Beiträge von kwakster

A fellow collector's recent addition is this J.Rodgers & Sons pocket bowie.

He visited me today for some knife talk and a cup of coffee, and i just had to take a few snapshots of this old school Sheffield made gem.

A friend of mine recently bought this rather special Hattori model, and i thought you guys would like to see it as well,

A week ago a friend of mine brought me this gold etched commemorative Ka-Bar with gold plated guard & pommel

The knife had a loose guard, which by the way was easily solved by treating the leather handle to a few coats of warm beeswax.

This made the leather swell just enough to tighten the guard again.

The owner told me that only 2 or 3 of these "proof" knives exist, each one with a different blade etching, and at least this design didn't make it.

Still a very nice version of the classic Ka-Bar in my book, what do you guys think ?

While busy with finetuning the handle the knife slipped out of my rubber coated vise and fell from a measured hight of 1.10 meter on one of the concrete sidewalk tiles which form the floor on my balcony, and landed on the belly part of the edge.

I did not try to catch the falling knife

To my surprise there was only slight denting in that area, no large chips, which i would have expected given the presumed high hardness in combination with the narrow edge angle.

Anyway, due to this i had to regrind the blade again on the green silicon carbide side of my Foss 7205 stone, and that is where i am now.

A set of worn Victorinox carving knives from a local butcher.

Edge angles on the really narrow ones were in the 50 to 60 degrees inclusive range, and the request was to see if i could at least make them useful again.

Weapon of choice was my cheap variable speed Parkside belt grinder (345-645 rpm, used at the lowest speed, while the machine is held upside down in a vise), which i modified a bit to have a slack belt section.

The belts themselves are also cheap but reasonable quality aluminium oxide ones made by German company Bosch, and i coat each belt with one or more layers of also cheap spray wax, normally used to make your car shine.

While these waxed belts will not keep heat away at the same level as a fully water cooled setup, they do provide me with noticeably more "dwell time" while doing passes on the belt, and after each pass i also dunk the blades in water.

Most of the regrind is done on an 80 grit belt, while refining & apexing is done on a 120 grit belt.

Burrs normally get stropped off on the Tormek's leather wheel, but can also be removed on an oiled DMT Diafold (thereby creating a microbevel)

Used this way i have not experienced burnt edges or points, and i test each edge afterwards by cutting into wood or HDPE, then shave a few hairs from the back of my hand or cut up a piece of paper.

I've been using this simple & cheap setup for quite some time now, and from feedback from restaurants i've learned that the edges perform well and the chefs that use these knives are satisfied.

Example of one of the knives before regrinding/sharpening:

Afterwards (burr is still partly on the new edge, which measures between 25 and 30 degrees inclusive)

Notice that i not only convexed the edge but also the back of the blade to a degree, which allows for a much easier slicing through various meats, together with noticeably improved twisting & turning.

The trick here is to not thin the blade too much, as it needs to remain rigid and not flexible like a filleting knife.

Thought i'd share this method for people having to regrind/sharpen (a lot of) cheap kitchen knives for friends & family, or maybe to use for a side job.

Currently experimenting a bit with different grits of diamond paste on thin cardboard to see what gives both a nice blade finish as well as a good apex.

Already found that only removing the burr is not enough to get the sharpest of edges on this steel, i have to continue stropping a bit to also get the (presumed tungsten) carbides into the right shape.

I also have to tinker some more with the appearance of the blade finish (now it's a bit too shiny for my taste), but the current apex is reverse hairwhittling sharp (chest hair) @ ~20 degrees inclusive.

How the blade looks after hand regrinding to full convex again on the green silicon carbide side of the Foss combination stone used with WD40 oil.

The new edge angle measures ~20 degrees inclusive.

Regrinding the old jimping / notching using a cordless drill with diamond bit & WD40 oil:

The blade has been hand reground on the Foss 7205 combination stone (burr is partly visible), and a few refining steps on wet & dry SiC paper will follow later.

Now regrinding the swedge with 300 and 600 grit diamond files.

