The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

[1AbominAble1]

My friend brought his 111 and MEFP Zero over the other day. Bad ass knife!View attachment 2592372

You should try to buy that Zero off of him, that’s a sweet knife! The 111 is no slouch either

 

[BlackEnd]

lol. I sold it to him originally. But we were just talking about me buying it back. He has the upper hand as these are pretty rare now. Its still in perfect condition.

 

[Jetlau3111]

New to me F95NL G5 copper. My 2nd and I love it so far . Love observing the details and differences between these 2 . A few shots

 

[Bacchus]

I split the day yesterday between my two F95's--the Turtle in the morning and the R series in the afternoon.

Your F95R19 is a rare beauty, hard to find nowadays in a mint condition especially with Vanax 37 blade. I have recently seen one with a pricetag of 90kRUB ~= $900 and it was gone really fast.

AFAIK it's the 1st F95 to step up close to CD -- 2-tone anodization + skeletonized handle + 3-row MRBS with steel washers. A few of them were made Slim -- with a 3.5 mm blade.

F95 Nudist -- "A Superior" (Sep. 2016)

 

[Bacchus]

I'm tempted to attach a lanyard with a non-metal bead — to avoid any damage to the handle.

Does anyone use PEI (Ultem) beads coupled with metal handles? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Here's De vita Caesarum (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus) and 111 Starship

 

[ChazzyP]

Your F95R19 is a rare beauty, hard to find nowadays in a mint condition especially with Vanax 37 blade. I have recently seen one with a pricetag of 90kRUB ~= $900 and it was gone really fast.

AFAIK it's the 1st F95 to step up close to CD -- 2-tone anodization + skeletonized handle + 3-row MRBS with steel washers. A few of them were made Slim -- with a 3.5 mm blade.

F95 Nudist -- "A Superior" (Sep. 2016)

Thanks for your kind commentary on my knife which is, of course, not an F95R19 (auto-fill taking over for you maybe?). It was always just an F95R to me until more recently that I've repeatedly heard it referred to as a Nudist, a term that I'd always associated with a completely plain handle. Indeed there aren't a lot of knives with my handle pattern around, though you run into them here and there. Follow this link to an F95R19 here at the Den and scroll up one to a pic of a knife much like mine. Our friend and fellow Denizen Mr.sig239 also has an F95R19 along with another earlier F95 model, not entirely dissimilar to my F95R, that is generally referred to as the "Paperclip" model. Unfortunately he's deleted a lot of his pics in the aftermath of the "too many attachments" issue, but here's a link to @RamZar 's sales thread for that knife that ended up with Mr.sig.

Anyway, aside from the naming, my F95R is something of an outlier as it's not a Slim dimensionally though it does have all the R attributes plus the thinner 3.5 mm Vanax37 blade. I had posted in the Want To Buy thread looking for this model with 2 tone anodization and got a response from another Denizen that he had two of them and would sell me either one. It had been sharpened, I got it for a really great price, and am really pleased to have it. The only downside is that it doesn't seem to be obviously two-toned. If I stare at it long enough in just the right light I swear can can see a bit of gold ano showing through, but that could just be eye fatigue.

My knife also isn't mint as it gets carried, used, and has been sharpened 2 or 3 times, though it only shows very light wear and is in excellent condition in all regards. Its dollar value is irrelevant to me as I've previously stated that this knife isn't going anywhere other than my Russian drawer, hand, and pocket.

I'm tempted to attach a lanyard with a non-metal bead — to avoid any damage to handle.

Does anyone use PEI (mostly Ultem) beads coupled with metal handles? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Here's De vita Caesarum (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus) and 111 Starship

Most all of my knives that can accomodate a lanyard have one and most of those also have a bead. I like shaped beads that don't incorporate skulls, warriors, dragons, or other sharp, combative characters, and more and more I have gotten away from metal. Ultem is a particular favorite, but I also have a lot of G10, Micarta, and other synthetics either in their entirety or in combination with thin layers or central tubes of brass or copper. Here are a few of those beads I favor, including three Ultems--no Shiros in this bunch, though.

My particular style of lanyard is long and floppy with the bead sandwiched between a pair of knots. The most damage done to a knife by a metallic bead will be done just walking around and to the clip. If it's a work knife, I pretty much don't care as there's plenty of wear all over anyway. In order to eliminate, or at least minimize, any such damage I'll use knots that are either equal in size to or larger than the metal bead. You'll note that all my Shiros below have Ti beads (the RDD's is Dama), the Turtle, Hati, and Tabargan are the work knives, and the knots on the others pretty well match or exceed the bead diameters

BTW, if I haven't already mentioned, that Starship is just gorgeous.

 

[Mr.sig239]

Funny that you bring up my paperclip model. Had it in my pocket today.
Here is a pic from breakfast. I've seen some of these in brown but haven't seen a blue one like mine in print anywhere!
View attachment 2594700

 

[Bacchus]

ChazzyP , it is always a pleasure to read your thorough posts enriched with fine and self-explanatory photos.

