Recommendation? Convex sharpening

snwbrdr202

snwbrdr202

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Joined
Mar 9, 2009
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Good morning hogs and happy Friday! I have a FBM LE that I was hoping to have convexed to the old school Busse “zero convex edge.” Does anyone know of any good sharpeners they have experience with convex grinds on bigger blades?! Many thanks in advance!
 
I remember Ban Tang, a member on this forum used to do a lot of sharpening like that on Busses

Not sure if he’s around here anymore
 
I'll add my voice to the mix to help boost this conversation up in hopes of getting an answer as I too have need of this same service.

Unfortunately I can't recommend anyone yet in the limited searching I've done. All the ones I wanted to get ahold of are long gone and out of the game or just plain not offering the service any longer if they are around still :

Ban Ban (Ban Tang) is out
norcalblacktail norcalblacktail is out
AZTimT AZTimT is out
REK Knives REK Knives is out

I've reached out to other sharpeners both here and abroad who have showcased similar work and no luck there either. Still other sharpeners I've reached out to don't really offer the convex edge we're after.

I've started thinking about just buying the equipment to do it myself but it's not going to be cheap I imagine if one wants to scale this up and offer it as a service eventually.

My thoughts were to reach out to a few knife makers who do work I admire and look to have done similar type work and see if I can get any bites. This is my last ditch effort before I begin hunting down the equipment and form the necessary skills to do this myself. I'll report back with my findings. Probably have a dozen or so people to reach out to.

And because every thread is better with pics, here's some old ones I keep admiring of what we're after (this is from Norcalblacktail's old knife mods blog) :

5GiLHiP.jpg

uekkWvt.jpg


05WfT40.jpg


pvJ0Srz.jpg


dGRVxNF.jpg


F95V4TC.jpg
 
zombieassassin said:
What happened to REK?
And isn't Father Son Trading around?
Click to expand...
Josh (REK) is still around but when I asked him last year about doing such work he said he's not offering those services at this time.

Based on W willmtn1 comment above, it sounds like Chris got the axe. I don't know why though other than what was said above. I tried looking up his profile and it wasn't available for viewing so it seems he really is gone unfortunately.

For what it's worth, I had asked him recently about doing this type of work too and while he said he could do it, I never went through with it because it sounded like a bunch of hand finishing and extra work to do this rather than with a slack belt as is normally used.

He also said he wouldn't put it to a high polish like I wanted generally speaking but he could for an extra fee.

In the end, without being able to see some previous work where's he's done just that, I didn't have the best confidence that the outcome would be what I want aesthecially speaking. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these things and really value precision and accuracy in making the whole thing clean and visually appealing.

I want to hear that someone has done this many times before and is readily able to demonstrate (pictorially) their proficiency at it before I feel comfortable letting them loose on my expensive blades.

No disrespect to Chris meant as I'm sure he does fine work. I'm actually going to be getting some v-edges done from him in a bit, I just didn't feel comfortable with the convex side of things so the hunt continues.

I have some ways I want to experiment with doing this in a precise manner using a guided sharpening system, so maybe some day soon I can share that I've had some success there, but for now, I'm still playing around with it. There's some limitations in using the guided system so I can't report that I've got the convex I'm after just yet. I hope to make some more headway this weekend so let's see what happens!
 
snwbrdr202 said:
Good morning hogs and happy Friday! I have a FBM LE that I was hoping to have convexed to the old school Busse “zero convex edge.” Does anyone know of any good sharpeners they have experience with convex grinds on bigger blades?! Many thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
get a stack of printer paper or a phone book

place sandpaper on top

strop on the sandpaper away from the edge until you feel a burr form than do the other side.

you have your convex edge.

also sent you a text
 
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Josh REK Knives REK Knives is working on his Sparrow folders so I'm guessing he wouldn't right now. But I'd still reach out and ask if he would be willing once those are done. Sometimes he'll take on extras if he has time.
 
snwbrdr202 said:
Yea, I couldn’t get a hold of him! Is he no longer on blade forums?!
Click to expand...
I sent you via PM the email address for Chris at Father & Son Traditional Sharpening - if anyone else would like his email address, I will be happy to share it in a private message. He does great work, and I still trust him!
 
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The Knife Life said:
I'll add my voice to the mix to help boost this conversation up in hopes of getting an answer as I too have need of this same service.

Unfortunately I can't recommend anyone yet in the limited searching I've done. All the ones I wanted to get ahold of are long gone and out of the game or just plain not offering the service any longer if they are around still :

Ban Ban (Ban Tang) is out
norcalblacktail norcalblacktail is out
AZTimT AZTimT is out
REK Knives REK Knives is out

I've reached out to other sharpeners both here and abroad who have showcased similar work and no luck there either. Still other sharpeners I've reached out to don't really offer the convex edge we're after.

I've started thinking about just buying the equipment to do it myself but it's not going to be cheap I imagine if one wants to scale this up and offer it as a service eventually.

My thoughts were to reach out to a few knife makers who do work I admire and look to have done similar type work and see if I can get any bites. This is my last ditch effort before I begin hunting down the equipment and form the necessary skills to do this myself. I'll report back with my findings. Probably have a dozen or so people to reach out to.

And because every thread is better with pics, here's some old ones I keep admiring of what we're after (this is from Norcalblacktail's old knife mods blog) :

5GiLHiP.jpg

uekkWvt.jpg


05WfT40.jpg


pvJ0Srz.jpg


dGRVxNF.jpg


F95V4TC.jpg
Click to expand...
The edge on that Regulator is one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

😍
 
scdub said:
The edge on that Regulator is one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

😍
Click to expand...

Indeed! Oh how I'd love to have one like that! Been lusting after that one ever since the day I first saw it!


Steven65 said:
I have a number of knives done by Ban and Norcalblacktail. They are my absolute favourites.

It's sad that there is no-one else doing this work.

Click to expand...

Jealous! That vintage piece looks amazing!

I had one and only one piece ever with a Ban Tang convex on it and I stupidly sold it off. Regretted it ever since. It was a nice Boss Jack Proto. Tried to see if the new owner would be interested in letting her go after some time and I come to find out it's one of his favorites in his collection, so no such luck. ☹️ 😞 (he's obviously no fool like I !)
 
gk4ever2 said:
I sent you via PM the email address for Chris at Father & Son Traditional Sharpening - if anyone else would like his email address, I will be happy to share it in a private message. He does great work, and I still trust him!
Click to expand...

Sad to hear he’s gone. I’ve done several deals with him over the years, and have nothing but good things to say.
 
Wow, sad that those folks moved on. Seen a lot of their work here, those 4 cats knife life posted, damn shame, big loss.
I'm not unfamiliar with trying dumb shit, but I wouldn't try a convex on anything but a lawnmower blade, a used one.
 
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