Head to head - Lionsteel M4

[gra_farmer]

So I was asked to increase the angle of the edge of an Lionsteel M4 of a member of the forum, and it got me thinking about a review of secondary V edges vs a partly convex edge.

So having a M4 with it's original factory edge, and a M4 with a shallow convex of the original factory V edge, I thought I would test the edge angles between the two for preformance, before I increase the convex on the olive handled M4.

Picture below of the original edge profile M4 (M390 steel)



Picture below of the already convexed edge M4 (Magnacut steel) - note the pen line is roughly how high I will reprofile once I have tested it.



Now for feather sticks, the wood is pine. Original M4 - It's harder to get feathers with larger surface area, but the curls are nice and started easy (possibly needs more practice??)



The existing convex edge slipped more at the start, but big feathers, but not many curls.



Now edge stability and ease of splitting wood, again pine.

So original M4 first and big knot which started to bend the blade a little...had to pull the wood apart, but the V edge really was holding up in the wood???



Edge issues already in the M390 steel, I can see round of the edge, minor but there.



I continued to split a bit more, but the same feeling of the V edge hanging up in the split.



Now for the convex edge, now this is not my knife, so went easy and chose the side without the knot....this was sooo much easier and no hang up, I split more but and the same, no struggle at all.



No edge issues at all with the Magnacut steel....to be continued I will add a few more blades as comparisons

Update...

I have managed to find the time to raise the bevel, now it's not obvious that the blade has a slight hollow grind. In knocking off the shoulder of the previous bevel, it was close to doing a flat grind.

Now the steel shapes nicely, my setup is not professional, but gets good results....the finished grind.



I thought it would be wise to try it out before returning to it's owner, it made very short and easy work of veg prep and hairs fly away from the edge

 

[Nice65]

Nice. For info guys, the olive handled one is mine. I reckon the M4, and the Rasul for that matter, really walk the walk with that secondary, but I was impressed with it as an all round grind rather than its cutting ability which I felt was lacking. The same with the Rasul, I had a couple of these and Molletta offered them convex or bevel, the convex again was the better knife.

As you know, it was sent to you low convexed, our man Longstrider and I has a conversation about keeping some ‘meat’ behind the edge for batoning, and after a bit of wood working I decided it wasn’t going to end up being whacked through 3-4 inch Oak and would benefit from raising the grind as @C_Claycomb did with his.

The convex really is an ideal grind. I think people are a bit wary because they worry about sharpening, but it’s honestly easier than trying to maintain a flat bevel. Most of our knives, if just touched up or field sharpened, are going to end up a bit convex anyway. I’ve got a couple of old working knives, a tenacious and a Griptilian that cut just fine all day but are definitely not factory edge anymore.