How To Sharpening a hollow grind

[SwissHeritageCo]

Got my first hollow grind in and I'm keen to convex the v edge and blend the shoulders.

Will this hurt the grind at all? I have zero experience with hollow grinds and am not sure if any special considerations are necessary.

It's weird and I'm not jazzed about it but maybe through performance I'll be a convert.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

I'm sure others will echo this, but photos, description of your knife/blade would help.
G2

 

[SwiftDream]

Sebenzas are hollow ground and come with a convex edge. I have sharpened and maintained the convex edges on both of mine for decades and have had zero issues. I would carefully blend the v edge into a convex edge if it were mine.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

I'm sure others will echo this, but photos, description of your knife/blade would help.
G2

I'm sure others will echo this, but photos, description of your knife/blade would help.
G2

It's super hollow with very prominent shoulders on the bevel, me no likey the edge.

I'm just going to convex it as per usual, somehow seems like different and uncharted territory for me considering the hollow grind though.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

View attachment 3238763

It's super hollow with very prominent shoulders on the bevel, me no likey the edge.

I'm just going to convex it as per usual, somehow seems like different and uncharted territory for me considering the hollow grind though.

It's a breeze. Assuming you're not wanting to convex anything above the edge grind itself, it would be no different than any other, in terms of the method used.

Nice thing about hollow grinds is, it's much easier to protect the primary grind from ugly scratches, as the hollow is less likely to make accidental contact on the abrasive used. As with convexing any edge, keep the held angle conservatively low (less than the actual edge angle), so you're just taking the crisp shoulders off the edge grind. You still want the edge grind itself to be essentially a 'V' in profile, to keep it as crisp as possible at the apex.

Pictured below is one of mine, a Buck 301's spey blade first pictured with the original edge on its hollow grind. 2nd pic is after I convexed it, doing most of the grinding on a diamond hone first, using a back & forth scrubbing technique. I then smoothed it out and polished it on a very aggressive denim strop heavily loaded with white rouge compound (aluminum oxide). You might also notice I reprofiled the tip portion of what was originally the spey profile, making it into more of a spear profile at the tip.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

It's a breeze. Assuming you're not wanting to convex anything above the edge grind itself, it would be no different than any other, in terms of the method used.

Nice thing about hollow grinds is, it's much easier to protect the primary grind from ugly scratches, as the hollow is less likely to make accidental contact on the abrasive used. As with convexing any edge, keep the held angle conservatively low (less than the actual edge angle), so you're just taking the crisp shoulders off the edge grind. You still want the edge grind itself to be essentially a 'V' in profile, to keep it as crisp as possible at the apex.

I do get scratches on my flat grind flats when I convex lol

Thing is I usually do a rocking motion, not sure I keep the "V" you speak of but I've been pleased with my results performance wise:



Turns out it's really difficult to photograph a shoulderless convex but maybe I'm not keeping the apex crisp?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I do get scratches on my flat grind flats when I convex lol

Thing is I usually do a rocking motion, not sure I keep the "V" you speak of but I've been pleased with my results performance wise:

View attachment 3238785

Turns out it's really difficult to photograph a shoulderless convex but maybe I'm not keeping the apex crisp?

That looks darn good to me.

If you're pleased with the results, that speaks volumes about how well it's working. With bad or marginal technique, convexing can really crater sharpness at the apex, rounding it over. So, if it's otherwise cutting well after you're done, that's the proof of good work done.

It IS difficult to photograph convex edge bevels. I get it. With mine, they almost always look less convexed in photos than what I perceive with my own eyes beforehand.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

It's a breeze. Assuming you're not wanting to convex anything above the edge grind itself, it would be no different than any other, in terms of the method used.

Nice thing about hollow grinds is, it's much easier to protect the primary grind from ugly scratches, as the hollow is less likely to make accidental contact on the abrasive used. As with convexing any edge, keep the held angle conservatively low (less than the actual edge angle), so you're just taking the crisp shoulders off the edge grind. You still want the edge grind itself to be essentially a 'V' in profile, to keep it as crisp as possible at the apex.

Pictured below is one of mine, a Buck 301's spey blade first pictured with the original edge on its hollow grind. 2nd pic is after I convexed it, doing most of the grinding on a diamond hone first, using a back & forth scrubbing technique. I then smoothed it out and polished it on a very aggressive denim strop heavily loaded with white rouge compound (aluminum oxide). You might also notice I reprofiled the tip portion of what was originally the spey profile, making it into more of a spear profile at the tip.

Amazing info, edit, and edge!

You really do live up to the moniker and we appreciate it

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Amazing info, edit, and edge!

You really do live up to the moniker and we appreciate it

Thank you!