Brisa Hiker 95

[old4570]

Brisa Hiker 95
12c27n steel
Leather Sheath

Small / light / comfortable & decently made ( looks like )
The package is light weight , think Mora . The blade is thicker and stronger than on a Mora and 12c27n .
This one , the blade was fully burred . ( Factory edge )
Some what spineless ! Poor at wood scrapping but did throw decent ferro .
I resharpened the knife , to match the factory bevel ( looks like around 18 degrees )
And I threw the spine on the grinder , then hit it with some diamond laps to clean up the spine . Should scrape well now .
The edge was done on the guided knife sharpener / 320 / 600 / 1500 / 5000 .. And did initially bur like an Olympic champion ! ( hopefully cleaned and stropped well enough ) .
That's it for today , hopefully slice some rope soon and then show some spine ! ( Be bushcrafty )

 

[old4570]

Wow , not even 24 hours and he is doing modz ....
Ferro rod mount for the leather sheath .

Also ground the spine , sorry mentioned that .
Next I will slice some rope since all the modz are done ..

 

[old4570]

Ok , got around to slicing some rope !
200 slices for a fail .
The part of the belly that gets pushed into the wood every slice was the fail point . ( Rolled edge or bur )
Anyways , a quick wood strop / some snap crackle and pop / and the edge was just about as good as new ( on a sloppy wood strop )
So there might have been a micro bur / false edge from the guided knife sharpener .
Still , the come back from the wood strop was amazing .
A little leather stropping and it's like new . I might hit the rope again as is ( after strop ) and see how it goes .
This might be the best strop back ever ( to date for me ) .

I scrape some wood and ferro a fire with the Hiker ..
That spine is good now , and really dug deep into the ferro ..
So ..................... I am at this moment rather impressed by the Hiker .. Will this situation improve or worsen with further slicing ?
Speaking off ! That flat grind slices rope really well .
HRC ? 60/55HRC or 60HRC file bites and 55HRC file skates ..
So not Uber hard or Uber soft .. As the 60HRC file bit hard .

 

[old4570]

Edge was stropped back ..
And returned some 150 slices from the previous 200 slices .
Certainly was a bit of a bad patch found at the 150 mark ( some bur / false edge left over ? )

Anyways , the Hiker has been given a fresh 220 grit wet stone grinder edge .. See what happens ..

 

[old4570]

220 grit wet stone grinder edge ...
Short of it was a 200 fail , another rolled edge .
Roll started around 100 slices , and the fail was 200 .

Sharpened on the 60 grit wheel .. ( wet stone grinder )
Wow , the hiker is a Olympic Gold Medal contender for Burring .
The first few passes got me a massive bur ..
So after setting the edge I did 10 passes each way ( 20 total ) one way after the other to minimize burring .
Usually I do 10 to 12 passes , but since this knife is a burring contender I took it to a 20 pass total . ( That's actually quite a bit for cleaning the edge )
So next time , 60 grit !

 

[old4570]

Brisa Hiker 95 12c27n = Gold medal contender @ Burring !
This knife burs like an Olympic Champion .

60 grit wet stone grinder edge @ 18 degree factory angle .... Returned a 150 Fail ( roll ) .

No choice , just got to stop pushing 18 degrees up hill . Just does not look like this steel can handle it .
Pulled out the guided knife sharpener / digital angle meter and aimed at a 20 degree bevel .
320 grit diamond / 600 grit diamond / 800 grit oxide / 1500 grit oxide / 5000 grit stone .
Now have a very nice polished edge .. ( 5000 grit ) @ 20 degrees .
Will all that effort pay off ?
Who knows , it's 14 degrees C outside and raining !
So till next time !

 

[old4570]

My back is killing me !
So lets make this short and easy for me !
I put down a 20 degree edge on the guided knife sharpener resulting in a 200 Fail due to a edge roll .
A quick wood strop and the knife was slicing paper again .

I have put my 80 grit 250mm wheel back on the wet stone grinder ..
And the knife burred like an Olympic champion .
I don't know why , but this is hands down the best burring knife I think I own .
80 grit @ 20 degrees next :

 

[old4570]

This knife represents what I hate about many rave knife reviews :

80 grit 20 degree edge rolled @ 200 slices
The roll started again at the 150 mark , but still sliced paper !
I did the wood strop and the knife sliced paper ( rolled edge ) .
Leather stropping only took a few passes and the knife felt good slicing paper ( as good as when I started ) .

If the reviews posted had mentioned the poor edge retention / edge rolling .. This knife would not have been on my to buy list !

So for now , only one way to go , a 22 degree edge !

When will the edge stop rolling ? .............................

 

[old4570]

23 degree edge = 150 slice roll .... ( Guided knife sharpener )

This is not good at all .. The blade cant hold a 23 degree edge . ( Bad Ju Ju )

 

[old4570]

Final post on the Brisa Hiker 95 :

80 grit 23deg grind = 150 slice roll .

Ebay price $116.90 ... Thankfully there are not many of these around anymore .

Conclusion :

Comfortable
Easy to index
Light weight
Easy to maintain edge

Negatives -
Blade steel burrs like an Olympic Gold Medallist
Blade steel rolls like an Olympic Gold Medallist
So if your into rolling and burring ? Here is a knife for you .

12c27n = In my humble opinion , a budget steel that belongs on budget knives around the $50 Banana price point & lower !
Like a $10 USD Mora . At this price point the 12c27n returns some value .

Buyers remorse = Hell Yes !
Just not seeing any value for money with this sample .
And all those reviewers who crowed about this knife ........... Did you even use it ? Sharpen it ?