sharpening ;) If you do a quick search over in the KA-BAR or BK&T subforum's you'll find lots of good information :thumbup:
 
arskrg said:
Work Sharp = quick shiny convex edge
Works for my ESEE 5
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking of picking one up. What angle do you set it to for a convex edge? I know the default angle is 20 degrees, but do you set it to something else for convexing?
 
Power sharpening tools should never be used by a novice.

A basic Norton India combo stone would be a great start, it would give you a stone coarse enough to reshape the bevel and fine enough to make a very sharp edge. The fine India is on the coarser side but good for a blade that sees hard use. Add a strop and you can refine the edge a surprising amount making it razor sharp.
 
Jason B. said:
Power sharpening tools should never be used by a novice.

A basic Norton India combo stone would be a great start, it would give you a stone coarse enough to reshape the bevel and fine enough to make a very sharp edge. The fine India is on the coarser side but good for a blade that sees hard use. Add a strop and you can refine the edge a surprising amount making it razor sharp.
Click to expand...

So it's not a Becker, but I have the Ontario Sp-10 in American made 1095 so blade type and steel are similar/identical. I'm not sure if the Becker has full flat grind like the ontario but nonetheless, I use 3 diff coarseness of diamond hones (dmt- coarse, fine, and extra fine) and finish with a strop.

I just started using the strop (made one out of an old belt and some scrap wood) and I was (and OP would be) shocked at the real difference stropping makes. Doesnt seem like a reverse stroke on an old belt would make that much of a difference, but for me it's the difference between "sharp" and "toothy sharp" for lack of a better term. I don't even use compound. And it's all massively painless with that giant, 1095 blade.
 
If you get a Lansky kit, take it easy. These sets can take a lot of metal off fairly quickly. I use a Lansky once in a blue moon to quickly bring an edge angle back on an ignored and well used blade. But my finish ups are with a Spyderco Sharpmaker. When I can cleanly slice paper, I'm done. Others are better skilled and take all this to a higher level. But for my needs/uses, this is enough. I'm just another Joe and learned through actual practice. I would call myself a mid level sharpener. You can take it as far as you want to.
 
WilliamCody said:
So it's not a Becker, but I have the Ontario Sp-10 in American made 1095 so blade type and steel are similar/identical. I'm not sure if the Becker has full flat grind like the ontario but nonetheless, I use 3 diff coarseness of diamond hones (dmt- coarse, fine, and extra fine) and finish with a strop.

I just started using the strop (made one out of an old belt and some scrap wood) and I was (and OP would be) shocked at the real difference stropping makes. Doesnt seem like a reverse stroke on an old belt would make that much of a difference, but for me it's the difference between "sharp" and "toothy sharp" for lack of a better term. I don't even use compound. And it's all massively painless with that giant, 1095 blade.
Click to expand...

I use an old Illinois hanging strop often... a good piece of leather without compound can do amazing things. My strops with compound are typically balsa wood or some poplar finish trim. The harder substrate doesn't cushion the abrasive like the leather strop making it work faster.

You would probably like the India or a decent set of waterstones for your carbon blades. It's a lot faster and easier than the diamond plates and will yield a much better edge. It's not that there is anything wrong with the DMT plates it's that they are not the best choice on carbon or soft alloys. They excel at high wear PM alloys and harder stainless steels because there are many more carbides in the steel which in some cases need an abrasive as hard as diamond to be sharpened.
 
For my larger Beckers, I built an 18" V-stick sharpener that uses full sheets of sandpaper. About 5' of 1x2, a 4' 3/4" dowel rod, and some wood screws.

I use the same technique as I would a Spyderco Sharpmaker and it puts a nice edge on them fairly quickly.

Here it is with my BK9 ...
aabb18b7-ae61-4f22-8db7-35d90265d562_zpssq81olse.jpg
 
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