Rock Salt vs. Coconut = folded edge

[captnvegtble]

So I decided to test my relatively new Rock Salt against a coconut. After several whacks, the coconut split, but I was left with an approx 1 cm long fold in the blade's edge. I've already taken it through numerous passes on the Sharpmaker, which helped, but the fold still remains. Will the blade need to be re-ground or is there another way to fix this? Thanks.

[Joshua J.]

So I decided to test my relatively new Rock Salt against a coconut. After several whacks, the coconut split, but I was left with an approx 1 cm long fold in the blade's edge. I've already taken it through numerous passes on the Sharpmaker, which helped, but the fold still remains. Will the blade need to be re-ground or is there another way to fix this? Thanks.

Normally I would say the edge should be re-ground, as the metal that has been bent would be a fair bit weaker than when it was straight. However, given that this is H-1 and is designed to be work hardened, the bend might not be entirely detrimental. I wouldn't do anything like that on purpose, it'll still fracture if bent too much, but in this case it might not be a horrible idea to use a steel (round metal rod) to straighten the edge back and sharpen like normal.
If you don't have a steel (make sure it's smooth, the ridged ones still remove metal), you could try the corner of a fine grit sharpmaker rod. They are hard enough to not significantly wear down either the steel or the rod under pressure, as they are polishing instruments, not made for stock removal.

[Billy]

Hmmm, that just doesn't sound right. I've opened a few coconuts with my RS as well as hacked through many other, harder woods with no damage. The only time I've damaged the blade at all was when I went through the material to be cut and hit concrete. :eek: Very minor damage to the edge that (mostly) came out with repeated sharpenings. I don't really worry too much about it since it is my go-to blade for hard use in and around the house and yard.

As far as your rolling issue, you should be able to steel it out, as already suggested, or use one of the brown SM rods like a file to fix the roll, passing the stone lightly from spine to edge (opposite of sharpening, more like stropping) over the damaged section until it straightens out. Then you should be able to sharpen it back up with no really noticeable performance degradation. H1 is tough stuff. :D

[hijjt]

I third the steel idea, it will help out straightening the edge and probably not need to be completely re-ground. I noticed with my pacific salt that the initial edge wasn't really all that long lasting, but after it was sharpened a couple of times the edge is much more resilient.

[sixheads]

OhOH very discouraging. i have one on order. And i f it cant crack a cocount how will it hack a zombie skull cap!!!!!

[picobrain]

coconut harder than live person skull
coconut much harder than zombie skull

peace

[Jazz]

Is it a wire edge (burr) that bent over? I'd definately have a go at it with a steel - strop it backwards on the steel, starting quite hard and ending softer and softer. You can use the back of another knife if you don't have a steel. I've done that lots with the chef knives at work and it works fine.

- best wishes, Jazz.

[captnvegtble]

If you don't have a steel (make sure it's smooth, the ridged ones still remove metal), you could try the corner of a fine grit sharpmaker rod. They are hard enough to not significantly wear down either the steel or the rod under pressure, as they are polishing instruments, not made for stock removal.

Thanks for all your suggestions. It's not a simple burr that bent over, its an actual fold at the bevel that even infiltrates part of the hollow grind. I don't have a steel rod so I ended up using the edge of the fine grit SM rod to try and bend the edge back (I didn't want to take off too much metal with the coarse grit), and it helped some (maybe 50% reduction), but there is still an obvious deformity. It cuts fine and I think I will leave it as is since I bought it to perform, not look good on a shelf.

Maybe I was a bit too aggressive with the coconut before the steel was more work hardened? In anycase, I don't think the Rock Salt would have any problems with zombie heads... when 2012 comes, I'll be ready :D

[Joshua J.]

Yikes!
I'm sure we'd all like to see some pics, if possible. I've never seen an edge fold over that bad, not even on rocks!
It is a testament to the durability of H-1. If something like that were to happen to any ordinary knife I can just about guarantee it would have chipped off.

[Blerv]

Thanks for all your suggestions. It's not a simple burr that bent over, its an actual fold at the bevel that even infiltrates part of the hollow grind. I don't have a steel rod so I ended up using the edge of the fine grit SM rod to try and bend the edge back (I didn't want to take off too much metal with the coarse grit), and it helped some (maybe 50% reduction), but there is still an obvious deformity. It cuts fine and I think I will leave it as is since I bought it to perform, not look good on a shelf.

Maybe I was a bit too aggressive with the coconut before the steel was more work hardened? In anycase, I don't think the Rock Salt would have any problems with zombie heads... when 2012 comes, I'll be ready :D

Sorry about the edge bud.

If you like the blade at the price reduction lately they make nice users. I'm half tempted to pick up another :) thrash on this one and then have Krein grind away it's nightmares, lol.

[captnvegtble]

So I've attached a few pictures of the folded edge (at least I think that's what you would call this). These pictures are AFTER I spent about 1-2 hours trying to even out the blade and, as I already mentioned, the edge is about 40-50% improved from what it was initially. I don't have any initial pictures because I couldn't get good pics (my wife took these).