To convex or not...

NJBillK

NJBillK

Custom Leather and Fixed Blade modifications.
Joined
Mar 27, 2014
Messages
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My edc bk24 has a convex which I did, so I am familiar with the processes of creating and maintaining it. That being said, I often touch it up at home every 2-3 days or as needed.

My issue is that I have a bk2 that I don't know if I want to convex... I often use it for various camp chores and while I know it would likely benefit from one, I don't want to get stuck in the field without a relatively easy way to maintain the edge.
Worst case scenario, I can touch up the non-convexed (traditional) edge with a stone (use some jeans and wet silt as a strop if I wanted to get fancy :D ).

How do you folks maintain a convex in the woods without your normal means of doing so?
Anyone able to weigh in on this would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Thanks for the move. I will try to put a little (more?) thought into placement.
 
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I tried it once on a fixed blade in 1095. I found it to be of no benefit. I find that a primary and secondary bevel do just fine.
 
Is not too difficult to maintain a convex on a hard stone, is my preferred method as I don't use sandpaper over a soft backing. In the field you can just apply some compound to a smooth piece of wood or bark (depending) and strop on that, move to a stone of choice if needed, a puck will do fine. If keeping a fine edge, the improvised strop can work well for a number of touch-ups. You can also place a sheet of wet/dry over a piece of wood, have heard of folks gluing some to a belt, many options available.
 
You could make a small double sided sharpener out of leather or a piece of mousepad and attach a lower grit like 400 or 600 to one side and a higher grit piece like 1000 or 1200 to the other side. Probably wouldnt do much if you chip the edge but it should work for touch ups
 
This is what I'd 'trained on', for making convex edges on my blades. I'm doing things a bit different these days, but the sandpaper-over-leather (over oak) strop block worked pretty well for me (and that's when I was still trying to figure it out):

The size pictured is pretty portable, and I'd often thought it'd make a pretty decent 'field sharpener' for convex blades. I've also used the same setup with the block flipped over, using the sandpaper directly over the hard wood backing. I held the block as pictured in one hand, while 'stropping' the blade with the other on the sandpaper.

My preference these days is toward harder/firmer backing under the sandpaper, and better if the paper is stuck/glued to the hard backing. This keeps finished edges crisper, when the paper is fully immobile and doesn't have any opportunity to lift or curl up around the apex. I've also gravitated to using hard hones in the same manner for convexing, using a back & forth scrubbing motion to set the convex in the bevels.


David
 
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NJBillK said:
My edc bk24 has a convex which I did, so I am familiar with the processes of creating and maintaining it. That being said, I often touch it up at home every 2-3 days or as needed.

My issue is that I have a bk2 that I don't know if I want to convex... I often use it for various camp chores and while I know it would likely benefit from one, I don't want to get stuck in the field without a relatively easy way to maintain the edge.
Worst case scenario, I can touch up the non-convexed (traditional) edge with a stone (use some jeans and wet silt as a strop if I wanted to get fancy :D ).

How do you folks maintain a convex in the woods without your normal means of doing so?
Anyone able to weigh in on this would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Thanks for the move. I will try to put a little (more?) thought into placement.
Click to expand...

Convex edge is a waste of time to bother with unless it's an AX or a large chopper...
 
For field touch ups you can just use a flat stone and do some circular strokes. Think axe stone, you won't reprofile just by putting a new bite on the edge with a stone. I use a dc4.
 
I think you can maintain a convex edge, particularly actually a full convex grind, on any medium. I too have changed my approach over time. I now strop the entire bevel in a rather quick motion from the back bevel/spine to the edge, with every stroke, sneaking up towards the apex. I feel and hear the apex better this way. On each medium (coarse to fine) I finish with very light strokes only "at the apex", alternating and removing/diminishing the burr (if I produced one). You can do that on a Crystolon stone, on HeavyHanded's washboard, on a wooden board with compound direct on it or use linen, denim, cardboard etc.

If I want to turn a non-convex edge/grind into a convex one however I use forth and back strokes on stones, trying not to keep the wrist too locked, resulting in a slight rocking motion. That I occasional use if the edge is badly damaged as well.
 
Ankerson said:
Convex edge is a waste of time to bother with unless it's an AX or a large chopper...
Click to expand...

I agree but only in part. For some food prep a shallow convex performs better than a flat grind IMO. Also, particularly for wood shavings and feather stick kind of work a shallow convex grind actually performs better than a dead flat scandi or a flat grind. When I strop a v-edge to restore the sharpness, I never really know whether I am on the shoulder or on the apex if I feel/hear some more resistance/drag. If I have a full zero convex though, I am pretty sure every time where I am!
 
Convex edges -- as well as V edges -- can be anything from obtuse to acute. Convex, concave and V edges can be virtually identical or wildly different. Asking whether a convex edge is better than a V edge is like asking whether a V edge is better than a V edge. The question makes no sense unless you describe what geometry of the edge and how it's going to be used.

There is almost never a good reason to convex an edge. There is nothing a convex edge can do that a V edge cannot, and vice versa. We even had a thread a while ago where a whole bunch of people said that all V edges are really convex edges. These conversations become meaningless without the context of geometry.
 
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