Ever since Spyderco released the SB DF2, I was all over it. I ordered 2, 1 for backup in case I ever lost it, and 1 to carry obviously. It's been by my side more than any other knife. I love this thing. This knife has been through a lot with me. Taking a trip to Illinois to visit family, I decided to take it with me. On the trip back home, I had to obviously put it in my check-in bag, a long with some great Chicago beer. Well, after some rough TSA handling, some cans of beer crunched up and made these little holes, and spilled beer all over my clothes, and my beloved SB DF2. Rust ensued. I cleaned this up (can't remember how) and went along my way.
This knife actually partook in an experiment of sharpening. At the time, I was keen on convex edges (still am), particularly ones like the swords samurai's used. Rockstead knives edges heavily influenced my love with convex edges. I looked up YouTube videos on how to emulate it as best as you can. I took what I learned and decided to do it to my SB DF2, due to SB being referred to as a modern take on the steel used for samurai swords. I thought why not? I proceeded to sharpen the knife on waterstones by laying the blade flat and raising the blade as it got closer to the edge to create what I think, is a pretty cool convex edge. It also added some character to the face of the blade (as you can see from the pictures). I could probably clean it up to make the entire blade shine, but I actually love the handmade character that is present.
Now doing this way of sharpening, made the tip very fragile. I ended up breaking the tip one night being fairly stupid. After fixing the broken tip, I went about my life. Now fast forward to a few months and my wife and I moved. She was using the knife and she ended up breaking the tip, but this time, it was a pretty decent sized chunk :eek:. I was bummed and then I thought I might as well use other knives in rotation before I fix this, again. Now fast forward again a few months, and I decide to tackle this massive (relative to the size of the blade) chunk broken. I LOVE sheepsfoot blades. I always wished the DF2 had a sheepsfoot offering. IMO, it'd be the end all be all EDC knife for me. My grail so to speak. Well, I tried to make something similar as best as I could, given the chunk missing. Here is the result:
I used a DMT extra course diamond stone to reshape it. I started grinding away at the spine to get it to meet the edge. Then I proceeded on to Shapton Glass stones, then a strop with some compound to finish it off.
Obviously, it isn't professional work. I'm not a professional, but I actually really like it. It is also pretty sharp. As you can see on the final picture, a pretty decent amount was removed. It also shows the edge is more flat. I'm guessing this is due to the initial "convex" edge sharpening I had done before the broken tips. *EDIT: Flat isn't the right word here. Straight is more accurate.*
Well, that's that. I just wanted to share my story with this knife. Some might think this is blasphemy, but I love it. It's my personal favorite, and has sentimental value based on the experiences I've had. Thank you for reading! :)
