Steel for hard-use farming/gardening?

comoha

comoha

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Jan 12, 2006
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So my wife is a power gardener. She rents a plot of land 10,00 square feet and coaxes things from the soil that have won dozens of blue ribbons.
She sells what she grows at a local farmer's market and also sells shares to her garden to 14 people. Which means she delivers a cooler of
fresh green things every week to those who subscribe all throughout the season.
Like any good farmer she uses a knife for everything, and she uses it hard. She's got more time with a knife in her hand than I ever will in 5 lifetimes.
Actually, she has two knives that she uses. One, a yellow Moore Maker sodbuster and the second a very vintage hawbill pruner that forum member LKJW very
generously sent her. She loves both knives very much. The sodbuster for it's ergos and easy to spot color, the hawkbill because it cuts lettuce and
spinach and such things so efficiently.
The problem is with these carbon blades is that I am constantly sharpening them for her. They take a keen edge but dull fairly quick.
I've taken to using a diamond stick sharpener to cut down the timeI have to take sharpening. So my question is: Is there an affordable sodbuster and/or hawbill in D2, or even A2? Something that will go a bit longer than softer 1095 carbon?
I hate to sink a lot of money into a knife for her since she is not a cutlery afficionado. It will get packed with dirt and misused and left outside all such
horrors that I tell her not to do. But she will use the heck out of it.
Thoughts?
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I'm not positive what steel it is for sure but look at the Queen country cousin sodbusters. I think I remember reading somewhere that they were D2.
 
Since she is using them as tools, and seems to like the two mentioned, what about getting more of them? A rotation of knives would give her fresh ones to use, and give you some lag time in maintaining them. This would benefit the both of you...you wouldn't be so pressed to maintain them right away, and she would always have a familiar tool in hand.
 
That is a good point.
I was just wondering if there were any D2 sodbusters out there.
 
Or of course you could modify a hawkbill to be serrated so it'll cut longer.
eta- or you could teach her to sharpen them
 
Well, the yellow Country Cousin in D2 from Queen or the orange GEC Bull Nose in O1 are the obvious Sodbuster answers. The Queen would definitely be the better value cost wise.

The only Pruners that I'm aware of with premium steel are the Case/Bose versions. I'm guessing those are a little more than you might want to spend.:D If you decide to go the route of having an extra or two on hand, Opinel makes some that won't break the bank. They are only available with Sandvik 12c27 though, so not much of an upgrade in terms of performance with the exception of corrosion resistance.
 
Comoha, you may be making it too sharp.

No, I'm not delirious, but having been married to a gal who is from "the Valley" as they put it down in Harlingen Texas, where citrus crops are king, I found out about gardening and farm tools. My better had is a gardening fool, obsessed by it, and she's not happy if she's not planting from spring till fall.

I used to sharpen her tools as would any knife knut for his wife. She kept complaining to me that they wouldn't cut. Now, I know how to sharpen a knife. One year, many years ago, we were visiting down in Harlingen and I got to tailing to one of her cousins who works at one of the farms. I told him I could never keep Karens garden tools sharp enough for her. He asked what I was using, and I told him. I described how I used a fine stone and strop. His comment showed me how out of touch with reality I was as a knife knut.

"Oh man, you're making it too sharp!" was his comment.

When I asked him to explain, he told me that for plant use, like agriculture, that this wasn't surgery, but it was dirty work, and a fine edge won't hold up. He told me very clearly what the non knife knuts that really have to work in the groves do. They take a hawkbill. Any cheap hawkbill will do. Then they take a rat tail file. Yes a file. They file a nice sharp course edge on the knife, working from kick to the tip. When they have a nice sharp edge, the kind with large ugly toothy edge that you can actually see the mini saw teeth without a magnifying glass, they have it. This toothy big ragged edge will go right through plant stems, weeds, cordage of any type, and will hold up in the long run for the hard dirty work that is plant harvesting. I went home and did it to Karen's hawkbill, and hoe, and it worked like the proverbial charm. If it does get dull, it only takes a moment with a file to touch it up.

Put a nice course grabby edge on that hawkbill, and your wife will love you for it!:D She's not a knife knut, she doesn't care about hair whittling sharpness, just garden work.

