I ruined a brand new knife

M

MiamiHeat

Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
7
Im a total newbie at knives and sharpening. Just received a brand new Bark River Gunny 3V. Came sharp and for some dumb reason, I wanted to try out stropping which Ive never done. I added some white compound and stropped it. I destroyed the edge. Now its dull. Gave it a paper test and it sucks butt. The belly of the blade is still OK but I ruined a brand new edge. What do I do? Do I add black or green compound and try it from there? Do I give it a few passes through a stone? :mad::mad::mad:

EDIT: Nevermind, just saw the stropping sticky above. Ill take a look at the posts and see whats up.
 
Last edited:
Ya didn't run it ya just dulled it a little, Google sharpening videos or do a search here, basically home till ya get the wire edge back and then strop it off, ya should be good to go then.
 
MiamiHeat said:
I don't have a hone stick. Is it the same as a stone?
Click to expand...

You can use a stone if you'd like. Just hone the blade on the stone a bit. It probably shouldn't take too much effort, unless you were really pressing down, I doubt you seriously dulled your knife by just stropping with white compound. Lighten up the pressure in the future and don't use too aggressive an angle.
 
If you are having a lot of trouble stropping, and want to give it a starting edge get a mouse pad and some find sand paper and google that method. I have never done it but i seems to be a common recommendation. Other options are to using stuff like cardboard or newspaper (stuff that has a bit of give) and see if you can make any improvement that way. Practice stropping on other knives until you get the hang of it. I found that sharpening was one of the biggest pain until i got a bit better with practice and actually enjoy the process. Videos and tips will help a lot but experience/practice are the only ways to get good. Good Luck!
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Ya didn't run it ya just dulled it a little, Google sharpening videos or do a search here, basically home till ya get the wire edge back and then strop it off, ya should be good to go then.
Click to expand...

How do you know when you have a "wire edge"?
 
MEJ said:
How do you know when you have a "wire edge"?
Click to expand...

The "wire edge" (AKA "tinned edge") is a portion of the edge that is so thin that it folds over (forming a "burr") when you stroke the knife on a sharpening 'stone." In that state, you can the "burr" with your thumb when rubbing from spine out to and past the edge. Rolling the knife on a piece of wood dowel will break off the burr.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...3De224AOp5IHQBw&sqi=2&ved=0CEwQ9QEwAg&dur=311


http://www.knifeart.com/sharfaqbyjoe.html
 
Sometimes it's hard to tell if you've got a wire edge. It all depends on the sharpening medium. With something like an 80 grit belt on a belt sander, the burr can get huge, I've had it up to maybe 1/16(but that's really needless grinding). And the only stones I've used were arkansas tones(which kinda polish as you go and aren't very coarse so they don't really form a burr much).

But here are the ways you can test:
-Run a cotton swab from spine to edge and past seeing if any of the fibers get snagged(if so, burr)
-Flick your nail from spine to edge, if there's no burr or no significant burr your nail won't get stuck, but if there is, it will be like a little lip on the edge
-Try slicing newspaper(does not need to be a super refined edge, just burr remove, once in a while I'll use 80 grit belt and linen belt with green chromium oxide and it shaves hair and slices phonebook paper, just no push cut well)
-once you get used to what the burr is, you'll be able to see the burr, but usually once one gets past around 600/800 grit you can see the burr much


Try to minimize the formation of burr, because it just means you are grinding away more metal than necessary
 
MiamiHeat said:
Just received a brand new Bark River Gunny 3V.
Click to expand...
A very nice knife.
Came sharp and for some dumb reason, I wanted to try out stropping which Ive never done. I added some white compound and stropped it. I destroyed the edge. Now its dull. Gave it a paper test and it sucks butt.
Click to expand...
You rounded the edge from excess pressure while using 12K grit white compound... can be quite bad.
The belly of the blade is still OK but I ruined a brand new edge.
Click to expand...
This indicated that your angle is not bad, but since you didn't raise the handle to compensate for the belly->tip, therefore this section is not rounded because the strop didn't make contact with the edge.
What do I do?
Click to expand...
Post some close-up pictures of the edge would help us to help you better.

To correct this rounded problem, usually you need to re-establish to target bevel angle (or whatever original edge geometry - BR is convex). 3V has 2.75% of Vanadium so it's quite tough, so grinding going to be tough if you're shooting for a high-face-convex. I learned about 3V this week: I grinded/made three 3V knives (5", 2.5", 2.5").
 
