sk series

Sorry, had the SK-4 locked away and then lost the key for a few days. LOL!

Just took this a few minutes ago.
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Still holding up well.

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I haven't done a darn thing to it other than use it, wipe crud off (mostly,) and put it in the sheath.

I just stropped the edge a little bit ago and it's ready to go.

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I tend to shy away from coated blades for one simple reason. When I sharpen a knife, I thin the blade to remove roughly an equivalent amount to the metal removed from the bevel during the sharpening process. This ensures that with repeated sharpening, while the bevel is moving into thicker portions of the blade, that I am able to maintain an efficient cutting geometry around the bevel over the life of the blade. If you do not do this, the cutting bevels (tertiary if the flat is the primary and the saber grind is the secondary) will get wider and wider with each sharpening and will eventually negatively impact performance. I have not done this with any of my Survive! knives as I only sharpened them one time after receiving them to 15 dps which is what chiral has measured the factory cutting bevel to be on the 4.1. When I re-sharpen, I will be grinding the side of the blade in order to thin it out. Then the tumbled (or any other) finish will be gone except for the flat of the primary bevel.

Edit: This procedure works well on stones for flat or hollow ground knives. A convex ground knife one would have to use sandpaper and a mouse pad to accomplish the same thing.
 
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Washed off the SK-4 and then intentionally left it wet on the countertop:

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After about an hour, I had some rust spots forming:
20150810%20IMG_5082.jpg


It's still soaking so I'll let it continue to spot up and then I'll see how easily it cleans back up.

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notajerryskid said:
The S7 interest me because if the ease of field sharpening. after owning the 2 what steel do you prefer?
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I haven't had to sharpen the 3V GSO-4.1 yet. I just strop the edge.

The S7 has been beaten and sharpened and beaten some more and I really love how fast I can put an edge back on it. Using a DMT bench stone should make sharpening the 3V just as easy though. It has always worked on my other 3V knives.

I keep working edges on my outdoor knives so I don't spend tons of time obsessing over the high-grit stones which helps speed up the sharpening process. If a DMT Fine and stropping can't get it done then I might spend more time refining and polishing the edge but I haven't found a job that required a 10k grit edge yet. :D

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I concur with not going to 10K on my field knives. I sharpen at 1K, and nock down the tooth a little at 6K.
 
Overnight wet on the cutting board:

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Still not bad enough to worry much about as it'll come off the edge with stropping and the rest is just "character."

So let's kick things up a notch and do a soak in some acidic water this time...
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I'll let you know how it fares in about an hour. :D

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Okay, acidic water seems to have eaten away the red/brown rust spots and left a nice patina:

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The edge is gone baby gone though so it's time to find the strop bat. :D

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It gets darker every passing hour but it's not rusting or otherwise deteriorating that I can see.

I'm starting to like the more subdued finish but will probably take it out of the vinegar/water soon just so I can use it again. :)

Plus, who knows, this patina might protect it from further rusting like it would on other steels. I guess that'll be the next test.

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