I sure wish they'd stop making great knives that have RECURVE blades

[jazub]

A 710 without a recurve would be sweet. I do not like the way recurves look. I just can't pull the trigger on one with that recurve and the blade seems like it would lose too much height if it were ground out to a straight edge. Bummer cause it looks like a great design otherwise.

 

[hickman1]

Holy Necro-post Batman!!!

My prefered blade was a wharncliffe style like the Leek's for years. I avoided recurved blades like the plague, until I got a Kershaw Storm for Christmas from my wife, a couple or 3 years ago; after taking a little time and learning "how" to sharpen it, I actually liked it. Then I bought a few more knives with recurves, and surprise they cut stuff- a lot of stuff. I cut a lot of manila rope at my job, and I prefer my recurves for doing so, the belly grabs the rope and just digs in, I can and do use my Leeks or Tenacious for the same things with little difference until I get to larger ropes than 1/2". My "sharpening system" is a Lansky Deluxe set and a double sided Smith's diamond sharpener that stores in its own handle, and I have no problem getting any of my knives to a bleeding sharp edge, so to say a particular knife should not be made due to a recurve is absurd, hell if you don't like the recurve, grind the belly out, recontour and make it how you want it to be. Or learn how to sharpen it and deal with it. Cause some of us just like things that work for what we need, and are willing to learn how to take care of our gear.

 

[Modoc ED]

Use a round ceramic rod. Very simple to use. Very effective.

Canned pictures.

They work well on all recurve blades. I do my Spyderco Plain Edge Crickett on these rods; however, I do use a Sharpmaker for my seratted Crickett and other seratted knives.

 

[precisionshootist]

Lets say we are NOT in the field and have access to any sharpening system. What is the IDEAL system to use on a recurve blade like say a ZT 0200?

Would it be a belt sander with proper belts? Paper wheels? My plan is to get a mini belt sander from WorkSharpTools. This tool generally produces a convex edge. Will this work for a ZT 0200 and others like it?

One thing I would take from this thread is that if you are a manufacturer, going with a recurve design will eliminate a huge percentage of your target audience. Not good when you are trying to sell knives. That being said, it's hard to argue with the success of Zero Tolerance and their use of the recurve edge. I do wonder how many people simply won't buy a ZT because of the recurve design. I will admit this originally turned me off to their knives.

Recurves do have a slicing advantage in my experience. IMO, the effect is not due to the increase in length of the edge but rather the tendency of the blade to "bite" into the material that is being cut. It's this "biting" effect that makes them great slicers.

 

[Mr. Bob]

I just plain dislike recurves. I also don't like the apparent gradual curving of knife shapes overall; where the tip points down and the butt of the handle points down. Looks like a frownie face to me. :lol: I prefer simple, straight designs. Fancy looking knives aren't art to me and they sure as hell aren't sexy.