More Traditional Generosity thanks to Knarfeng and Black Mamba

A couple of questions for the GEC guys on this forum ... did GEC ever make a 23 with the Spey Blade and a linerlock? I've seen 73s with spey blades on the various "approved" GEC vendor sites ... how about 72s with spey blades and lockbacks? Anybody do any comparisons between the "Bullnose" drop point (?) and this Spey Blade?

Rsmith_77 - that is an awesome knife. Put it to work ... a knive that robust should make an excellent "light" duty bushcraft knife. Please let us know how the sharpening process is different from 420 or 1095. A GEC in 440 is on my short list but I just have not pulled the trigger yet - can't decide whether to go small or big on it and just thinking about it is giving me hours of entertainment. If an Arkansas stone can't get the job done then I'll need a few pointers myself.

Scott D
 
qncygnnr said:
Please let us know how the sharpening process is different from 420 or 1095. A GEC in 440 is on my short list but I just have not pulled the trigger yet - can't decide whether to go small or big on it and just thinking about it is giving me hours of entertainment. If an Arkansas stone can't get the job done then I'll need a few pointers myself.

Scott D
Click to expand...

Scott, if you use an aluminum oxide stone or a diamond hone, 440C sharpens up about the same as any other stainless.

However, because the chromium carbides in 440C are so much harder than steel, 440C really wants a synthetic stone. Aluminum oxide stones such as a Norton India work well and they don't cost much. Back in the day when Buck 110's came in 440C, I knew a couple of fellas who got so frustrated trying to sharpen 440C using a natural stone that they got rid of their Buck knives and bought Schrades. Schrade used 440A, which does not contain carbides and can be easily sharpened on a Washita Stone.
 
Thanks Frank - something to ponder while I'm on the road today. This makes sense. By "diamond" I presume you mean the type of abrasive used on Smith or Lansky synthetic hones? When I get a new (or new to me) knife I use the coarse and fine hones to set the bevel angle, the Arkansas stone attachment to get to the wire stage, and then a leather strop loaded with "green" polishing compound, and finally straight leather to finish the edge. Are the chromium carbides to "hard" for effective/efficient leather stropping?
Scott D
 
In my experience Scott, it's just the opposite. Once you get a good edge, the steel retains it so well that stropping is all you will need to do to keep it that way.
 
qncygnnr said:
Thanks Frank - something to ponder while I'm on the road today. This makes sense. By "diamond" I presume you mean the type of abrasive used on Smith or Lansky synthetic hones? When I get a new (or new to me) knife I use the coarse and fine hones to set the bevel angle, the Arkansas stone attachment to get to the wire stage, and then a leather strop loaded with "green" polishing compound, and finally straight leather to finish the edge. Are the chromium carbides to "hard" for effective/efficient leather stropping?
Scott D
Click to expand...

http://www.osborn.com/msds/pdf/47011.PDF
Well the green polishing compound covered by the above MSDS is 70% aluminum oxide. I checked four MSDSs. They all showed that the "green polishing compound" describe by each MSDS contained significant amounts of aluminum oxide. So there you go. Aluminum oxide will do it.
 
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