Opinions on an odd sharpening job - need recommendations

phillipsted · #1

I rescued another old, beat up Spydie recently. (I seem to be doing this a lot lately! :cool :) This one is an AUS-8 micarta plain-edged Caly Jr. This makes my seventh Caly Jr. - and it is possibly my favorite pattern of all Spydercos.

Anyway, this one was sharpened in a very odd manner - and I wanted to see if anyone had ever seen anything like this.

It looks like this was originally a fully-serrated model. The last owner then ground off the serrations and convexed ONE SIDE of the blade - leaving the flat side of the blade untouched. Odd indeed. But you can see that the edge had about 1/16" ground off, based on the location of sharpening notch. The problem is that the grind is not a very good geometry - and I really don't like convex grinds on anything except an axe.

My questions for you folks are these: What would you do to rehabilitate this blade and make it a good user again? Should I try to re-profile a normal symmetrical bevel? Should I send it to someone to regrind?

TedP

P.S. - the wood the Caly is lying on is some Karelian Birch. It is destined for an upcoming XHP Mule. :)

egbladesmith · #2

It depends on what tools you are working with, and what you want to do with the knife. You could leave it as a chisel grind and sharpen correctly that way, or you could always add a micro bevel to it, to enhance the cutting performance. It all comes back to what you want to cut with it. it would be possible to bring it back to a flat or hollow but would take some work. I would suggest starting from the tip and working down if you were going to try it.

jackknifeh · #3

I think, if it were my knife I'd leave it alone except for making sure it is sharp as is. I would use it because I've never used a knife with an edge like this. There was a thread recently about chisel grinds and it was mentioned that an edge like this would be good when cutting something while using a ruler as a guide. With the flat side of the blade against the ruler you wouldn't need to be concerned with how far away from the ruler edge the knife will cut like you do with a knife with a "normal" edge. The cut would be right where the edge of the ruler is.

I wouldn't do anything right now. Since you have other Caly Jr.'s you have the luxury to have edges with different grinds. I'd play with it as is for a while at least. It is an interesting situation I'd say.

.357 mag · #4

That's a tough one. You could reprofile down to about 10 degree and would fix it if you want to take that much metal off. I'd start with the flat side, form that and work off the convex edge.

egbladesmith · #5

Also flat chisel grinds in my experience are weak, and tend to get a lot of micro chipping. The Micro bevel will help strengthen the edge.

pic upload

Done by josh mason

The Deacon · #6

When it comes to reprofiling blades, I know the limits of my talent, so I'd go one of two ways. Either I'd leave it the way it is and use it, or I'd send it to someone like Tom Krein and ask them to get rid of the remnants of the sharpening choil and make it as close to a zero edge FFG as possible.

Evil D · #7

I would either try to go with a beveled chisel grind or send it out and have it FFG'ed and remove that notch.

O,just,O · #8

I agree with the opinion that jacknifeh has. +
If'n ya keep on a grindin on that thang there aint gonna be much blade left on him. :)
O.

Cliff Stamp · #9

Try the chisel grind before you modify it. If you don't like how it turns in the cut then you are going to have to bevel the other side, but you will take off half the height of the existing bevel to equalize it again, a lot more metal gone.

Ankerson · #10

I would leave it as is and just do small bevels making sure it's sharp.

Donut · #11

phillipsted wrote:This one is an AUS-8 micarta plain-edged Caly Jr.

I'm pretty sure that's AUS-6. :D (Thanks for the troll food. :p )

I would convert it to a flattened chisel grind, it will make for a nice laser of a light duty cutter.

Bill1170 · #12

Ditto what Jackknife said in post #3. Start off with investigation of what you have now before grinding off a lot of steel.

The Deacon · #13

Donut wrote:I'm pretty sure that's AUS-6. :D (Thanks for the troll food. :p )

I would convert it to a flattened chisel grind, it will make for a nice laser of a light duty cutter.

Nope, despite the way it looks in the photo, that's an 8 and the steel is AUS-8.

anagarika · #14

RichardJ test knife that were tested by Unit and others (over at Bladeforums) was ground this way too. I suggest test it out first. If inclusive angle is not too thin, I don't see why it should chip.

JLS · #15

I bought a couple of Calypso Jr's off Ebay recently as well and I also have a real love for the pattern. The recent acquisitions bring me to 7 or 8 total of all the variations and I've given away at least 5 over the years as well.

I would join the chorus of those saying to try it as is. I would personally spend the time to get rid of the remnants of the sharpening notch and would probably also do a beveled edge instead of the convex, but as it is, you have little to lose and perhaps quite a bit to gain by trying it as it sits.

phillipsted · #16

Great advice, guys. Since this is a pure EDC, I'm going to try several of your suggestions and have some fun with it. My youngest son (the Boy Scout) has already been eyeing this one and might snag it from me at some point. Who am I to deny a boy his first micarta-handled Caly Jr?

But, like I said - I bought this to have fun with and try some rehabilitation on it. Based on your suggestions, here's what I'm going to try:

1. My first step is to get rid of the remnants of the sharpening notch/first serration - that thing just bugs me... I'll probably use the WEPS with the Congress MoldMaster stones on it to begin with. I'm also going to polish the blade a bit to get rid of some scratches, and polish up the micarta to a good sheen on the buffer.

2. Then I'm going to try a 40 degree edge bevel to see if I can get a good sharp edge (did I mention that it is dull as a butter knife now?)

3. If I grow bored with that, I'm going to try re-establishing a main bevel on the convexed side. I'll need to investigate a little to see what angle would be appropriate based on the curvature of the convex.

4. And if I can't get an edge I like, I might contact Tom or another artisan to get their perspectives on a re-grind.

Cheers!
TedP