Sick of Sharpening This Damn Becker

N

numbersman

Joined
Nov 28, 2010
Messages
596
Hi guys, I have a BK-11, AKA the Becker Necker, which didn't come sharp. I have spent plenty of time sharpening it on my SharpMaker, and finally got it sharp using the medium (brown/gray) stones. Unfortunately, as soon as I went to the fine stones (white), it became significantly less sharp. No problem, I've just created a burr, and some stropping will get rid of it. Nope, it stays not so sharp. I can sharpen and strop, using the white stones, until the cows come home and it still doesn't get as sharp as with the medium stones. I am stropping with a plain leather strip, as usual, just to get rid of the burr. I do this on all my knives, including my Esees, which are made from the same 1095 steel, and get screaming sharp. Does anyone have any ideas on what is going on? I am starting to think that maybe I got a poor quality knife.
 
More often than not, issues like that mean some thinning/reprofiling of the edge geometry is needed. Especially if it "didn't come sharp" as you mentioned, which hints that the factory edge grind probably wasn't so good in the first place. The medium hone is working up a sharp burr, but likely with pretty wide edge geometry behind it. When the burr gets cleaned up, most of the acute sharpness goes with it. Edges like that will be challenging to thin or reprofile with just the SM's medium hones. Coarser hones would work faster & better to thin it out.

It's rare when the steel or heat treat is so bad it won't respond to anything at all. The vast majority of the time, it's just a thick factory edge needing some thinning.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
It's rare when the steel or heat treat is so bad it won't respond to anything at all. The vast majority of the time, it's just a thick factory edge needing some thinning.
Click to expand...

Considering how long it took me to get it even vaguely sharp, I have no problem believing that the factory edge was crap. But it does irritate the crap out of me that every time I remove the burr the sharpness is greatly reduced. You seem to be saying that its really only the burr which is sharp. Well, wow! Maybe I should chuck the CBN rods on for a while?

Edited to add: However, it still seems pretty sharp after I have run the strop over it, but before I put the fine rods onto it. I might just give the CBN rods a go and see how that turns out....
 
Last edited:
After the medium stones, run the edge over hard wood a couple of times.
If the "sharpness" is gone, it is probably a burr or wire edge.
You can also examine the edge under sun light for any folded burr.

Strops do not remove burrs created with a coarse stone, but the fine rods may.
How do you check burr formation and removal?
 
Also, the sharpmaker is great for maintaining an edge, at 30 and 40 degree inclusive edges only. If your edge is not that ( I had a BK11, pretty sure it wasn't), you are spending way to much time essentially reprofiling your edge on a pretty fine stone (The medium brown stone is roughly 800 grit ANSI I believe). If you need to use the sharpmaker, set your bevels to match the angles on in first using a stone or other sharpening device that can actually reprofile. 1095 should not take forever to sharpen. Got a few Beckers and other 1095 knives. Don't take long to resharpen. Take maybe an hour or two to profile on stones my way (convexing the edge), then a few minutes resharpening after.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top