Barry King Swivel Knife Blade

[Hoffman]

Hello all,

I'm new to the site and have a question about my Barry King Swivel knife.

I just upgraded to the bk with 1/2" barrel and 3/8" angled blade from a tandy starter knife. I went to try it out on properly cased economy grade leather and it stuck. I had to press pretty hard to get a decent cut and it was difficult to maneuver and drug pretty hard. I could barely get the knife to cut halfway through the leather pressing pretty hard. I stropped it and everything. I ran my finger on the blade and it was smooth, clean and very dull. My tandy knife was sharp and would cut my finger if pressed at all while drawing it across. But my tandy knife would cut too deep and easily leave undercuts and was sticky. This bk knife leaves a nice v but is very hard to use.

Is this normal? I'm newer to the leather craft world and have been using that tandy knife for about a year. If I pressed hard enough it would go right through the leather.

This knife is indenting the leather and not actually cutting it until I press real hard. 

Should I contact the company? It might take quite a bit to sharpen it and I don't want to ruin the blade if that's what needs to be done.

You can see the difference in the photo below. BK on the left and Tandy on the right

 

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Hoffman

[MADMAX22]

So its a BK handle with a tandy blade? Tandy blades IMHO usually always require sharpening and repeated sharpening to use. The BK blade I got with my BK handle was nice polished and sharp out of the box. Occasional stropping is all it needs. 

I would give it a good stropping (depending on your compound) and see how it does. The side view shows the angle but nothing else really. I have several different blades with different angles but all are very sharp and polished. They all leave different shaped cuts in the leather. 

[Hoffman]

no, its a brand new bk with a bk blade. I'm just comparing it to my tandy knife. Iv'e already stropped it many times. the pic shows how the bk blade is much rounder. I think I was sent a dull blade. 

[MADMAX22]

Maybe, sure they will take care of ya. 

[Hoffman]

How sharp is the knife supposed to be? 

[MADMAX22]

9 hours ago, Hoffman said:

How sharp is the knife supposed to be? 

I will give ya my advice but there are others who do way more tooling for way longer than I have who hopefully will chime in. 

IMHO it needs to be very sharp and almost as importantly polished so there is no drag. Now this isnt the same sharp like what you would think of with a "normal" knife. There is no small secondary bevel on it. The rounded profile of the tip needs to just come to a very sharp point. This allows the knife to cut the leather with minimal force while the blade pushes the cut apart some (how much depends on the profile of the tip of the blade) and the polishing prevents it from dragging while it does this. That being said leather wetness and quality also play a huge role in how easily it cuts and tools as well. You can get some leather that is like cutting and tooling compressed cardboard. Not fun. 

I will try and take a couple of pics of mine tomorrow if I get time. 

[Hoffman]

ok cool thanks

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Here's my experience with a BK swivel knife: I have just one and I probably won't order another. I was very unimpressed. For years I've been using a knife made by Jay Lynn Gore and it is a sweet knife.  It came sharp and smooth and takes little maintenance to keep it that way. The BK blade I never can get stropped smooth like the Gore blade, even though it was pretty sharp.  The Gore blade is a little wide for finer work, which is the reason I got the smaller BK. I will say however, that BK stamping tools are great!  I noticed an immediate difference over the old Craftools I had been using. 

[CaptQuirk]

You might want to try stropping it on a honing stone, then the leather strop. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Personally, I could never get the hang of a swivel knife, and prefer a sharp pointed pocket knife. Not quite as smooth as what others can do, but it is what I'm used to using on wood carvings.

[Hoffman]

5 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Here's my experience with a BK swivel knife: I have just one and I probably won't order another. I was very unimpressed. For years I've been using a knife made by Jay Lynn Gore and it is a sweet knife.  It came sharp and smooth and takes little maintenance to keep it that way. The BK blade I never can get stropped smooth like the Gore blade, even though it was pretty sharp.  The Gore blade is a little wide for finer work, which is the reason I got the smaller BK. I will say however, that BK stamping tools are great!  I noticed an immediate difference over the old Craftools I had been using. 

The blade I received is very smooth but indents the leather more than cutting it. It leaves a much more appealing cut but I have to change the way I use it. I tried it on moister leather last night and I think it did pretty well so that might just be what I have to do. It will make stamping a lot easier either way. I think I will give it a quick trip on the stone after a few days if I'm not satisfied. 

I considered shelling out for a LW butI have a long list of tools and a small budget so the BK gave me some wiggle room. Once I start selling I will probably upgrade. Right now anything is an upgrade from my tandy knife. 

