Trying SE for the first time on a Byrd ?

[PocketShredder]

Well, haven't had much time with it for now on but I can already say that it blows through a lot of material easily.
It eats wood like popcorn and cardboard, well, a plain edge wouldn't cut this as easily :

Wowza! I think I know which Byrd I'm getting next

[Kale]

I'll have to try it with cardboard! The Byrd hawkbill is already my favorite knife, thanks to utility in the garden and it's nice precise tip. Upgrading with the Meadowlark's titanium scales, it looks really nice as well.

[z1r]

Lost my whole post because of a missclick... What an idiot
Here we go again...

I received my Hawkbill today ! The amazon product page listed it as a Meadowlark II with Hawkbill blade shape in SE, I guess it's the old name for it since I can see both stickers on the box. I was just surprised seeing "Hawkbill" on the handle ^^

Right out of the box, you can see that this is a mean blade shape with gorgeous teeth ready to cut! I did some testing and it can go through like 5 layers of thick cardboard when a PE would just give up. Pretty impressive, and it is really thin BTE thanks to the hollow grind.

However, I feel a ton of grittyness while opening and closing the blade. This means one thing :


Just after having almost removed the liner, I put it back when I remember the PITA it is to put it back on the FRN knob on this kind of knives :


Let's go the other route then :


These two pics show the suspects : the residue on the blade and washers, that looks like a dry mechanic oil (?), and the burrs at the inner diameter of both washers :



Almost done, all cleaned, burrs removed on the washer without thinning them away, there's just this wonderful step left due to this method :


The knife runs smoothly now ! The edge itself had a minuscule burr near the tip, but it was easy to remove it. I'll try to upload a "1 month use" post or something like that.
I can already tell this can eat through a lot !

I needed a knife to keep on my bike so I picked up a Cara Cara 2. It too was a little less easy to open than it should be so I deburred the washers, and did the cleaning you did. Now it smooth as can be.

[Ramonade]

Interesting, it needs a bit of love and care upon arrival, but a byrd can run very smooth and secure !

[Ramonade]

Now that I've got some sharpening supplies I feel OK with for SE, I'll soon try to not only touch up but really sharpen my hawkbill.

And who knows, I might thin down the edge if I'm not too lazy!
It will make great training and experience for the SE Endela that is patiently waiting for real use.

[sal]

Hi Ramonade,

What sharpening supplies did you get?

sal

[Ramonade]

Hi Ramonade,

What sharpening supplies did you get?

sal

Hi, I ended up buying the CBN rods for the sharpmaker (coupled with the 204MF and UF rods). I had been sharpening for some years on numerous stones and tried some guided system.

The only stones I'm ok with sharpening SE are the ones on the sharpmaker since they were made for this use too. There is also the resin bonded diamond whetstones from Venev that have pretty crisp corners, I've had some success with those !

[sal]

Thanx Ramonade,

I would recommend the corner of the fine (white) only, and I would recommend a 10X-12X magnifying loupe so you can watch the edge "grow". You might also read David's thread on teeth?

sal

[Ramonade]

Thanks for the tip, I have several loupes.
Since it's only 8cr13 and VG-10 (for now, might buy some serrated LC200N and K390), I guess that the white (as said in the DVD) might be enough to reprofile without taking dozens of hours ?

Yes his thread is a gold mine ! I've also seen vivi's video on how he sharpens serrations, it's pretty instructive (and super cool).

[sal]

Yes,

Re-profiling is best done with coarser stones and in some cases, time.

sal

[Ramonade]

Thanks again for taking the time to be here Mr. Glesser. I'll apply the same principles of sharpening I slowly learned about during the last years. SE or PE both have an "E", so I'll treat the Edge with the respect it is due.

I'd like to use this occasion to say something :
Being able to get anwsers about knife usage and knife making on this forum is just marvelous.
The knowledge that is freely shared here is priceless and I feel honored to have the chance to absorb some of it.

Thank you, and everyone here participating in creating such a data base (and community).

[Ramonade]

Coming back after 4 months of use.

This 8Cr serrated hawkbill blade is a breeze to sharpen. I've cut a large quantity of materiel, varying from cardboard to fibrous materials like twisted sisal rope, and passing by plastic straps and such. The teeth have only dulled with use and none of them chipped.

Something like 20 passes/side on the corners of the fine rods ands it's screaming sharp again. Really an excellent work companion. And if you forgot to have it ready for work (wich you shouldn't), it literally takes 2 minutes to have it back to x-tra sharp.

This Byrd Hawkbill was a really good introduction to Spyderco's serrations for me.

[Wartstein]

...

This Byrd Hawkbill was a really good introduction to Spyderco's serrations for me.

How do the Byrd Hawkbill serrations compare to the ones on your Endela SE?
(you know for me the Endela has the best serrations I´ve ever tried... but then I never owned a serrated Byrd!)

[z1r]

Ramonade, I appreciate your feedback. I appreciate the confirmation that it is as easy to sharpen as I'd suspected.

I've had a thing for the Hawkbill for some time, I really like the finger choil. I don't get to use mine that much but have felt it is an awesome knife at an awesome price. I think I'll run down to the SFO and get my son one.

[Ramonade]

I had taken some pictures to compare, but never ended up posting them on any thread :





The Hawkbill actually has more wavy serrations. It's kinda hard to compare because the blade shapes do seem (in my experience) to have a lot of influence on the cutting performance.

[Bemo]

That's a seriously great picture.

[Ramonade]

Thanks ! It's hard to convey the causes for differences in performance between 2 knives, especially when we add serrations patterns over blade shape, grind and everything.

I think that, for people used to SE, seeing the scallops and peaks does help, if you have one of those knives as reference.

Edit : typos.

Bonus : Bad video of the action (no play, even vertically !)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8HWWY3xrSM

[Osok-308]

This Byrd Hawkbill was a really good introduction to Spyderco's serrations for me.

Same! I expected a SE knife to not cut as cleanly as a PE, but every time I use my Hawkbill, I'm amazed by its cutting ability and how clean the cuts are!

[Capt'n Boatsalot]

Something like 20 passes/side on the corners of the fine rods ands it's screaming sharp again.

Hi Robin,
I was looking for clarification on this point. I usually sharpen my SE Spydercos with the corner of a medium rod. However, I usually only sharpen the side that the serrations are ground on, and not the "back side". I treat it as if it were chisel ground.

Should I be sharpening both sides?

Also great pictures showing the SE Delica and the SE Meadowlark. Those are stunning!

[Ramonade]

Something like 20 passes/side on the corners of the fine rods ands it's screaming sharp again.

Hi Robin,
I was looking for clarification on this point. I usually sharpen my SE Spydercos with the corner of a medium rod. However, I usually only sharpen the side that the serrations are ground on, and not the "back side". I treat it as if it were chisel ground.

Should I be sharpening both sides?

Also great pictures showing the SE Delica and the SE Meadowlark. Those are stunning!

My bad, I didn't express myself correctly! With SE i don't know how fast it'll create a bevel on the other side of you do alternating passes. After an advice from Sal, I've only been using the white fine rods.
And I usually only makes passes on the ground side, but i stop every 2 or 3 passes to inspect the edge and see if a burr is forming in the other side. If I detect anything, I make 1 or 2 passes on the other side.
When I do these, i take the most acute angle possible while still hitting every points of the edge.

(Might not be a really explicit answer, it's 3am here!)