Nuclear Makeover

A

Ankar Sheng

Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
596
I'm not a fan of coated blades, the only thing I like about them is the price. My CG NMFBM was starting to get a little ugly, the coating was worn, scratched and chipped, and the factory edge left me wanting. LIke a fine statue born out of stone, I knew there was a real beauty hiding under that rough exterior, so I got to work putting the "mistress" back in NMFBM

I didn't want to be bothered with removing the handles, more specifically with having to reattach them, so I left everything behind the ricasso as is. Stripped the coating, changed the geometry from a high saber grind with a convexed primary bevel and a "V" edge to a fully convexed profile with a mirror polished zero edge.

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Grinding away the dimples and CNC marks was really time consuming work. The finished edge is wicked sharp, whittles hair like no ones business and is still tough as hell. It breezed through branches around 1.5" thick in 1 chop, goes to town on seasoned hardwood without showing any signs of wear on the edge, and it can shave up some kindling all right too. At last, LE performance at CG prices (labor not included lol).



Also gave a similar treatment to my Skinny ASH1, which wasn't seeing much use, again the factory edge just wasn't doing it for me. Wont have any excuse to leave this one on the shelf now!
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Great looking blades man! You have your sharpening style down to an art; love those mirror edges. Thanks for sharing those pics.
 
Wow, those look fantastic! I'd love to know the process you use as well, especially the convexing.
 
WOW!!! Damn nice edge.....you could lop off arms and legs with that Mistress!! Ouch!
 
Thanks guys.

The process?

Paint stripper (optional)
belt grinder
elbow grease
patience

It basically just took a lot of time on my cheap 1x30" hardware store belt grinder, a lot longer than it should have considering I was using worn belts. The NMFBM I stripped first, the SKinny ASH I just ground the coating off. I like working 2-3 knives at a time so I can just cycle through them, a few passes on one, then switch while it cools. A cooler of water to soak them in keeps them nice and cold, gives you more time before they start to warm up.

For the edges, pretty much the same deal, got the shape roughed out with one of the coarser belts, then used 4 belts to finish it, 40 micron, 20 micron, 9 micron and a leather belt with the 1 micron paste.

Just takes a steady hand, keen eye and several hours of free time. Dont rush anything, and dont experiment on the grinder with expensive knives.

My Basic 7 also has a similar treatment, maybe pics later.
 
Good work man!

I put a full convex on my Skinny ASH and did the whole thing by hand....... Never again!

I appreciate you sharing the process with us, I have been thinking of doing a bit of reprofiling on my CGFBM and just dont have the time or energy to put another 18 hours of sanding into a project.

Did you say that you picked your belt sander up at a local place? What'd that run you?

Thanks,
Berkely
 
It was about $90 at Canadian Tire if my memory serves me. I'd probably spend at least $20 on sandpaper doing a job like this by hand.
 
Ok guys, I'm just a tad curious, would this modified NMFBM be worth more or less than it was when it was mint? I really have no intention of getting rid of it, but the Busse market has always been an intriguing one.
 
Ankar Sheng said:
Ok guys, I'm just a tad curious, would this modified NMFBM be worth more or less than it was when it was mint? I really have no intention of getting rid of it, but the Busse market has always been an intriguing one.
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You've pretty much destroyed resale value. I will help you out and take it off your hands for $150 plus shipping. :D:thumbup:

Seriously though, I'm not sure myself. I would think you could get more if you found the right buyer, but at worst it should be a wash.
 
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looks good. i've been thinking about doing that to a knife sometime. got some practice in on a cheap cold steel, but i need to find the right busse for it
 
usually I don't see the values go up for modded Busse's, unless some one like Ban does it. Still not a huge jump in value. People tend to be a bit skittish of power modded knives.

I have a FBMLE with a swedge added by Bill Siegle. Smoothed handle scales. I don't think I paid extra for the mods at all. It is my user, and I hand convexed the edge.

your work looks great. I have a 1x30 grinder with attached Disk. I think I got it for 40ish bucks??? at Harbor Freight. I have modded cheapo knives on it, and sharpened and shaped the handle scales on my first hand made knife I made.

I have not used it on any Infi yet.
 
Gatorz, a bit of scotch actually, Bowmore, nice and peaty, not quite as peaty as the Laphroaig in einsteinjon's av though (good pick ;))

Silver, I'd recommend getting some cheap machetes, you can practice long sweeping passes that you'll need to sharpen a BM. Get good at working around the tip too, it heats up the fastest and it's not hard to grind it right off.

I understand people being weary of modded knives. I had to make sure for myself I did a good job and chopped up some seasoned plum wood. Damn am I impressed with infi! This is a pretty thin edge and I was really givin' er, some hits were skidding off horizontally into the notch when it started getting deeper, that probably puts a lot of lateral stress on the edge, especially with the weight and force behind it, and not a dent, roll or ding, nothing. I can still cut off the very tips of my hairs, the last few mm with the sweet spot that did all the chopping. That with being practically stainless is just awesome.
 
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