Beiträge von kwakster

  • J.Rodgers & Sons Pocket Bowie

    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.


  • Ka-Bar Marine Corps Commemorative reject

    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 ?


  • 2 Swedish Air Force survival knives

    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.


  • Regrinding/sharpening worn Victorinox carving knives

    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.


    GEDC4201.jpg


    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.


    GEDC4202.jpg

    GEDC4203.jpg


    Example of one of the knives before regrinding/sharpening:


    GEDC4204.jpg

    GEDC4205.jpg


    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.


    GEDC4214.jpg

    GEDC4215.jpg


    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.

  • 2 Swedish Air Force survival knives

    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.