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I put a Fox River featherweight with an Elmax blade on the wish list with the wife. They look nice. Anyone have any experience with this Bark River?

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not with that one in particular, but I have several from Bark River. Not a dog in the bunch. I like Elmax a lot.


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I have a Fox River "regular size" with Micarta handle. It has just over an inch more blade length and the same sized handle. It is a good design, well made, and works well as an "do it all" hunting and camp knife. The convex edge is easy to sharpen on mine but I have no idea how the Elmax steel yours is made of is to work with. My only complaint with the knife is the Micarta is kind of slippery in my hand even when it is dry.

Last edited by stantdm; 11/27/18.
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Originally Posted by stantdm
I have a Fox River "regular size" with Micarta handle. It has just over an inch more blade length and the same sized handle. It is a good design, well made, and works well as an "do it all" hunting and camp knife. The convex edge is easy to sharpen on mine but I have no idea how the Elmax steel yours is made of is to work with. My only complaint with the knife is the Micarta is kind of slippery in my hand even when it is dry.


Not yo high jack the thread...

Any tips on how to sharpen the convex edge?

I have a bark river gunny hunter that could use a touch up, but I only have a spyderco sharp maker. I hear you can lay fine grit sand paper over a old mouse pad and sharpen them.

Back to the OP...
I have a gunny hunter I really like for my once a year deer hunt.
I also have a canadian special that has yet to be used because I found the gunny hunter. I should sell it, but I like the sheath on the canadian better than the gunny sheath and switch them around. the sheath is bloody now. ;-)


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I have a Bark River Gunny Sidekick in CPM M4 that I really like - Bark River really seems to nail their heat treats. The best way to sharpen a convex edge is to not let it get dull - strop it between uses. I am rather partial to the white compound preloaded strop sold by knives plus:

https://www.knivesplus.com/leather-sharpening-strop-white8.html

If you let it get dull, everything you wanted to know about sharpening convex edges:


https://youtu.be/BsWCk4Ttqe4

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To add to your question about sharpening a convex. You can use sandpaper laid or clamped to a thick mousepad. You can also cut a couple of pieces of cardboard box and clamp the sandpaper to that. Use a very light stroke. There are a number of pretty good instruction videos on You Tube. Just search for convex blade sharpening. When you stop them use a stop with at least 1/4" thick leather. I have better results using the rougher side with black rouge. A lot of folks use green which isn't as aggressive.

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Hold on, is a Lansky not a sharpening option for these things? That could be a deal breaker.

Edit to add: Aside from touch ups, how do you like to sharpen a convex grind? How do you get a consistent angle on that rounded profile when it's really dull?

Last edited by pabucktail; 11/27/18.
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I don't have experience with the Fox River but I do have several other Bark Rivers. For me I suppose the Gameskeeper in 4V steel is my favorite hunting knife. I also have a couple Bark Rivers in 3V steel that are very good. In fact I think that 3V is my favorite steel.

For the person wondering how to sharpen convex blades there were excellent videos on the Knives Ship Free web site. For me one of the main points for convex sharpening is to put very little down pressure on the blade. Only the blade weight or maybe less. After sharpening on sand paper I strop on a leather that is loaded with CBN and that will really get it sharp. Also I have a strop made out of balsa wood that has 4 grit CBN on it.

I keep the strops in the kitchen and they are used most days on something.

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as for sharpening those convex blades.............
http://brkca.com/convex.htm


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Originally Posted by pabucktail
Hold on, is a Lansky not a sharpening option for these things? That could be a deal breaker.

Edit to add: Aside from touch ups, how do you like to sharpen a convex grind? How do you get a consistent angle on that rounded profile when it's really dull?



If you use a Lansky you would wind up re-profiling the knife into a v-grind which would IMO would eliminate one of the main selling points of a BR and probably destroy any resale value. The idea being for people who can't or think they can't sharpen on a stone because they can't hold a consistent angle, you can use a loaded strop or the sandpaper on a mouse pad trick as indicated above. It is a more forgiving process as the soft substrate allows the abrasive to sorta wrap around the convex grind and hit the apex of the edge....and IMO most people who have trouble sharpening with a bench stone don't hit the apex.

Some people love this. I found it to be a tiresome PITA screwing around with sandpaper and mousepads, strops and buffing compound, and decided I preferred sharpening a knife with a conventional grind on a stone. Maybe the whole thing, the knife, the convex, etc. was so overhyped online that I expected something life changing and didn't find it. I used mine a couple of times, sent it back to them to touch up, and it has become a "collectible". I only paid about sixty bucks for the thing 12 years ago before they got famous, which is about what they are worth IMO, but now they sell for double and then some. I wish all my stocks had done that well!

PS.......All that said, I would prefer maintaining a convex blade as described in the above links to having to break out and assemble a Lansky when I wanted to sharpen, so maybe you should still give it a shot. You can always sell to the Bark River fanboys if you don't like it.

