I'm thinking about doing a full convex regrind on a 1311, hmm........

Here's a diagram of the basic geometry of the 1311 and Basic 11.



As you can see from the diagram, there is a perfectly convexed 1311 inside that mid height saber grind just waiting to be released onto the world.

I hypothesize that by regrinding to a full convex it would achieve the following results....

- Reduced forward weight resulting in faster handling characteristics.
- Preserved chopping ability despite the decreased forward weight
- Similar edge geometry to maintain edge stability/toughness.

I'd be really interested to see how it turns out.

The only problem I have is that I don't have a good way of grinding it myself. What would be the best way to regrind this, a belt sander?

I was thinking some sanding discs for power drills would work but definitely won't be ideal for something like this.

To further illustrate why I believe that a full convex would be superior, I've borrowed a couple pics from Hooplehead (hope you don't mind)......

Note where the heavy wear marks are located on the coating. This is exactly where most of the friction is happening when cutting or chopping.





By regrinding to a full convex, the major friction points will be eliminated which should theoretically increase chopping/heavy cutting penetration. The trade off is that forward weight will be slightly reduced from the regrind, so I'm not sure exactly what the difference might be between the two. BUT, I'm pretty sure they will be in the same ball park.

I'd also imagine that it would also make the blade less likely to get stuck when chopping.

I think a belt sander is the way you would have to go for a full reprofile. Thought of doing the same thing, but I'm concerned about losing to much weight from an already light blade.

I personally think the weight distribution on the 1311 is about right now, I am not sure that the small gains from the full convex edge (seeing just how my metal you will need to remove) would be worth it. But.....as with some many things in life....I may well be wrong

That would be cool!! But I'm not sure it would benefit much from a reprofile. Perhaps just smoothen it up a little. Keep beating on it and stropping it and it will eventually get a convex-ish shape to it anyway

One thing to be aware of though, doing this will probably void any warranty on the knife.

All good points, guys!

I'm aware that this would probably void the warranty, but the purchase price is low enough to not be too big of a deal if things didn't work out. Normally I wouldn't think about a mod like this, but in this case I might have to make an exception......

Just looking at the existing geometry of the blade in the diagram, I can't really see too much weight being removed by blending the existing bevels into one smooth convex curve.

I'd guess that maybe it would weigh about 5-10% less after the reprofile? If so, that would only amount to about 1-2 oz. less weight overall. Being that the metal would be removed along the length of the blade, I believe it will still retain that great blade heavy balance for chopping.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but before I committed to doing this mod I'm gonna need to be pretty sure it will be worth it in the end. If anybody has any input on this matter, I would love to hear what you think (including constructive criticisms). I'm a big boy, it won't hurt my feelings......

I agree with Rob, if you keep sharpening it, you can hand convex it over time. Slowly blending the secondary bevel into the main grind might be the way to go if you don't have any means of doing it all at once (belt sander). I like the pics, no worries.

Do a search
Horndog (Vic) did a number of posts on here over the years on different knives that he sharpened with a belt sander

I'm not just talking about convexing the edge or secondary bevel. A convexed edge would obviously help the matter but I was thinking of taking it a step further.

I meant that I'd intended to regrind the factory saber grind to a full convex grind from spine to edge.

In other words it would be one continuous curve from spine to edge, just like the Boss Jack/NMSFNO/SAR's/Skinny ASH-1.