It takes time and effort even for someone well used to express his thoughts in a comprehensive (or should I say "old-school"?) manner. I really appreciate it.

which is, of course, not an F95R19 (auto-fill taking over for you maybe?)

Shamefully, no one to blame but myself in this case. Just before mistakenly attributing -R19 to your fine knife I have had a long discussion on a local forum about "Grilled" -R19 model and the suffix somehow stuck in my mind.

It was always just an F95R to me until more recently that I've repeatedly heard it referred to as a Nudist, a term that I'd always associated with a completely plain handle.

I have to agree that Shiro nicknaming can be rather misleading. For instance, the updated NeON Lite looks like a proper Nudist, but it's not quite "lite" — 88g, while NL is only 75g, R20 with a spacer is 80g and even regular Zero is 84g.

In order to eliminate, or at least minimize, any such damage I'll use knots that are either equal in size to or larger than the metal bead. You'll note that all my Shiros below have Ti beads (the RDD's is Dama), the Turtle, Hati, and Tabargan are the work knives, and the knots on the others pretty well match or exceed the bead diameters

Well, I guess it's time for me to get some proper metal beads — the only compact titanium bead (PSD Gunner) I have put between large knots works great so far on a lanyard for my FP Stellar. Thank you for a very reasonable advice!

BTW, if I haven't already mentioned, that Starship is just gorgeous.

Thank you very much! Sadly it's hard to catch all the nuances with a naked eye (making me wonder what I paid for, if I can't properly see it ), but Alexander aka "Shurikenn" made really great shots both for the website and for social media. Those pictures give away every little detail — on a large LCD-panel, of course.

 

[Sagandavis]

I'm tempted to attach a lanyard with a non-metal bead — to avoid any damage to the handle.

Does anyone use PEI (Ultem) beads coupled with metal handles? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Here's De vita Caesarum (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus) and 111 Starship

All the time. They are great and cause no issues with the titanium

 

[ChazzyP]

 

[crk1984]

After recieving the beautiful 111 gen 5 today (carefully, and lovingly used by the previous owner, a friend of mine) it needs sharpened. Does anyone know about what the factory angle is on the edge? Dont really wanna saw away with my worksharp on this stunning blade! (New collection pics coming this eve!)

 

[DocJekl]

After recieving the beautiful 111 gen 5 today (carefully, and lovingly used by the previous owner, a friend of mine) it needs sharpened. Does anyone know about what the factory angle is on the edge? Dont really wanna saw away with my worksharp on this stunning blade! (New collection pics coming this eve!)

No idea, but if I have trouble measuring the angle with my Klein tool, what I do is mark the edge with a sharpie and try a few strokes on my Worksharp precision adjust at 20 degrees, to see if it takes off all the black. If not, I narrow the angle down a degree like 19 degrees and try again. and so forth and so forth.

Worst case if you have to move down from 20 to try 19, or 18 degrees, or even 17 degrees is that you have a slight 20 degree microlevel at the edge in that spot, which will eventually go away depending on how much you sharpen it at the correct angle.

But if you start off with the angle laid back too far, like 17 degrees on a 20 degree blade, then you've likely left some ugly cosmetic scratches on the flat of the blade that wont go away for a long time.

My Herman Sting in Magnacut was supposed to be 20 degrees when it arrived new, and it was so dull that I could not measure the angle (only the 1 out of 8 Hermans that arrived dull). I started at 20 degrees and it was not enough, and then 19 degrees, only to find that the original edge was actually 18 degrees, even though the interwebs told me it should be 20.

I ended up with an excellent 18 degree edge on that knife, without any ugly marks on the flats from laying the edge back too far. In this pic there is still a little ink left with about 18.5 degrees bevel.

The finished edge at 18 degrees, measured.

https://imgur.com/ONCLaGH

 

[ChazzyP]

After recieving the beautiful 111 gen 5 today (carefully, and lovingly used by the previous owner, a friend of mine) it needs sharpened. Does anyone know about what the factory angle is on the edge? Dont really wanna saw away with my worksharp on this stunning blade! (New collection pics coming this eve!)

Congrats on the new Bear--I like my fullered M390 111 CF a lot. Most of my Shiro's have come through really close to 20° per side but the 111 came through brand new at around 22-23° which rather displeased me for cutting ability.

I decided after a while to re-profile on the other side of 20 and went with an edge in the 17-18° range. I did that on my EdgePro before I had my diamond Matrix stones and it took a while to get what I wanted on its M390, but it came out very nicely and became a much scarier sharp cutter. It's definitely broader than your typical ultra-narrow Shiro edge, but their blades are so thin BTE that it's not objectionable to these eyes.

I didn't remember if I put a 20° micro-bevel on it or not so I just got it out to check. No micro-bevel and I notice it's developed a little burr in a couple areas and is very slightly chippy in others, though still pretty damn sharp for not being attended to for some time. A few swipes on the fines and ultra-fines at 20° in the morning will add just a taste of micro-bevel and straighten things right out.

