to recurve or not to recurve

I swore off recurves after selling my Vapor II. I keep pulling a Brett on them (changing my mind for no apparent reason). I have not seen any increase in cutting for my uses, and they are more difficult to sharpen on flat stones, if not impossible. I used a belt sander and the Sharpmaker triangles free hand on the Vapor, and had no trouble sharpening it. Recurve alone wont make or break a knife for me. Some recurves are absolutely stunning visually to me. The 710 is one recurve that I'll get again (sold the first one) if I ever have the cash lying around. Its one of the few knives that wowed me when I saw it.
 
The recurve is good for light chopping (CS Rajah) and self defense (CS Vaquero). They cut aggressively along the edge of the belly and are fairly easy to sharpen with ceramic "V" sticks, like a Sharpmaker. On the downside, they don't stab and penetrate very well. Plain edge knives are good for hunting, as there's more of an edge for scraping and going through bone and separating joints.

Like tantos, recurved knives have their followings. I like mine, but they're not my favorites.
 
This is what I think of recurves:

710-1.jpg


I delete them, and pay heavily for it=P. Never will I buy a knife with one again
 
Thalestin said:
This is what I think of recurves:

I delete them, and pay heavily for it=P. Never will I buy a knife with one again
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I only have one and its not a recurve now either :)

An upswept blade or just a nice bit of belly beats a recurve any day of the week.:thumbup:

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When you have a finger choil on your knife, stuff tends to catch onto that when slicing aggressively. With a recurve, that downward slope at the end prevents stuff from catching onto the choil.

You can sharpen any recurve with a benchstone by using the edges. The EdgePro has no issues with mild recurves, like the one on the 710. That said, recurves do take me 30% longer to sharpen no matter what sharpening system I use. I have mixed feelings about it.
 
A.L. said:
Recurve doesn't work very well if you tend to move the blade along the cutting material (is this called pulling cut?). For instance, when you start slicing the paper with the straight portion and move towards the recurve, it tends to get stuck and rip the paper as opposed to the completely straight edge.
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One of the most common cause for this is an improperly sharpened and honed section on the edge - even a bit of wire edge left on the blade will catch when slicing paper. Run the knife over the top of a fingernail and see if it's slightly rough at that spot.
 
cotdt said:
You can sharpen any recurve with a benchstone by using the edges.
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Wow - you must have superfine motor control - I know if I tried that I'd end up with a very ugly edge with lots of flat spots and scratches. I use diamond and ceramic rods for my recurves
 
antonio_luiz said:
One of the most common cause for this is an improperly sharpened and honed section on the edge - even a bit of wire edge left on the blade will catch when slicing paper. Run the knife over the top of a fingernail and see if it's slightly rough at that spot.
Click to expand...

Okay, so let's say it is dull, I'd still prefer straight blade that doesn't do that even if it's not as sharp as it could be. :rolleyes:
 
I thought I was onto something when I "discovered" I could sharpen the recurve section with the edge of a stone. It's actually pretty easy and doesn't require any more skill than sharpening on the flat section. The edge then wears some and becomes more rounded, perfect for recurve.
 
You can sharpen a recurve on benchstones, wheels, etc. Here's some examples:

RecurveSharpeningExamples01.jpg


The best tip is if the edge of the sharpening medium has a sharp corner, round it off so it doesn't dig into the curve, especially on coarse stones. Also work the curve so that the edge of the stone/wheel/etc. isn't pushed into the curve.

I don't have a pic. but the EdgePro also works great for recurves. EP also sells a 1/2 wide stone, which makes the process even easier, if you do them a lot. But you can use the regular EP stones (again, knock off the sharp edge).

cbw
 
I love a good recurve.

Kershaw's Groove is a good example , recurves cut like nobody's business and they arent that much harder to sharpen IMO.

Tostig
 
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