PPS, You could also get one of those work sharp mini belt sanders and reprofile any knife to a convex grind if you wanted.

Last edited by RJY66; 11/28/18.

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Just buy a cheap Work Sharp shapener on ebay, produces a convex edge perfectly, every time in about 3 minutes.


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Originally Posted by RJY66
Originally Posted by pabucktail
Hold on, is a Lansky not a sharpening option for these things? That could be a deal breaker.

Edit to add: Aside from touch ups, how do you like to sharpen a convex grind? How do you get a consistent angle on that rounded profile when it's really dull?



If you use a Lansky you would wind up re-profiling the knife into a v-grind which would IMO would eliminate one of the main selling points of a BR and probably destroy any resale value. The idea being for people who can't or think they can't sharpen on a stone because they can't hold a consistent angle, you can use a loaded strop or the sandpaper on a mouse pad trick as indicated above. It is a more forgiving process as the soft substrate allows the abrasive to sorta wrap around the convex grind and hit the apex of the edge....and IMO most people who have trouble sharpening with a bench stone don't hit the apex.

Some people love this. I found it to be a tiresome PITA screwing around with sandpaper and mousepads, strops and buffing compound, and decided I preferred sharpening a knife with a conventional grind on a stone. Maybe the whole thing, the knife, the convex, etc. was so overhyped online that I expected something life changing and didn't find it. I used mine a couple of times, sent it back to them to touch up, and it has become a "collectible". I only paid about sixty bucks for the thing 12 years ago before they got famous, which is about what they are worth IMO, but now they sell for double and then some. I wish all my stocks had done that well!

PS.......All that said, I would prefer maintaining a convex blade as described in the above links to having to break out and assemble a Lansky when I wanted to sharpen, so maybe you should still give it a shot. You can always sell to the Bark River fanboys if you don't like it.

PPS, You could also get one of those work sharp mini belt sanders and reprofile any knife to a convex grind if you wanted.



Thanks for the perspective. I had no idea I would be delving into knife nerdery with these! One of my failures as a man is an inability to sharpen at a consistent angle when left to my own devices. I like the Lansky because it's a good way to get a consistent angle and it's an easy way to sharpen a knife when away from home on a big trip where the knife is used alot.

Like you, I don't feel like knife sharpening should be my next hobby. I think I'll still ask for the knife and try the convex thing. Worst case I'll get the Lansky out and reset it.Thanks to you guys for the tip on the belt sander sharpeners. I've never looked at them seriously since they require power and I don't care to rely on something which can't be used easily in the middle of nowhere. On the other hand if the stropping thing with a pad works I could take that with me as easily as the Lansky.

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Bucktail,
No matter what type of sharpening you use a strop will get it sharper. That's something that just works.

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I've been wondering how easy a convex edge is to sharpen with these new super steels like Elmax

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Troutfisher,
I do not have experience with Elmax. Probably what gives me the most trouble is S35VN or V4. I just keep at it and they get sharp.

On the old Knife Forums Bark River always said to mostly use high grit sand paper and their compound on a strop and that would work. That will work if it's not very dull but for me I sometimes go to 600 grit and work up from there. Mostly just try to not let them get very dull.

If you haven't tried CBN on a strop it really works especially on these harder steels and not only on convex blades. I strop with CBN on every blade that I own.

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Originally Posted by Keith1
Bucktail,
No matter what type of sharpening you use a strop will get it sharper. That's something that just works.


I've used a strop on knives and chisels for years. They definitely make a difference. It's just this convex edge thing is new to me.

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Bucktail,
Just hang in there and you will see how easy it is. What's easy to learn on is Bark River A2 or I suppose any carbon steel.

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Originally Posted by pabucktail
Originally Posted by Keith1
Bucktail,
No matter what type of sharpening you use a strop will get it sharper. That's something that just works.


I've used a strop on knives and chisels for years. They definitely make a difference. It's just this convex edge thing is new to me.


If you can enhance an edge you made on your Lansky with a strop you are good to go and will probably really like the BR. The only potential difference is you need a strop that "gives" a little in use as opposed to what you may already have......this is why people use the mouse pad and sandpaper method or something similar. The BR knife you are getting was made by a guy with a belt sander and the belt had slack in it creating a continuous curve from the spine all the way down to the apex.....a "full convex grind" with no "secondary bevel". When you sharpen, you want to replicate this.

What you are used to is using your Lansky to create a secondary bevel of say 20 degrees a side that forms a "V" to the apex. The convex grind comes to an apex from the spine with no "shoulder". Its just a different way of creating a cutting edge.


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I'm thinking of this in terms of an ax on a much smaller scale....with axes a convex is a more durable edge than a strict"V" so I imagine it would be the same with a knife blade.

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Originally Posted by Mannlicher
as for sharpening those convex blades.............
http://brkca.com/convex.htm


Good article

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