My Case Tribal Lock will not get sharp!!

J

Jared Leland

Joined
Apr 3, 2020
Messages
184
So, i have A Case tribal lock. I use A work sharp field sharpener. I’ve went through all of the steps and this thing is guided. It should work! I’ve stropped i don’t know how many times and this one is stainless. I stropped With Sharpal green compound and this thing will take a couple hairs here and there and slice paper but not anything like my case trappers which are a breeze to get laser sharp. I also Feel as if I’m ruining it when i sharpen. Thoughts comments and concern much appreciated
 
I have a couple of Case trappers (CV and SS) and a couple of Case tribal locks (CV and SS). My tribal locks get plenty sharp. The blades on the two patterns are about the same thickness at the spine, but the trappers are hollow ground, while the tribal locks are flat ground. I do think the tribal lock may take a bit more care to get a good angle on the edge.
You might take a look at this video, which explains a bit about how angle guides and blade profiles interact:
.

By the way, I don't use a guide, I just go by "eyeball" and "feel" (whatever that means). 😁
 
I'll bet the angle it is originally sharpened at is more than what you are trying to do. You'll need to work it till it's reprofiled to where you want it to be.

I don't use a guided thinger but the first time I sharpen something it usually takes a while. Work up a burr on each side. Then do the same with a finer stone. Then the edge will be easy to sharpen/touch up for a very long time.


I'd imagine with your gizmo you just do the same thing. Work up a burr on one side. Take it off. Then do the same on the other side and take the burr off. Then do some light passes on both sides.
 
Good point above in Ace Rimmer's reply^ about the hollow grinds vs flat grinds from Case. Their hollow-ground blades are usually thinner near the edge and much easier to sharpen up quickly. But their flat grinds tend to be thicker near the edge and often need to be thinned out quite a bit to emulate the cutting performance of the hollow grinds. I noticed the same issue with Case's Copperlocks, also flat ground (1990s vintage). If the original factory edge bevels were pretty narrow for appearance's sake on the Tribal Lock, that would hint that the factory edge angle was pretty obtuse, with the (likely) thicker steel near the edge.

Case's stainless also tends to be a little more tedious in deburring as well. There might be some aggravating issue there, compounding the problem.

Posting some clear pictures of the edge on your knife would be helpful in generating more relevant feedback.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
Good point above in Ace Rimmer's reply^ about the hollow grinds vs flat grinds from Case. Their hollow-ground blades are usually thinner near the edge and much easier to sharpen up quickly. But their flat grinds tend to be thicker near the edge and often need to be thinned out quite a bit to emulate the cutting performance of the hollow grinds. I noticed the same issue with Case's Copperlocks, also flat ground (1990s vintage). If the original factory edge bevels were pretty narrow for appearance's sake on the Tribal Lock, that would hint that the factory edge angle was pretty obtuse, with the (likely) thicker steel near the edge.

Case's stainless also tends to be a little more tedious in deburring as well. There might be some aggravating issue there, compounding the problem.

Posting some clear pictures of the edge on your knife would be helpful in generating more relevant feedback.
Click to expand...
Let me see if i can Make a pic
Into a URL tonight and I’ll share what I’m working with thank you brother!
 
RickHuf said:
Work up a burr on each side. Then do the same with a finer stone.
Click to expand...
This is the only answer. If you don't feel that burr then the steel isn't being worked to the very edge. And if the burr isn't even along the whole length then the edge won't end up sharp the whole length.

And I'm not on my high horse about this, I just recently was SURE I was at the edge of a CS Sodbuster only to later find I needed a magnifying glass to see it but I was a hair's width from the edge.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Good point above in Ace Rimmer's reply^ about the hollow grinds vs flat grinds from Case. Their hollow-ground blades are usually thinner near the edge and much easier to sharpen up quickly. But their flat grinds tend to be thicker near the edge and often need to be thinned out quite a bit to emulate the cutting performance of the hollow grinds. I noticed the same issue with Case's Copperlocks, also flat ground (1990s vintage). If the original factory edge bevels were pretty narrow for appearance's sake on the Tribal Lock, that would hint that the factory edge angle was pretty obtuse, with the (likely) thicker steel near the edge.

Case's stainless also tends to be a little more tedious in deburring as well. There might be some aggravating issue there, compounding the problem.

Posting some clear pictures of the edge on your knife would be helpful in generating more relevant feedback.
Click to expand...
My CV tribal lock was bought new (and I got the box autographed by "The Ol' Dog" TB himself!) so I've been the only one to work on the edge and do it the way I want. My first tribal lock is my SS in yellow Delrin, bought used, and when I bought it I said, "No way is that the factory edge." Previous owner had clearly done some reprofiling work, and did a good job at it.
 
Ace Rimmer said:
My CV tribal lock was bought new (and I got the box autographed by "The Ol' Dog" TB himself!) so I've been the only one to work on the edge and do it the way I want. My first tribal lock is my SS in yellow Delrin, bought used, and when I bought it I said, "No way is that the factory edge." Previous owner had clearly done some reprofiling work, and did a good job at it.
Click to expand...
Mine is pre owned as well. Any tips on how to turn a pic into a URL so i can Show yall?
 
Jared Leland said:
Mine is pre owned as well. Any tips on how to turn a pic into a URL so i can Show yall?
Click to expand...
If you join an image hosting site like imgur.com - it's popular here and free to join up - you can then upload your photos in .jpg (or .jpeg) format to the site. When you click on the image there, it'll show you pre-formatted URL links for the image. If doing that from a desktop or laptop, click on the 'BBCode' option to copy the URL for that, then paste it into your post here. Apparently it's even easier if doing it from a phone or tablet via their app. But I haven't tried that yet.
 
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May or may not be relevant here, but It occurs to me if the Tribal Lock is one of the Case Collaborations with Tony Bose, and not from Case's standard line, the stainless used in the collaboration knives was 154CM, which is much more wear resistant than Case's 'Tru-Sharp' stainless (420HC). So, that would also make sharpening somewhat different than with the standard stainless.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
May or may not be relevant here, but It occurs to me if the Tribal Lock is one of the Case Collaborations with Tony Bose, and not from Case's standard line, the stainless used in the collaboration knives was 154CM, which is much more wear resistant than Case's 'Tru-Sharp' stainless (420HC). So, that would also make sharpening somewhat different than with the standard stainless.
Click to expand...
That makes sense. It’s also a drop point and i think Thicker behind the edge
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
If you join an image hosting site like imgur.com - it's popular here and free to join up - you can then upload your photos in .jpg (or .jpeg) format to the site. When you click on the image there, it'll show you pre-formatted URL links for the image. If doing that from a desktop or laptop, click on the 'BBCode' option to copy the URL for that, then paste it into your post here. Apparently it's even easier if doing it from a phone or tablet via their app. But I haven't tried that yet.
Click to expand...
I tell You what I’ve tried it all. I dont Know how many passes on a guided system from a coarse to a fine to coarse ceramic to fine ceramic to guided stropping a half million times and nothing changes. This thing seems to be made of the same material as wolverines claws
 
Jared Leland said:
I tell You what I’ve tried it all. I dont Know how many passes on a guided system from a coarse to a fine to coarse ceramic to fine ceramic to guided stropping a half million times and nothing changes. This thing seems to be made of the same material as wolverines claws
Click to expand...
Did you get a palpable bur yet ?
Work up a burr on each side. Then do the same with a finer stone.
Click to expand...
This is the only answer. If you don't feel that burr then the steel isn't being worked to the very edge. And if the burr isn't even along the whole length then the edge won't end up sharp the whole length.
Click to expand...
 
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