Case CV?

C

cjordan

Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
85
Hello yall,

I hate that my first post is a question, but I have had a problem for the last couple of months and finnaly found this site. I have been looking around on here for a while, and with all the knowledge that is here I havent ran across this question or an answer.
Ok here it goes. My dad bought a yellow handle case trappper jr with CV blades about five years ago, he has had nothing but good things to say about this knife. Its easy to sharpen and holds an edge very well, the numbers on the spade blade is 3207. about a year ago I bought a yellow handle trapper with the CV blades, the number on the spade blade is 3254. Ok from day one this knife has been hard to sharpen and wont hold an edge worth a crap. I was looking around on knife center the other day and noticed that the case trappers has about 4-5 differant CV blades i guess? They had differant numbers such as 3207, 5254, 5107w, 6207, then 6254 which said ss or cv I dont really understand that one. I was wondering if this is differant kinds of CV blades or just mdl numbers? Also could they have used a differant CV in the trapper jr that my dad has than what they did in my trapper? Thanks for reading and thanks for any help or input.
 
They only use one grade of CV steel. Have you asked your dad to put an edge on yours? Could be that he's honing it to a more effective angle.

BTW, welcome to the coolest, folksiest, little (sub)forum on the web!

-- Mark
 
All those numbers are the model numbers. Large trapper, medium size trapper, and even a "tiny trapper". The W means wharncliffe blade which is straight and has a "down sweep" as opposed to the typical "clip" style blade. Typical trappers have a clip and spey, sometimes you'll see other types too.

There's a wealth of knowledge available--just ask or do a little searching if not sure.

Again, welcome to BF

Matt
 
I'm sure one of our sharpening experts will chime in, but it sounds like you might be having an issue with a "wire edge". Case does not harden their blades to a high Rockwell, but consistently hitting their hardness spec? You betcha they do.
 
Thanks guys, I did get him to try his hand at sharpening it once for me, but had the same results hard to get sharp, then it didnt stay sharp very long. I am glad I found this site there seems to be some very knowledgable folks on here. Im full of questions that Ive had for years and I think I may have just found a place to answer them for me.
 
Welcome!
I like to sharpen with water stones and then use a buffer or a strop to finish the edge. Had Dad tried this method?
 
Maybe it's just a lemon.

Seems logical to me that if your dad can't get your cv blade as sharp or for as long as he can his cv blade then the problem is in the cv.....and not the sharpening technique or materials.

Call case and see if they can maybe check it out for you without giving you any hassle...Never dealt with their CS so I don't know how friendly they are with things like this. If all else fails I would buy a new knife before I spent more money on sharpening supplies to find out in the end that you did in fact get a lemon.
 
If it is stainless and not CV that may be the problem. When I was sharpening all different kinds of steels I found that each and everyone responded differently. Almost every different type I would find the best finishing compound for.

One thing always stayed constant though, you have to remove the burr if you want to see how the edge retention really is. I put little stock into edge retention info from guys that are more on the novice end of sharpening. Heck, before I went through my trials I would have told you most steel doesn't hold that great of an edge. Little did I know it was user error.

Sure, you may have gotten a dud, but it may just be the edge isn't being finished properly. Sometimes stainless even at higher hardness can feel gummy. Take and lower the hardness to case specs and it can feel downright like rubber IMHO.

Food for thought.
 
We have both tried stones with very little result. Dad got tired of messing with it and put it on his work sharp system, that got its attention but it didnt last long. Im somewhat going to chalk it up as a lemon, that makes me feel better anyways. Im not going to say that either one of us are pros when it comes to putting an edge on a blade, so it could have very well been user error.
 
Does your dad have a leather finishing belt for his worksharp? Did you hand strop it after the worksharp? The worksharp is just a mini belt sander. Abrasive belts do nothing but raise a burr for finishing.

Trying to help you get to the bottom of this. BTW raising the burr is the easy part. Removing it and finishing the edge well is the hard part IMHO.
 
richstag said:
Does your dad have a leather finishing belt for his worksharp? Did you hand strop it after the worksharp? The worksharp is just a mini belt sander. Abrasive belts do nothing but raise a burr for finishing.

Trying to help you get to the bottom of this. BTW raising the burr is the easy part. Removing it and finishing the edge well is the hard part IMHO.
Click to expand...

He used a purple honing belt. When I would sharpen it I would use a leather strop. When he used the work sharp system and finished it, the knife would sling the hair off of your arm, it just didnt take much use till it was dull again.
 
Okay, that helps. A knife sharpened on a belt sander that still has a burr WILL sling hairs off, BUT the burr will easily deform and leave a dull edge. That's why it is important to remove the burr in a controlled fashion. This is also where my comments about SS and certain steels at different hardnesses can feel gummy or ruber like. Its the burr that feels gummy, very challenging to remove. If your father used a very high grit honing belt a trick is to wad up paper towel and slice in a pulling motion to tear off the burr. Then you can go back to the rough deburred edge and strop to a nice fine edge. This is only a trick for very stubborn burrs.

Again, I hope this helps.
 
I'm betting this one just happened to slip through and the HT on it just didn't make it to the right RC. Every company has it's lemons. Save it for the tackle box and get yourself another one.
 
Bret,

I used to jump to the same conclusion until I realized how many knives are condemed as lemons when in reality they are not. It happens with all knives on these forums, high ends and all.

9.8 times out of ten there is a burr.

Not ruling out lemon one bit. Just saying. I have seen my share of false lemon claims.

Kevin

The final step in sharpening is not an abrasive belt. It is deburring and stropping.
 
richstag said:
Okay, that helps. A knife sharpened on a belt sander that still has a burr WILL sling hairs off, BUT the burr will easily deform and leave a dull edge. That's why it is important to remove the burr in a controlled fashion. This is also where my comments about SS and certain steels at different hardnesses can feel gummy or ruber like. Its the burr that feels gummy, very challenging to remove. If your father used a very high grit honing belt a trick is to wad up paper towel and slice in a pulling motion to tear off the burr. Then you can go back to the rough deburred edge and strop to a nice fine edge. This is only a trick for very stubborn burrs.

Again, I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Yes sir you have been a big help. I would like to thank you for taking the time to work with me on this problem.
 
You are very welcome. I wish you luck. The best thing to ever happen to me in my knife hobby was joining this forum and being headed in the right sharpening direction. It made a world of difference in my knife usage.

I wish you luck.
 
richstag said:
Bret,

I used to jump to the same conclusion until I realized how many knives are condemed as lemons when in reality they are not. It happens with all knives on these forums, high ends and all.

9.8 times out of ten there is a burr.

Not ruling out lemon one bit. Just saying. I have seen my share of false lemon claims.
Click to expand...

Understandably true, I typically think of these problems as if they were accounted to my knives, which I always spend a good half-hour doing at least 100 strokes on my loaded strop to make sure there isn't any burr.

but this isn't my knife, and I didn't sharpen it so there is no reason to assume it under those pretenses. (This isn't to say I'm all that great about sharpening either, just that I'm picky about burrs)

Thanks for keeping our troubleshooting open.

Colin
 
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