[cowboycolonel]

Hoffman,

 

I, too, have a BK swivel knife which I am not fond of.  But, you invested, so you are probably going to try to make it work for you.  Given that, all I can say is to sharpen the hell out of it, then sharpen it some more (jewelers' rouge), and then strop it every time it starts to drag.  I found a GREAT swivel knife from Henley, back in PA.  Of course it still needs an occasional stropping, but I can go a long way between sharpenings.  If you need the contact info and pricing, let me know and I'll go look up the paperwork.

[MADMAX22]

Well got my knives out and did a quick few cuts. These are the four knives I have and they all work pretty good. The tandy blade last the least amount of time before requiring stropping, the henley and BK are about the same, the noname old one I have rarely requires anything, I dont know what brand it is but its one of those ones that the blade is part of the knife. 

I just did a quick case on a piece of WC vegtan to show the different cuts and pics of the blade profiles. 

In the pic with the four blades from bottom going up tandy, bk, henley, unknown. 

 

 

BK vs Tandy profile 

 

Henley 

 

 

Unknown

Edited January 8, 2017 by MADMAX22

[MADMAX22]

Here are a few cuts with each, the order for all of them from left to right is Unknown, BK, Henley, Tandy

The last pic is beveled on the one side of the cut. I tried my best to use the same pressure for cutting and then beveling. 

 

Straight cut 

 

Little swivel cut and cut the top of the leather to show they can "cut" leather (the top cuts were random pressure, they all cut about the same but obviously arent made to "cut" pieces of leather out)

 

Same straight cuts from above beveled on the left side (BK beveler)

Edited January 8, 2017 by MADMAX22

[MADMAX22]

One thing I would like to point out is that the haft of the BK knives for the price is very nice like his other tools. Big Sioux is right about his stamping tools, very good. 

If your blade is not very good replace it with another manufacturers blade and you still have a very good package altogether. The swivel is nice and smooth IMHO and is a decent price compared to some other nice ones. If the blade is not to your liking then it is far cheaper to replace the blade with a better one then buy a whole knife. 

[Tugadude]

I think MadMax summed things up very nicely in the last post.  Just because a tool maker is good at one type of tool doesn't necessarily mean they excel at all things.  Personally, I would try sharpening the BK a little more or return the blade and ask the maker to Resharpen it.  I would reach out to BK first.  Maybe he can look at your picture and agree and just send out a new blade.  To me it is distinctly different than MM's blade, less pointy.  

And BTW, one of the best things about this forum is the lengths some will go to help.  MadMax22 deserves major kudos for the detailed photos and the effort!

[ContactCement]

Brand names or popularity contests for tools mean nothing to me. Quality does. The bevels when properly made should be flat not round. The consumer in an ideal world should never feel the need to flatten and hone a brand new product fresh out of the box. When an edge is razor sharp you will not see any light reflected from the sharpened edge. If the sharpened edge looks like a teeny, tiny, shiny metal wire it is still dull and pretty much useless until it is sharpened properly.

[Squilchuck]

Barry King has great customer service. My BK swivel knife and blade work great. Contact him w your problem and I'll bet he sends you a new blade.  --John

[TacticallySharp]

Just saw this. I have 8 BK SKs. 4 with custom yokes, and a fully custom one of a kind he made me which I sent to Sandi Sturgeon to custom engrave to my specs.

I never have had an issue with blades, or anything from is shop. Great products, nice staff, and fast delivery every time.

Hope you contacted him to resolve your issue!

Photo of my full custom...PicPlayPost_20171114_14_32_33.mp4

https://m.facebook.com/sandi.sturgeon.52

[Hoffman]

On 1/7/2017 at 10:39 PM, MADMAX22 said:

Here are a few cuts with each, the order for all of them from left to right is Unknown, BK, Henley, Tandy

The last pic is beveled on the one side of the cut. I tried my best to use the same pressure for cutting and then beveling. 

 

Straight cut 

 

Little swivel cut and cut the top of the leather to show they can "cut" leather (the top cuts were random pressure, they all cut about the same but obviously arent made to "cut" pieces of leather out)

 

Same straight cuts from above beveled on the left side (BK beveler)

I was looking back at this and notice I never thanked you. I ended up sharpening it and it works somewhat better. So thank you for all your input (belated as this may be) You were very helpful. I should have just sent the blade back but never did. Too late now...

[Hoffman]

Just wanted to give a quick update haha after so long. I ended up having to contact them with issues with my barrel on my knife. King tools replaced my entire barrel for free! They do have great service. Thanks all for everything!!!