Reprofiling a Queen Cutlery Country Cousin in D2

K

kwackster

Joined
Dec 23, 2005
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Here is my Queen Cutlery Country Cousin Sodbuster in plain D2; very good knives for the money with excellently hardened steel, but also notorious for having a butterknife edge straight from the factory.
Which mine did too by the way.

This is my example now, with the edge reset to 30 degrees inclusive on a Wicked Edge knife sharpener up to 600 grit diamond, after which i removed the burr on a leather strop loaded with green compound.
The result is a biting edge that shaves hair above skinlevel.

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2001.jpg

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2002.jpg

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2004.jpg

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2006.jpg

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2007.jpg

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2003.jpg


And because there is no lock i can take this knife with me when i plan to visit England sometime next year. :D
 
While I am not the ultimate judge of sharpening, if I sharpened mine that nicely, I would be proud.
 
That's a beauty edge. from position of blade etch, it looks like a moderate amount of blade was lost to get this edge. would like to have seen a before pic too. and how many hours work ?
roland
 
That edge looks great! :thumbup:
I usually sharpen at 20-25 degrees but I'm tempted to do 30 seeing yours! ;)
 
rprocter said:
That's a beauty edge. from position of blade etch, it looks like a moderate amount of blade was lost to get this edge. would like to have seen a before pic too. and how many hours work ?
roland
Click to expand...

Roland, On my Country Cousin, the blade etch was close enough to the bottom of the blade, that it looked just like his when the bevel was cut shallower. I doubt that any significant amount of material was removed at the edge itself.

I have seen another Country Cousin, actually on my desk here now, where the blade etch was higher on the blade itself and not as close to the edge where the blade starts the sweep toward the tip.

Ed
 
Very nice!

I change the edge angle on most knives I buy. Always do on Queens.
 
Reprofiling this small D2 blade took several hours, but you don't need to be a sharpening guru to get exactly the same results.
Anyone can do it (well, anyone who doesn't have a problem paying 250 US dollars for said sharpener :D)
I bought the complete kit without the granite baseplate; a thick old wooden cutting board works just as well.

The Country Cousin etch was already fairly low on the blade, which makes it look like much metal was removed, but that isn't the case.
 
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Sure, that's also possible, you just need to go further with various grits.
When i want a polished edge i take it up to 2000 grit, and then finish with polishing compound on cardboard.
But for a simple working knife like this sodbuster i find it not really necessary, and for certain materials i even prefer a rather coarse & toothy edge, especially for stringy or fibrous stuff like cardboard or rope.
 
If you need a more polished or refined edge than that on a sodbuster I'm afraid it'd be akin to putting lipstick on a pig. ;)

That knife looks like a fine cutter. Kudos on what appears to be an excellent job. :thumbup:
 
kwackster said:
Here is my Queen Cutlery Country Cousin Sodbuster in plain D2 ... This is my example now, with the edge reset to 30 degrees inclusive on a Wicked Edge knife sharpener up to 600 grit diamond, after which i removed the burr on a leather strop loaded with green compound.
The result is a biting edge that shaves hair above skinlevel.

QueenCutleryCountryCousinD2001.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice work! :thumbup:

Now, if you could somehow remove that hick blade etching Queen puts on there. :p
 
Whats the ultimate angle for an edge? A guy I work with has a Tormek sharpener and I'm thinking of letting him have a try at my MountainMan.I here some people say 20 degrees also.
 
Remember that the clamp system on a Tormek creates a wider bevel on one side of a knifeblade than on the other.
This is not so much a problem for a simple working knife, but not so nice on a more expensive knife.
As such this may leave you with an edge that's not exactly in the middle of the steel, which can be a problem with later resharpenings on a Spyderco Sharpmaker or other V-sharpeners.
I have worked with various Tormeks over the years, and while they are good, they also have a few shortcomings.
 
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