Killa Zilla II Sharpening/Edge Question

PA Trout

PA Trout

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Hi, folks.

I was limbing a tree that I cut down today with the KZII and I'd like to thin/sharpen the edge to a better profile.

The KZII is the only recurve I own, I typically water stone and strop my blades. Any advice for a better edge geometry for limbing and general chopping? Also, what's the best method you found for sharpening a recurve?

I really appreciate any feedback :-)

Justin
 
If you are brave or confident about your angles you could get a 1x30 belt sander and thin it out pretty quickly. If you don't mind taking your time, you could wrap a large dowel rod with sandpaper, or something else curved for a backing.
 
The less wide stones on the edge apex pro work very well.
Knocking down the shoulders of an edge makes a big difference. Could just go convex right away.
 
I put a 19 degree mirror edge on my TTKZ --- while it's a little different than the KZ2 -- I still think both knives could easily handle a thinner edge with a high polish.

Honestly, just go with what you're most experienced with and what is easiest for you to maintain. I plan to use the same edge angles and level of polish on my Huck Fin when it comes in

 
Rob_Mob said:
I put a 19 degree mirror edge on my TTKZ --- while it's a little different than the KZ2 -- I still think both knives could easily handle a thinner edge with a high polish.

Honestly, just go with what you're most experienced with and what is easiest for you to maintain. I plan to use the same edge angles and level of polish on my Huck Fin when it comes in

Click to expand...
Got cut just looking at this.
 
Well, for my old MOJO, I taped sandpaper around a Pringles can. Mark your edge plus about an inch away with sharpue so you can tell where you're taking off material. The ")" shape of the can allows for the material to be taken off rather evenly along the whole length of blade.

I usually knock down the shoulder up until about where I can barely see marker left along the cutting edge. Then I strop.

That's some tasty bacon!
 
I used my 1x30 belt sander to knock the shoulder off and convex it.


I've done it using just sandpaper. I have a 4 sided strop, and have put sand paper on it. But it would take some time!
 
Thank you all!

I think I'll try my 1×30 first with some light passes and then move to the sandpaper.

Thanks Timmy for the marker reminder. I'm excited to see what come out of this.

Rob. Seriously. That's less like a TTKZ and more of a recurve lightsaber! :-)
 
My TTKZ had a very fat edge profile and could not chop well. All my choppers normally get reprofiled with the HF 1x30, but I wasn't confident to mess with an $800 recurved blade, so I had Garth do that one. It came back much improved, of course.
 
Anyone ever tried going down to 10-12 degrees per side on INFI?

Id be curious to know how well that worked.

Gaston
 
I would expect it to do much better at 15 per side for general use, and 20 per side for harder use. The same thing that keeps INFI from breaking will allow it to roll in too narrow geometry. Especially if you are talking about chopping with a KZ2. That is a whole lot of energy to put behind the edge.

A few points harder and smaller designs, like the BAD, would probably do a lot better at 10-12 per side.
 
That, if correct, is what I suspected...

Yet my 10" Lile Mission in D-2 (or 440C?) chops quite well at around 10 per side...: Very slight dulling after hundreds of strokes, but no visible damage. So does the Randall Model 12 in 440B. This is in at least one year dead and dried Maple...

The only minuscule damage that ever becomes visible is very occasional (once every few hundred strokes) and very focussed and narrow, seemingly caused by rock or sand particles embedded in the wood... But this damage is really extremely small and not frequent.

Gaston
 
The best advice for going with a narrow profile is to finish with a slightly steeper microbevel to protect the edge. If you are going for 10 dps on the primary edge bevel, then finish with a few strokes at 13 or 15 dps for the microbevel.
 
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