Sharpening a convex grind knife

[masongary44]

I am awaiting delivery of a FallKniven F1 laminated stainless knife. It has a convex grind on it which i am sure will be harder to maintain than the flat, single bevel Ben Orford knife WS style knife that I have.

Any tips??

G:

 

[Tvividr]

Congratulations with your Fällkniven F1 - its a good knife.
For sharpening you need some "Hoodoohones" - they are very good for convex sharpening, and I guess that Hoodoo himself will put some pics here next time he visit BushcraftUK.
Also check this link http://home.nycap.rr.com/sosak/convex.htm

 

[Hoodoo]

Okeedoke. :wave:

I just posted a bunch of pics here.

 

[The General]

In the field it is quite possible to use very fine nail files to strop the edge, the wood gives slightly and keeps the edge in line.

A mouse pad and wet and dry paper works very very well.

My personal fav is to take a rough backed leather belt, put Flitz on it and slack belt strop the edge. This is very good for touch ups and finishing.

To be brutaly honest though, I am very happy with a convex blade profile and a normal V edge bevel.

 

[Hoodoo]

To be brutaly honest though, I am very happy with a convex blade profile and a normal V edge bevel.

Man that WAS brutal. :shock: :rolmao: :wave:

 

[Andy]

what grit do you go down to on these? It the moment the finest I've got is 600 which seems a bit much for fine stuff. though is great for the knives I cut carpet up with

 

[Hoodoo]

600 is plenty fine, imo. Depends on how polished you want the edge. I typically go down to 400 or 600 though, then strop with the green stuff.

 

[tedmagnum]

Any tips of maintaining an F1 with a set of Japanese waterstones and the DC4 for the field ?

 

[Shinken]

Yeah 600 is good for cutting, and i sharpen to about that in field. But at home i like to polish edge as i feel this edge stays sharper for longer

 

[British Red]

Ted,

You can - the technique to sharpen a flat blade is shown in the £5 sharpening kit "sticky" thread in "edged tools", but a deformable wet & dry system is better for convex grinds see here for the geometry, reasons etc.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=17244&page=1

Red

 

[addyb]

Hoodoo is an absolutely genius and so is his sandpaper hone. Okay, now that the ego stroking is completete, here's what I say:

Sometimes I start on a 200 or 250 grit stone

Then I move up to say, a 400

And finish up on a 1000.

Then I strop. And repeat.

And...voila scary sharp!

 

[tedmagnum]

So.. Hyperthetically im too lazy to build a squidgy honer and try and just use my water stones.. I try to rock the blade but being a noobie I just end up sharpening the F1 like a flat blade ..

What would be the outcome.. Still get a good edge or would i ruin it ?

 

[dchinell]

I've had great success with a dead-simple version of the Hoodoo Hone. It's for those of us too unskilled or too lazy to get up to much in the shop.

Many hobby stores and even Home Depot stores have a wide selection of precut, prefinished boards. I pick one around two inches wide and 1/4-inch thick. (Plywood boards like this are the best, I think.)

Then I do the math to figure out how long the hone should be to accommodate an even division of a sheet of abrasive. My last one was for the field, and was 5-1/2 inches long (half of an 11-inch long sheet).

I cut the board with a little X-Acto back saw blade. Using an X-Acto knife, I cut the mouse pad (craft stores also sell sheets of thin foam) to width, and 1-1/2 inches shorter than the board.

Finally, I glue the foam to the board using rubber cement.

The cut abrasive strips are held in place with two binder clips. The 3/4-inch bit of bare wood at either end makes the paper fold over the foam just right.

When not in use, the clips hold the paper on the bottom of the board for storage.

Bear

 

[oetzi]

So.. Hyperthetically im too lazy to build a squidgy honer and try and just use my water stones.. I try to rock the blade but being a noobie I just end up sharpening the F1 like a flat blade ..

What would be the outcome.. Still get a good edge or would i ruin it ?

Personally, I see not much difference in a full convex edge or one with a tiny secondary bevel.
But then maybe I am only heretic.

 

[jamesraykenney]

Personally, I see not much difference in a full convex edge or one with a tiny secondary bevel.
But then maybe I am only heretic.

There will be no difference in shaving or anything like that, only in chopping or slicing things thicker than the bevel... It is the transition between the bevel and the rest of the blade that causes binding...