Busy fine sanding the handle surface:

The new leather midsection after rough machine sanding with a cheap Parkside linisher (which i modified so it can do slack belt sanding):

Currently busy with making a new leather midsection for the handle of knife # 2.

The blade on this one is in a bit worse condition, and the handle's leather midsection had rotted over time, together with a pommel stuck in place.

This classic American handbook about sharpening by John Juranitch is now in the public domain and available as a free download in several different formats.

It doesn't matter if you're an absolute beginner or a seasoned pro, there is something in it for everyone.

https://archive.org/details/Knife_Sharpening/mode/2up

Blade hand reground to it's original full convex blade shape on a Foss 7205 black/green silicon carbide stone used with oil, then refined on 400 grit and 1000 grit SiC wet & dry paper used with oil on glass, and the tiny burr stropped off on hard cardboard with 1.0 micron diamond paste.
The new apex measures between 20 and 22,5 degrees inclusive.
Very hard (guesstimate 64-65 HRC) and also very wear resistant steel.
Handle reassembled, now with all washers glued and pommel repolished, then treated to a few coats of warm Granger's wax.
Sheath waxed and hand restitched.

Recently acquired these two fixed blades made by Swedish manufacturer Pontus Holmberg.
According to this website the model was once used as a survival knife for the Swedish Air Force: http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/artikla.../1survival.htm

I'm in the process of giving each one a bit of TLC, and will post some pics later on.

I knew beforehand that the outcome wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea, but for me functionality trumps looks every time.
Grinding the rough convex form with the diamond file (without apexing) took a few hours in total.
Most time was spent shaping & smoothing the blade surfaces on the Foss combination stone and the wet & dry paper on glass.
Visually it's still not 100 % perfect, but the current edge already holds up fine whittling an old piece of hard beechwood cutting board.
A few more pics:

For quite a few years this Buck Strider 881 mini tanto in BG42 steel was gathering dust in a drawer, as to me it was more a knife-like object, literally unable to cut anything.
Over the last few weeks i changed that with the help of my Tormek SB-250 stone (for the point area), a 300 grit diamond file, a Foss 7205 black/green silicon carbide stone, and some 400 grit wet & dry SiC paper on glass (for the straight edge)
The apex on the now full convex blade measures somewhere between 22.5 and 25 degrees inclusive, and i'm first going to do some test cutting to find out if i can safely lower it a bit more.
Also rounded the overly sharp G10 grip plates a bit and sanded the screw heads.

Before:

While grinding the blade with the diamond file:

After the 400 grit SiC paper and removing the tiny burr on a piece of hard cardboard with a dab of 1.0 micron diamond paste:

Considering all work was done with only one eye currently functioning at about 80 % (plus a pair of reading glasses) i'm quite pleased with the result,

Vintage French dagger from the Airborne Foreign Legion 1er Republic France Algeria Indochina (1948-1961)
Background on this regiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Foreign_Parachute_Regiment

This example that recently came out of the woodwork is marked on the ricasso: "Rodrigues 1880 Amsterdam".
In pre-internet days this was a well-known hardware store in the Netherlands, and with an owner who was a knife afi with a fondness for quality.
Sadly he and his wife died in 1977 in the Tenerife aircrash, while going on the first holiday of their life.
They had no successors.

Specs:

Overall length: (29,5 cm)
Blade length: (18,0 cm)
Max blade thickness (ricasso): 4,7 mm
Steel: drop-forged stainless steel
Guard: stainless steel
Handle materials: Fiber and brass
Weight: 241 grams (handle heavy)
Sheath: leather with 4 metal studs

My hydrogen generator as it came in (cost: 50 euro including shipping within the Netherlands)
It produces 800-1200 PPB (Parts Per Billion) of hydrogen gas with 4 Watt of electrolytic power, while the glass can contain 450 ml of water.
(mineral water is recommended, at the moment i still use tap water)
With rechargeable stainless steel base where the electrolysis takes place, a thick borosilicate glass midsection, and a stainless steel lid:

This plastic part can be screwed directly on the business end, filled with water, and is then used to attach a nasal tube for inhaling of the hydrogen gas.
It also doubles for direct attachment of a prefilled spring water bottle: