I've been thinking about this knife for awhile and finally decided to pull the trigger. I've heard lots of good things but this is what I thought upon arrival.
I found the geometry to be too thick behind the edge and not that sharp to begin with. Something had to be done. I thinned the edge quite a bit and put a nice sharp convex edge on it. I wish I could be more scientific about how thin I made the edge, but all I can tell you is that I thinned it to the point that it will carve super easy but I could still cross-baton it into really hard, old, dry Mesquite with no edge damage. The heat treat on this CM154 is spot-on!
The next thing that needed to happen was some softening of the edges on the handle scales.
This is just the rough-in stage and will be completed with more hand sanding after I take the scales off to strip the paint off.
Then I needed to take the spine down to bare metal and sharpen it up.
Next on the list is stripping the paint, finishing the scales and probably removing the pommel section of micarta, leaving an exposed pommel.
The sheath is typical Ontario. Nothing to write home about but perfectly serviceable.
I'm be adding updates to this after I finish it up.
I found the geometry to be too thick behind the edge and not that sharp to begin with. Something had to be done. I thinned the edge quite a bit and put a nice sharp convex edge on it. I wish I could be more scientific about how thin I made the edge, but all I can tell you is that I thinned it to the point that it will carve super easy but I could still cross-baton it into really hard, old, dry Mesquite with no edge damage. The heat treat on this CM154 is spot-on!
The next thing that needed to happen was some softening of the edges on the handle scales.
This is just the rough-in stage and will be completed with more hand sanding after I take the scales off to strip the paint off.
Then I needed to take the spine down to bare metal and sharpen it up.
Next on the list is stripping the paint, finishing the scales and probably removing the pommel section of micarta, leaving an exposed pommel.
The sheath is typical Ontario. Nothing to write home about but perfectly serviceable.
I'm be adding updates to this after I finish it up.
