Tim,
Are you planning on staying with 21 degrees for the edge angle? Do you think something like 17 degrees might work? This question is for the Loveless if the blade design matters.
Thanks,
bludog
My knife out of batch 2 of the M4 steel has been resharpened to ~15 degrees. I like it better, but I have only done one one deer so far this year with it. The deer have been really erratic here this year. I used it a bunch the way Tim sent it. Anything the looked like it needed cutting I did with that blade and it stood up to it very well. Every bit of cardboard that went into my recycling got cut into little pieces with it. Ha I intentions of using it a lot more for that sort of thing I would have left the edge at ~20 degrees like it came to me. I does slice nice with a steep edge and seems to be plenty tough enough to do ordinary cutting at 15 degrees
I gutted, skinned and dismembered a small buck with it and it's still shaving sharp. I expect it the not lose much edge if any on the next one or three. My experience with decent steel is that after it is sharpened at a steep angle they go from worrisome sharp to just plain sharp (still shaving sharp) and then they much more slowly lose that edge. I suspect that ultra fine edge just isn't as durable. I have not put one under a microscope to be sure though.