Putting a Shiro on a Work Sharp? You're a braver man than I, but maybe you're just real good with that device.

 

[DocJekl]

I really need to break out my newer WorkSharp Professional (upgrade from precision adjust), install the new brass bushings on the slider, and give it a whirl.

 

[ChazzyP]

I wrote too slowly and DocJekl beat me to the punch. He's got some good advice there and I too use a Sharpie to mark and sneak up on the edge angle I want. Backing down in steps to a lower degree angle does seem like a good idea to avoid scratches on the primary grind, but I don't see any on my re-profiled blade after not doing that on mine. Interesting, though, leaving a micro-bevel when re-profiling instead of adding one at the end....

Good luck with your re-sharpening, C crk1984 .

 

[DocJekl]

I wrote too slowly and DocJekl beat me to the punch. He's got some good advice there and I too use a Sharpie to mark and sneak up on the edge angle I want. Backing down in steps to a lower degree angle does seem like a good idea to avoid scratches on the primary grind, but I don't see any on my re-profiled blade after not doing that on mine. Interesting, though, leaving a micro-bevel when re-profiling instead of adding one at the end....

Good luck with your re-sharpening, C crk1984 .

It almost makes it a convex edge, like on a belt, when you start at 20 degrees, and then work your way down towards laying the edge back further and further.

But, I do it that way primarily because I don't want to scratch the primary grind or flats of the blade, but I also don't always want to take the time to re-profile a strong 20 degree edge down to 17-18 right off the bat.

Sometimes the original edge is 20 degrees, and it's very sharp when it stays at 20 degrees with just a touch up, so I don't have to spend extra time whittling away the steel to the new angle. And I don't risk scratching the blade. I obliterated the finish on one of my Hinderer XM-18 trying to go full ham on the edge at 17 degrees right off the bat - I didn't think about the stone hitting the wider Spanto blade's transition point on the blade...

 

[crk1984]

Congrats on the new Bear--I like my fullered M390 111 CF a lot. Most of my Shiro's have come through really close to 20° per side but the 111 came through brand new at around 22-23° which rather displeased me for cutting ability.

I decided after a while to re-profile on the other side of 20 and went with an edge in the 17-18° range. I did that on my EdgePro before I had my diamond Matrix stones and it took a while to get what I wanted on its M390, but it came out very nicely and became a much scarier sharp cutter. It's definitely broader than your typical ultra-narrow Shiro edge, but their blades are so thin BTE that it's not objectionable to these eyes.

I didn't remember if I put a 20° micro-bevel on it or not so I just got it out to check. No micro-bevel and I notice it's developed a little burr in a couple areas and is very slightly chippy in others, though still pretty damn sharp for not being attended to for some time. A few swipes on the fines and ultra-fines at 20° in the morning will add just a taste of micro-bevel and straighten things right out.

Putting a Shiro on a Work Sharp? You're a braver man than I, but maybe you're just real good with that device.

Its thenmanual system. No way would i auto grind it. Worksharp pro. Thanks!

 

[ChazzyP]

It almost makes it a convex edge, like on a belt, when you start at 20 degrees, and then work your way down towards laying the edge back further and further.

But, I do it that way primarily because I don't want to scratch the primary grind or flats of the blade, but I also don't always want to take the time to re-profile a strong 20 degree edge down to 17-18 right off the bat.

Sometimes the original edge is 20 degrees, and it's very sharp when it stays at 20 degrees with just a touch up, so I don't have to spend extra time whittling away the steel to the new angle. And I don't risk scratching the blade. I obliterated the finish on one of my Hinderer XM-18 trying to go full ham on the edge at 17 degrees right off the bat - I didn't think about the stone hitting the wider Spanto blade's transition point on the blade...

I like a good 20° edge and will leave it at that if that's how it comes. I also like a micro-bevel on a more acute secondary edge and have also thought of that as similar to a convex edge. Next time do a re-profile I'll try it your way, though I think I'd go back to the 20 at the end just to re-apex it.

It's late here on the East Coast--TTYL.

 

[crk1984]

https://ibb.co/1JSbzZC

noothing compared to some of you guys collections, but heres my humble shiro collection currently!

 

[DocJekl]

I like a good 20° edge and will leave it at that if that's how it comes. I also like a micro-bevel on a more acute secondary edge and have also thought of that as similar to a convex edge. Next time do a re-profile I'll try it your way, though I think I'd go back to the 20 at the end just to re-apex it.

It's late here on the East Coast--TTYL.

Many times (not always) I'll do the last step with fine ceramic at the 17-18 degrees of the final bevel, and again at 20 degrees with the fine ceramic stone. And then go on to stropping.

I once hired Father and Son Traditional Sharpening once to re-profile a Small Sebenza 31 and a Hinderer XM-18 at 14 degrees, with a 20 degree microbevel, and those edges are fantastic and last forever!

https://ibb.co/1JSbzZC

noothing compared to some of you guys collections, but heres my humble shiro collection currently!

Fixed it for you - you're catching up fast!