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How to Make the Benchmade Axis Perform

How to Make the Benchmade Axis Perform by Joe Talmadge

I've had my Axis for quite a while now, courtesy of Les. I've made this my everyday carry 4"-blade folder, and have learned a bit about what makes this knife perform so well. Most strikingly, I've found that it takes a little work to really bring out the best in the Axis lock. The incredible ergonomics, solid lock, and recurved geometry you get for free from Benchmade -- a real high-performance edge you'll have to do for yourself. I've been testing my Axis versus other people's Axis over the past few months. Nothing too rigorous, just a quick test of slicing rope or whittling, and see how the two knives perform. Usually this is a test of the other guy's Axis with factory edge versus my Axis with my edge. A typical test with (say) 1.25" 3-strand rope, might yield the following: other guy's axis makes it through 1/8-1/4 of 1 strand with one swipe, my axis makes it completely through 2 strands and partly through a 3rd strand with one swipe. That's a performance difference of 700%.

Let's stop here for a second and talk about what makes a recurved blade work. First let's get our terms straight, starting from the tip. Underneath the tip, the edge curves downward -- this is the traditional "belly". The belly reaches bottom and starts curving upwards again, in what I call the "front recurve". Then about .5" from the handle the edge peaks and starts curving downwards again, and this part I call the "back recurve". When other people try to cut rope with their Axis, I often see them laying the Axis between the front and back recurves and trying to saw through with little bitty sawing motions, and wondering where the promised performance gains are. The performance secret of the recurve is the FRONT recurve -- the trick is to have the front recurve hit the thing-to-be-cut with speed and power. I typically lay the back recurve on the t-t-b-c, then add weight onto the handle and add speed as I draw the knife towards me, timing it to have the most power as the front recurve hits the t-t-b-c. The front recurve then bites in deeply, and I pull the knife all the way through the material, then lay it back down at the back recurve. I can cut that 1.25" rope in 2 slices this way, whereas it'd take much more time and energy to cut the rope using itty bitty sawing motions.

As you might imagine, then, getting the front recurve perfect is the main objective in my sharpening strategy. The back recurve is the least important part, as it does the least cutting -- which is good, since it's the most awkward part to sharpen due to the thumb studs. I use the belly for things like opening mail and other push/zipper cuts.

The first thing I do to Benchmade's factory bevels are thin them out. I now use the Spyderco 204 Sharpener for this. In theory any v-stick sharpener will work, but I've found the 204 has features that are a must for recurved blade sharpening.

First, I'm going to use the 204's 15-degree slots with the coarse stone, on the triangle edge. Why the edge and not the flat? Because the key to getting the back recurve sharp is to use a sharpening stick that is much smaller in diameter than the diameter of the recurve. This is the thinning bevel phase,


and I do this phase in sections. First I thin the back recurve (the thumb studs get in the way a bit at 15-degrees. Then I switch to the flat part of the stones for the front recurve and belly. I use a magic marker extensively in this process. I magic marker up the edge, and the objective is to bring the 15-degree thinning bevel to within say 1/32" of the very edge (do not go all the way and create a burr).

Once the thinning bevels are complete to my liking, I switch the coarse stones to the 20-degree slots, using the corner side for the first few swipes then switching to the flat side of the stone. Now I'm doing full smooth strokes, from the end of the back recurve all the way to the tip, drawing the knife towards me. I start with the corner of the stone because that gets the back recurve the best, then I switch to the flats because the works faster on the rest of the blade. During the stroke, it's important to keep the edge of the blade perpendicular to the stone (or, think of it as keeping the edge horizontal). So when I start with the back recurve, I raise the handle up in the air a bit. As I pull towards me, I lower the handle so it's parallel to the ground just as I get to the beginning of the front recurve. Then lower the handle through the front recurve, and raise it again as I get to the belly. This sounds complicated but becomes very obvious if you just look at the edge and the stone. Whatever part of the edge is hitting the stone, make sure that part is completely horizontal.

I do these strokes one side only until I get a burr along the entire length of the other side of the edge, then switch sides and repeat. Once that's done, I switch sides between each stroke. Go to the fine stones and continue switching sides between each stroke, and lightening the pressure. Strop off whatever remains of the burr.

Now I have a thin, polished edge with no burr. This edge will whittle and shave like crazy, but won't slice well due to the polish. Now stick the coarse stones back in the 20-degree slot. Using very very light strokes, stroke the front and back recurve ONLY through the coarse stones (not the belly, we'll keep that polished). Don't push too hard or you'll create new burrs. This will rough up the front (most important) and back recurve, so it'll slice like crazy. I keep the front belly polished to open mail and do push cuts.

Now we have an Axis that can outperform the factory Axis by 700% at times! It's thinner and more polished than the factory Axis at the belly, so it'll out push-cut the factory Axis. It's thinner and more coarse than the factory Axis at the recurve, so it'll WAY outperform the factory Axisfor slicing. In fact, with this edge, the Axis will probably easily outperform every other non-recurved folder you have for slicing, and even the recurved blades with more polished or thicker edges.

Redistributed with permission by eknives.com. Get more information and a wide selection of quality products. We offer below retail prices and free shipping on all items!

About the author:

by Joe Talmadge

 

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