Read the tutorials for convex sharpening on here.

Watch the video's.

It is the easiest method for maintaining a sharp edge that I have ever seen.

Couple of important things. Find the "bite" angle. That is the angle at which if you were going edge into the strop it would try and cut the leather. No need to put any pressure on the knife.

Likely what you are doing to dull the edge is putting too much pressure on the knife. Light touch, or the leather of the strop will wrap up the edge at close to 90 degrees and round the edge. It will look shiny and polished, but will get duller and duller.


You can strop with more pressure, but you have to back off to a much much shallower angle. I will do this some times when I want to polish the shoulder.


Sandpaper over a softer backing is the easiest way to get the edge back quickly. You can do it with the strop as well, but it will just take you a bit more time.

Automotive sandpaper. Wet dry if you can find it. Get a multi pack with higher grits. For a nice new unused edge I would hit it with some 600+ grit to get that edge back. That high of a grit will strop back to nice shiny polish quickly. You can go higher (I have gone as high as 3000 grit, but it is not necessary).

I used a mousepad for years, then switched to putting the sandpaper on a dense rubber backing (a heavy ruber sheet from Tandy Leather used for backing a quartz slab). The density allows for stropping with more force, and less concentration on keeping it light.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the responses. Itook some pics but I used my phone and it was hard getting a focused shot of the edge so close to the cam. I tried some black compound and it seemed to get a little better but not as sharp as it was when I first received it. I dont think it has any burrs, cause I ran my finger nail down the edge and didnt feel any resistance. Yeah Im guessing I put too much pressure because I did slice the strop a little bit. I definitely need a cheaper 3V knife to practice on until I get the hang of it.

gunny.JPG
 
If you cut your strop you are edge leading. You need to edge trail. Pull back on the knife instead of pushing forward into the strop.

I have to go back to work, but I'll try to check back in a bit.
 
Yeah the blade is pointed up and it should be close to a 45 degree angle. I wanted to capture the light on the edge....

I was going "backwards" with the knife. I think it happened with the point. Maybe I gave it too much of an angle that time.
 
I'm sorry, somehow I missed that it's a convex edge. I'll defer to the experts on this since I know little about the topic.

You have been given some good advice, I expect that you'll get more tomorrow once more people have had a chance to see it.

In any case don't be too hard on yourself. You may have made a small mistake, but it should be something that is easily fixed. In the meantime you'll learn more about sharpening and your knife. :)
 
Convex shapening needs practice, just like every other sharpening technique. Virtuovice on youtube, at least the older videos shows a lot about stropping convex edges. Check it out. The best way I think to establish a new apex (that is what you likely ground/stropped off) is to use black compound or 1500 grit sandpaper or so until you have a burr on one side, then flipp over and create a burr on the other side again. Then stropp away the burr carefully on finer medium. The softer the backing is to give you that convex edge, the lighter should the pressure be. Whatch your tip! If you use something as soft as a mousepad, you will round your tip as soon as you are close enough to it since the give of the mousepad "molds" around it. Rather use a leather backing, gives you more control.

Now the angle - holding the same angle every stroke is something you need to practice, you need to develop a muscle/eye/feel/sound connection to become sufficient. The "soft" backing is somewhat forgiving, compared to let say a diamond stone. Anyway, you can either practice to feel when you are the edge or mark the entire edge bevel with a sharpie and see where you are stropping metal away. You can of course also "force" the angle you! want to the edge, imaging you have a visual guide etc. so you can gauge your angle to let's say 15 degrees and keep stropping until you have a burr.
 
Some great advice here. I did the same thing with my first bark river, stripping takes practice. I wouldn't try to find cheap 3V to practice on (is there such a thing?) Use a knife with softer steel and follow the instructions given by the other guys. Once you get the technique down you'll be able to fix up the bark river.
 
One more thing I'd like to say, you don't have to keep sharpen the gunny in a convex way. In fact, lots of rambling around this topic here on bf before, the only thing that likely makes a flat bevel edge to be slightly inferior to a convex edge is the shoulder, particularly on a knife with a thicker grind "before shapening".
 
You might consider watching this video from virtuovice, where he talks about stropping a 3V BR... and shows the edge that came on the knife.

[video=youtube;OgIkXq1T-Vg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgIkXq1T-Vg[/video]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top