Carl.
 
I would consider the new AG Russell Cowboy with the 8cr SS.
This folder has a nice flat design too.
 
Something along jacknife's line of reasoning was going to be my suggestion too.

Maybe just changing the edge geometry some (less acute) on the knives she already uses would help. Would make the blades somewhat less efficient slicers to be sure, but adding 5 degrees to the edge may buy you significant time in between sharpenings.

Of course, doing so removes the incentive to buy more cutlery so feel free to disregard it as "missing the point" ... errr edge. :)

jackknife said:
Comoha, you may be making it too sharp.

No, I'm not delirious, but having been married to a gal who is from "the Valley" as they put it down in Harlingen Texas, where citrus crops are king, I found out about gardening and farm tools. My better had is a gardening fool, obsessed by it, and she's not happy if she's not planting from spring till fall.

I used to sharpen her tools as would any knife knut for his wife. She kept complaining to me that they wouldn't cut. Now, I know how to sharpen a knife. One year, many years ago, we were visiting down in Harlingen and I got to tailing to one of her cousins who works at one of the farms. I told him I could never keep Karens garden tools sharp enough for her. He asked what I was using, and I told him. I described how I used a fine stone and strop. His comment showed me how out of touch with reality I was as a knife knut.

"Oh man, you're making it too sharp!" was his comment.

When I asked him to explain, he told me that for plant use, like agriculture, that this wasn't surgery, but it was dirty work, and a fine edge won't hold up. He told me very clearly what the non knife knuts that really have to work in the groves do. They take a hawkbill. Any cheap hawkbill will do. Then they take a rat tail file. Yes a file. They file a nice sharp course edge on the knife, working from kick to the tip. When they have a nice sharp edge, the kind with large ugly toothy edge that you can actually see the mini saw teeth without a magnifying glass, they have it. This toothy big ragged edge will go right through plant stems, weeds, cordage of any type, and will hold up in the long run for the hard dirty work that is plant harvesting. I went home and did it to Karen's hawkbill, and hoe, and it worked like the proverbial charm. If it does get dull, it only takes a moment with a file to touch it up.

Put a nice course grabby edge on that hawkbill, and your wife will love you for it!:D She's not a knife knut, she doesn't care about hair whittling sharpness, just garden work.

Carl.
Click to expand...
 
That totally makes sense Carl. I'm going to try that on her hawkbill. Much obliged.

Lycosa, I have a AGR Cowboy that I've been having fun with lately. She may get that sooner or later. Good call.


I am very much enjoying everyone's helpfulness. It's ironic, I have a new orange GEC #71 Bullnose, aka "Redneck Farm Tool"
waiting for me in the mailbox today. No way is she getting that one! :D
 
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Get a "Stubby" Jewelstik diamond steel for her to tuck in her back pocket. I use mine as a scythe stone, but also on my hawkbill pruner. Touches things up very nicely. The oval shape gets the inside of the curve well and puts a good edge on it for slicing vegetable matter.

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Along the lines of what "thatotherguy" said, here's a serrated hawkbill folder by Victorinox that's sold as a baker's knife or bread scorer.

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A.G. Russell also has a hawkbill, called the 'Beak'. On his site, the steel is listed as '9Cr18Mo'. If so, that should be pretty decent stuff. Higher carbon content (0.95 - 1.1%) than the 8Cr13MoV used in the Rancher/Cowboy knives, which should be great for edge-holding, and also very high chromium content @ 16 - 18 % (excellent corrosion resistance). These specs remind me a lot of 440C.

http://www.agrussell.com/ag-russell-beak/p/RUShhhCA12BR/

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I love the lines on that one, but something about it just doesn't seem quite right and I can't put my finger on it. I think maybe the shape of the handle? I love the blade on it though.
 
Just a thought.

If the shape of the sodbuster blade profile is desirable, maybe a small(ish) fixed blade from Queen in D2? This one is their drop point hunter, 3.5" D2 blade (8" overall), with oak handles; they have the same knife in other wood choices as well:

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For all around use on the homestead I've grown quite fond of the Svord Farmer's Knife in L6. :)

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She really wants to stick with a folder just because she can drop it in her pocket and always have it with her.
 
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