How do i sharpen my EKA?

[bilko]

Please forgive my crude explanations.
I have a frosts mora which i have sharpened successfully several times now with my japanese water stones. i believe it has a flat grind?,
I understand that for axes and concave grinds you incorperate a circular motion in your shrpening as well as the normal straight slicing on the waterstone.
Problem is that the W11 has a concave grind or is that bevel?
Can someone please explain in simple terms how to sharpen the concave edge with my waterstones, i don't want to ruin it.
Thanks
Ian
Infact, looking down the back off the spine i think it's called a hollow grind. the secondary bevel is concave. and there is this bu**er of an indent in the edge just before the grip. can't think why it would be usefull to have this gap.
Truth is that i'm not even sure i like this knife. Strange thing to say i know but the grip tappers off too sharply thus making the bottom quarter of my grip on the knife a struggle and inefective. the blade is too long and there is this strange scoring in the middle of the spine for your thumb to grip. if i use it , it puts a space between my thumb and the spine making my grip weaker still. Maybe i have the wrong shape hands.
i love the thickness of the blade and the weight of the knife is reasuring. Also it's got worker stamped all over it which encourages you to use it..
I know the W11 had good writups so i guess that i don't fit the knife very well.
I absolutly adored it's little brother with the slightly shorter blade. the weight asd balance were spot on making the knife feel like a natural extension of my arm. i would have parted with a hundred quid there and then were it not for this anoying tappering grip. so i went for the W11 thinking the grip would be longer but it still tappers.
I know exactly what the problem is now, i have short fat fingers ( god that sounds awfull ) which is why the mora's fatter end fits me better.
I don't know
Maybe i should flog it and search for a new knife. I only used it once so the whole thing including sheath is in A half a plus condition.
A bad sharpen by me would put a good knife to B plus in need of an hours work. and i still wouldn't be happy with the fit.
I tried the F1 as well but i found the square grip uncomfortable as i was gripping the edges of the grip instead of the whole thing.
Argh!, must go to bed. Sorry if i seem incoherant.

 

[BorderReiver]

Bilko,nip over to BB and do search on sharpening.

Also there are regular passarounds which give you the chance to try out various knives.

You might be surprised to find that a knife that you did not really like the look of was perfect for you.Happened to me.

 

[Andy]

I've owned and used the H8 (hunter with 8cm blade) and the F1, I also owned the W11 (woodsman 11cm blade) but ended up selling the two EKA knives to fund the Guycep
I also have short fingers with a wide palm but got on ok with the H8 though having used other peoples W11 think that they may be slightly better.
The W11 has a hollow ground primary bevel with a smallish secondary bevel to form the cutting edge. The secondary bevel is infact slightly hollow as well but only just and you can assume it's flat when your sharpening it (and it most likely will be afterwards).
Anything with a secondary bevel is a good candidate for sharpening using any of the popular jigs or the very popular spyderco sharpmaker. With the sharpmaker you just hole the knife vertical and run it down the stones which are at preset angles (IIRC the W11 is about 20degrees per side).
The primary grind on the W11 is quite high as well as a relitively deep hollow grind so turning the knife into something with a woodlore type grind isn't really an option.
I've used a W11 which had had the secondary bevel convexed. to do that simply assume it's already convexed and follow the sharping guidelines for a convex edge, some people put masking tape on the blade so that they don't risk scratching the rest of it when they are doing this.

 

[bilko]

Thanks guys
Iv'e been mulling this over and i think i will probably sell the knife or stick it in swapshop.
Even with expert sharpening the knife will never be comfortable for me and that could prove dangerous as i try and constantly reajust my grip.
Seeing as the knife and sheath are in excellent condition i hope it won't prove too costly a lesson for me but a lesson has definately been learnt.

On a brighter note i have been seriously thinking about what i actualy want from a knife.I have made several obsevations and believe that the fit is just as important as the blade itself now. I have to trawl through some more geometry and will then decide upon either a blade ( to make my own handle ) or a finished knife, although probably the former.

For myself as much as the tread i think the tang is far too thick for my general useage making some tasks seem clumsy. The weight of the knife is probably a third more than i would likewith the balancing point half an inch down the handle from the blade. this is annoying as it could so easily be half an inch up the blade in the most used place.
There is daylight between my little finger and the front of the handle as well as at least 2 mill between the back of the handle and the arch of my thumb.
I am wondering how one finds the perfect shape and thinking playdoh!.
I think a straight spine would be better than the forward tilt of the EKA. I imagine they made it that way to try and give you more control when slicing as it brings the work closer to you. Also making the finger guard external and not incorperated into the grips will not compromise on my ergonimic prize.
The width of the blade should be about the same as the W11.
i am wondering whether to make the palm side of the handle slightly more bulbus to fit into my palm. Going on the principle of the more points of contact with flesh the better. Bit like a tyre on a road. It will make it a right handed knife but then i'm not ambidextrous.
Definitly a full tang as i just like them and asthetics are important too.
I have to read up on what sort of point i want but have found another problem... I get the impression that with a full tang blank you are limited with your ergonoic input as the front and back are pre designed for you to follow, so i will need a full tang that doesn't have the cutouts but has the internal anchor points and rivet holes.
Tempted by either skandi ala mora or convex grind for strenght and longivity as i don't slice too many tomatoes in the woods.
Right i have some research to do.