Recommendation? Thinner?

[scdub]

First off a disclaimer: This isn’t technically about a Busse. I’m posting here because the question has to do with INFI:

I love the balance and design of this knife. It’s very similar in feel to my Swamprat Taliwhacker, however it doesn’t seem to bite into wood as well, even though it’s heavier.

I’ve thinned the edge of the Tali to about 15 dps on an Edge-Pro. I’ve only knocked the shoulders off of the Scrapyard AD and so the actual edge is still probably around 20+ dps.

I’ve been admiring the work of Josh (REK) and others who have thinned the blades on Busses/Bussekin and was thinking about that for this blade. It’s fairly thin already (.21” stock), but I recon it can go thinner - how thin would you go?

Or, should I just spend another hour on the Edge-Pro and try it out before sending my knife away?

OR, should I try stripping the primary grind and thinning the edge?

FYI I would be using this as a backpacking/hiking knife that might be chopping hard wood occasionally (trail clearing mostly) so I want an edge thick enough to hold up to this. No batoning through metal or large logs, etc. for this one…

Thanks!

 

[Father & Son Traditional Sharpening]

IME, these coated blades tends to run between 25-30 DPS from factory... more obtuse towards the tip. The thing is, you want the edge as thin as possible where it is expected to take a bit of damage in the heaviest uses you expect to use it. That's the qualifier... 'What will you be cutting?' If it's anything and EVERYTHING, then more obtuse generally is better. That said, if you're not planning to cut metal you could probably almost cut that DPS in half in my experience. It all depends on your technique and skill along with what you're cutting. There is no right answer, if you get excess damage... just thicken the edge only to the point where it stops taking damage. This could mean just placing a micro bevel on the edge a bit steeper really.

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

strip it and knock the shoulder down a bunch.

it's like a new knife I bet.

 

[David Mary]

if you're not planning to cut metal you could probably almost cut that DPS in half in my experience

Yes, just about.

 

[polskiogorki]

Rek isn't doing any more work on knifes, he is focused on building his own...
I want to do the same to my hog badger, busse won't answer me, rek isn't doing it, can anyone recommend a professional that would thin out my hog from .21 to approx .17-.18

 

[scdub]

can anyone recommend a professional that would thin out my hog from .21 to approx .17-.18

I can’t quite “recommend” him yet, but our own David Mary reached out to me to offer his regrinding services for my AD 6.
I’m mailing it out on Monday.
Having seen many pics of his custom knives I’m pretty confident he knows what he’s doing, but I’ll post some pics here when I get the knife back…

 

[resinguy]

Thinning down the entire blade is serious business. Best left to a pro.

My routine for a ghetto satin is to strip the coating and then use the HF 1x30 to knock the shoulder back considerably and put on an improved convex edge.

 

[elof_alv]

I can’t quite “recommend” him yet, but our own David Mary reached out to me to offer his regrinding services for my AD 6.
I’m mailing it out on Monday.
Having seen many pics of his custom knives I’m pretty confident he knows what he’s doing, but I’ll post some pics here when I get the knife back…

will this be a return of Inficoot?

 

[polskiogorki]

I can’t quite “recommend” him yet, but our own David Mary reached out to me to offer his regrinding services for my AD 6.
I’m mailing it out on Monday.
Having seen many pics of his custom knives I’m pretty confident he knows what he’s doing, but I’ll post some pics here when I get the knife back…

Awesome! Let me know how it turns out and If you wouldn't mind ask if you I can get his contact info.
Cheers

 

[FAL'ER]

The thing is, you want the edge as thin as possible where it is expected to take a bit of damage

Do you mean only as thick as necessary, as to not take damage?

 

[scdub]

Thinning down the entire blade is serious business. Best left to a pro.

Agreed. I’ve got a belt grinder and have even made a few knives, but I wasn’t about to start grinding on this knife. Off to the pro this afternoon!

Awesome! Let me know how it turns out and If you wouldn't mind ask if you I can get his contact info.
Cheers

Will do. As for contacting him, I was just using the “conversation” function of the forum (hit the little envelope icon at the top of the window to open).
David Mary posted above in this thread so that’s the guy you’re looking for…

 

[scdub]

Do you mean only as thick as necessary, as to not take damage?

I read it this way: You want the edge as thin as possible. If during your heaviest uses it just gets slight damage, then that’s how thin you should go, no thinner.

 

[Father & Son Traditional Sharpening]

Do you mean only as thick as necessary, as to not take damage?

I read it this way: You want the edge as thin as possible. If during your heaviest uses it just gets slight damage, then that’s how thin you should go, no thinner.

Bingo. Your edge is thicker than necessary if it doesn't take slight damage under the heaviest uses it will see. When you note damage you can very FINELY take the actual apex, or just far enough back, to a slightly more obtuse angle but do not go any farther than necessary to stop the damage. This isn't necessary if you sharpen often but if you must have no damage it will be the best geometry for your use.

 

[David Mary]

This machete/chopper I made nearly two years ago has the type of geometry I like to use for big knives, full height flat-vex about .020" behind the edge. Doing a little trail maintenance in the community, and also just having some fun and seeing how the knife handled.

For aesthetic purposes, I have recommended to Scdub regrinding the bevels only, but to the same type of flat-vex geometry, also about .020" behind the edge.

My contact info is in my signature, which you can see on mobile by turning your phone sideways.

 

[scdub]

This machete/chopper I made nearly two years ago has the type of geometry I like to use for big knives, full height flat-vex about .020" behind the edge. Doing a little trail maintenance in the community, and also just having some fun and seeing how the knife handled.

For aesthetic purposes, I have recommended to Scdub regrinding the bevels only, but to the same type of flat-vex geometry, also about .020" behind the edge.

My contact info is in my signature, which you can see on mobile by turning your phone sideways.

Wow that machete is a beast!
Yeah I think the AD 6 will look interesting with just the primary grinds satin and the flats and swedge left midnight blue - can’t wait to see how it looks and even more how it cuts/chops…

 

[scdub]

Awesome! Let me know how it turns out

You bet. I got the knife back a couple of days ago and just got to try it out this afternoon.
It looks awesome.



I tried it out head-to-head against my Taliwhacker. As I mentioned in the first post, the AD6 didn’t chop as well as the Taliwhacker which was why I thought to have it thinned in the first place. Did 25 chops with each into some redwood (among other stuff) and the AD6 clearly bites in better than the Tali. It’s a GREAT knife now.



I can now definitely recommend David Mary’s work and I can also say that he was extremely pleasant to deal with. Oh he also offered to make me the Bolatron sheath in the pictures and I took him up on it - also extremely nice work/fit.
Now I get to use it and watch the patina develop - merry Christmas to me!

 

[ironwagon]

That is some good looking work there on a great piece of INFI!!

 

[David Mary]

scdub thanks for taking a chance on me, and for the generous praise of my humble work.

 

[scdub]

Ok I’m officially impressed.

After all of the above work (and some that wasn’t pictured) this knife had ZERO visible edge damage (no edge reflections or catching on light fingernail passes), and it came back to shaving sharp with STROPPING ONLY! This is the thinnest edge I’ve ever chopped wood with and I’m amazed at the performance of INFI. Who knew??

 

[rockgolfer]

What a sweet grind and knife! Thinking I need to just order a db-421 straight to David Mary to get that optimal grind done. Great job!