Bulldog Steel

D

dleaton@wideopenwest

Joined
Jan 23, 2005
Messages
5
I recently purchased a Bulldog Sowbelly in carbon steel. The fit and finish on the knife is quite good but no matter what I have tried I have been unable to get the knife as sharp as the Case cv medium stockman that I had been carrying. Curious about the steel, I emailed both Parker and the Olbertz factory where the knife was made. Parker e-mailed me back that they did not know what steel was used, but they had instructed Olbertz to let me know. Shortly thereafter, Olbertz emailed me that they use C75, which is what we call 1075 over here. My questions for anybody that can help are as follows: (1) Why would Olbertz choose relatively low carbon 1075 instead of 1095 for a pocket knife and (2) could my problem getting the Bulldog as sharp like I can my cv Case be due to the lower carbon content of the 1075 when compared to the Case's 50100B? I feel a little like the edge on the Bulldog might be rolling over after it gets to a certain level of sharpness, which could be due to the somewhat greater maleability of 1075.
 
I have a couple of Bulldog knives and I agree (as do some
others on this forum) that they are very hard to get sharp.
We however decided that the steel is very hard rather than
soft. My knives are a couple of years old. It is possible that
they have changed steel since then. I sure would not buy
them for users.

-Rebus
 
I use a Bulldog (a Wharncliffe Whittler - carbon steel) for whittling, and I have found that if you use a very shallow angle when sharpening - then it will produce an amazingly sharp edge! Sure, it needs to be touched up a little more often, but it is well worth it.

Start with quite a coarse stone using a circular motion to get the new angle, and then progress through a soft Arkansas with normal "slicing" strokes, and finally a hard Arkansas stone. It doesn't take at all long to do that.

Cheers
Rod
 
Rod Neep said:
I use a Bulldog (a Wharncliffe Whittler - carbon steel) for whittling, and I have found that if you use a very shallow angle when sharpening - then it will produce an amazingly sharp edge! Sure, it needs to be touched up a little more often, but it is well worth it.

Start with quite a coarse stone using a circular motion to get the new angle, and then progress through a soft Arkansas with normal "slicing" strokes, and finally a hard Arkansas stone. It doesn't take at all long to do that.

Cheers
Rod
Click to expand...


I agree

I have several Bulldogs, and find that they sharpen up very well. I use diamonds, xcoarse, medium, and xfine, followed by hard black arkansas and stropping with flexgold compound.

Razor sharp.


Thomas Zinn
 
IMHO, 1075 certainly has a "lesser" edge holding potential than the other higher carbon steels BUT, the differences in edge hiolding between 1075, 1095 and 50100 will be so limited that most of us will never find out the difference. The issue is more with heat treatment, the edge thickness and sharpening angle. 1075 hardened and tempered to 56-57HRC should be provide more than good service for us mere mortals.

I am very familiar with carbon steels and find that they sharpen up very easily with lighter, fewer strokes than most stainless steels. And you can use a much finer stone since the steel is less wear resistant. I am also very fond of convex edges and this can be achieved by pulling the edge across the stone rather than pushing the edge into it. I almost always finish by stropping the edge on a firm leather surface - only a few times each side is necessary. Jason.
 
The first post doesn't give a knife lover much faith in Bulldog knives. They didn't know the steel in their own knives. You'd think that would be a specification for the knife if the company had any sense of quality.
 
I got the impression that they were of 1095.

Don't know why, perhaps because a lot of Solingen carbon knives(Boker?) are of 1095.


Thomas Zinn
 
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