KakBritva Clamp's for TSProf review.

[wade7575]

I was asked by Konstantin of gritomatic if I wanted to test some new clamp's that he started carrying and they are made by a company called KakBritva out of Russia.

These are their undercut clamp's that have a tapered cut in the jaws for knives with distal tapers like Spyderco's,they have different degree's that you can choose from that the undercut is cut at and is indicated on the side of the clamp's by dot's that are machined into them.

The KakBritva clamp's can be used with TSProf Hapstone and the Jende Jig's systems and you buy a 3D printed adaptor made by gear connect for the sharpener you want to use the desired clamp with.

The next 2 picture's are of KakBritva's double clamp and also their split clamp,you can see there are 3 dot's machined into the split clamp and that mean the undercut is 3 degree's.

These are KakBritva's standard single clamp's and scissor attachment.

To use the scissor attachment right now with the TSProf you need to use a 4mm bolt instead of a 5mm bolt so the bolt goes threw the crossbar.
There is a slot where a nut goes into on the scissor attachment and the slot is meant to hold a 5mm nut and the 4mm nut just spin's inside the slot unless you pull back on the bolt and tighten it by hand until it stop's then you can tighten it the rest of the way with a wrench.

I can see 2 of the scissor attachment's coming in really handy for doing planer blades.

The one thing I found with the KakBritva clamp's is that they didn't hold thin knives very well at all and I also found I couldn't get any of them to hold distal tapered knives very well either like Spyderco's,I was able to get thicker knives to hold better .

I'm not 100% certain on the problem with these clamps but I think it maybe a 2 part problem,the first thing I can see is that the screws are mounted farther away from the tip's of the jaws then what my TSProf milled clamp's are and that takes away camping force from the tip of the jaws.

I think the other problem is that it may help if the screws that tighten the jaws went threw the jaws on the downward angle part of the as well,but the problem is they use a plain nut that the screw goes into rather then threading one of the jaws.

As you can see this is the cutout window where the nut sit's in so it can sit flush with the jaws,I like the idea of bolt going threw a nut of some kind that way you don't have to worry about stripping the jaw,I think KakBritva placed the screw farther back on the flat part of the jaw of the clamp so it would be easier to machine the window for the nut on a flat surface rather then on an angle.

I would have rather seen KakBritva make a cone nut like Jende did for their Jigs system that use's a metal cone with has a hole that's been threaded and the cone nut sit's in a machined out female cone shape and bind's up when it's tight.

 

[777 Edge]

You might be using the wrong KakBritva clamp paired up with the knife grind you're clamping. KakBritva has so many choices that you can make them work on pretty much any knife. For your distal tapers and thinner knives (like your Spyderco knives you're referring to), use 2 clamps. Use one 4mm or 5mm KakBritva clamp without any grind cutout to clamp the flat tang area just in front of your handle, and a second one about 1/3 from the tip of the blade.

My KakBritva clamps hold all my Spyderco knives very, very well and perfectly secure.

As for thin and small blades, I have no issues with mine clamping even my tiny Victorinox blade, as long as it is clamped correctly. Again, use the flat area of the tang with any knife that has it.

For more clamping force, try a drop of oil on the thread of the clamping bolt and nut. It works wonders and reduces the friction in the thread enough to easily apply a bit more torque and clamp knives a lot tighter.

I absolutely love my KakBritva clamps and I am very happy with mine. They are phenomenal value for money compared to any of the other aluminum whole milled clamps available.

 

[wade7575]

Most of the clamp's I was sent were with a wider gap,I tried a whole bunch of clamps on the same knife and I never got good clamping force.

I'm not saying these clamps are crap it just could be that Konstantin sent me clamps that had to big of a gap for what I was using.

What clamp were you using on your Victorinox,I'd like to get one to test if I don't have it already.

You are about the value of these clamps they are very cost effective.

 

[777 Edge]

Try a 4mm or 5mm flat clamp if you have one. The "undercut" clamps will only work on a knife with a grind angle exactly matching the cutout angle when clamped, and the "undercut" models all have an opening size of 6mm.

If you want the "cutout" clamp versions to work with your knives, you'll have to get a whole range of them to match your knife grinds. It will work well if it matches the grinds, but this would mean a large selection of clamps if you have a large selection of knives.

A more economical way for most guys, would be to use the "flat" clamps without a cutout (maybe a 4mm, 5mm or 6mm version depending on your average knife spine thickness). Then use these flat clamps the way I recommended above in the previous post, by clamping one of them on the flat tang area of your blade.

This primary clamp on your tang area would clamp your knife in position securely and stop any possible rotational (up and down) force of the knife while sharpening. If you have a longer blade than about 2" and want to stop it from flexing while sharpening, then use a second clamp on the spine, closer towards the tip of the blade. This Second clamp (NOT the primary clamp that you've already clamped on the tang) is only to stop blade flexing, so this second clamp does not have to conform with the grind or distal taper at all, it just has to pinch the spine and hold it in position.

I'll be home again towards the end of the week, then I'll clamp some knives and post some pics for you here if you want.

 

[lock0u]

KakBritva's clamp is much cheaper than the Tsprof one, even including the price of the converter Thanks for letting us know.