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Wish me luck.... about to go convex my BK4

J

JWL

Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
800
.... and I'm a little intimidated because of the curved blade.

I'm still pretty much a knife newbie, I've only had my Beckers for a bit under 2 years, and it's only in the past 6 months or so since I've gotten into convexing do I feel like I'm starting to really understand how to put an edge on a knife.

I'll report back here with pictures soon.....
 
OK, for the first attempt it went pretty well.... I got much of the blade reprofiled:

BK4-BK9-convexed.jpg

It's still not as hair-popping sharp as the BK9, but then the BK9 didn't get that way until my second pass with the belt sander. I need to head out with the family soon so I didn't want to rush the job. I'm slow, but I'm (usually) careful.

I did do some quick chopping on an old maple tree that fell over last year, and MAN the Machax is an absolute beast..... it just chews right through the hardwood. Chopping wise it's really not much different than a small axe.... very impressive.

I LOVE this Machax....
 
That looks awesome. I need to get the supplies and know how to convex mine.

Jeremy
 
Had a small fire in the backyard tonight with some friends, got to use the Machax to process some wood.... just minor chopping and some batoning. This is definitely a woodsman's knife for sure. I'd rather have the BK9 in the kitchen though....

dresnor, I use a mini-belt sander, the Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener. It works well, but if I had it to do over again I'd probably just get a regular belt sander and use that. The guides that came with the WS were like training wheels, but now I do it all freehand.

[video=youtube;4YX1dpqStvE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YX1dpqStvE[/video]
 
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Definitely gonna get one of those for convexing my 2 and 16, and any other knives I might practice on first....
 
I definitely recommend practicing on other knives first. The biggest issue (commonly discussed, search around the forum) is that it is VERY easy to blunt the tip of the knife. You have to learn to not bring the tip all the way across the belt, only bring it partway across and don't let the belt "snap" across the tip.... if you do that the tip goes bye-bye, especially on the 240grit belts.
 
The other thing to avoid with the WS is to not hesitate when the blade first touches the belt, or to allow the blade to sit on the belt for any length of time, or you might end up recurving knives you don't want recurved.
 
Spent some more time with the Machax on the WS today, thing is hair-poppin sharp now. Sweet!

It looks pretty much the same as it did yesterday, maybe a bit more coating worn off from the chopping and batoning it did last night, otherwise I'd post more pics. This is truly a woodsman's blade! Definitely my favorite Becker now, I have to say.....
 
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