Beiträge von kwakster

A little belated follow-up story:

Upon closer inspection it turned out that this second Bowie had a number scratched in the brass guard, very small and only readable through a magnifying glass.
That number was a social security number or SSN, which i managed to trace back to the man who put it there.
The knife once belonged to James Michael Barnett, born: 08/23/1947, died: 11/12/2003, of 4301 Greenback Road; Utica, Kentucky.

Then a friend of mine who still uses Facebook managed to find and even contact his widow, and asked her if she would like to have the knife sent back to her.
While she declined that offer, she told my friend that she remembered the big Bowie as the knife Michael carried and used while stationed in Vietnam, and also after he returned to the US.
Michael enjoyed woodworking and the outdoors, through gardening and working in his yard.
His knife now has a prominent place in a display cabinet in the Netherlands.

Personally i like the contrast of that thick blade with the narrow edge angle.
It will of course never be the greatest slicer, but it will definitely make a sturdy & dependable hunting / survival knife.

Just finished hand regrinding this older ScrapYard Wardog in INFI steel using wet & dry SiC paper, first on on glass then on rubber with WD40 oil as a lubricant.
The old convex edge measured ~40 degrees inclusive at the heel widening to ~50 degrees inclusive at the belly, while the new convex edge measures an even ~30 degrees inclusive from heel to tip.

Blade crosshatched with a red marker, which i find useful to see where exactly i'm removing steel in the beginning.
The apex has been removed by pulling the old edge a few times very lightly over a fine diamond plate.

The almost 6 mm thick INFI blade:

After hand regrinding the blade on 1/2 a sheet of 180 grit SiC to a shallower convex edge (without producing a burr), while regularly checking with the Tormek AngleMaster to make sure that the new apex would fit in the 30 degrees inclusive slot.
Time spent up to this point: 2 hours

After the first refining steep on 1/3 of a sheet of 240 grit SiC, this time creating a small and even burr (only when the grit became increasingly finer due to SiC's friable nature)

Busy refining the scratch pattern and the burr on 1/2 a sheet of 400 grit SiC, but now on a semi-hard rubber backing, again using WD40 as a lubricant.

The burr has been removed on the Tormek leather wheel with 1.0 micron diamond compound to reveal a toothy edge that is reverse chesthair whittling sharp.

Specs:

Overall length: 24,5 cm
Blade length: 12,2 cm
Max blade thickness (ricasso): 5,98 mm
Steel: INFI
Hardness: 58-60 HRC
Handle material: Resiprene-C rubber
Weight: 176 grams

Interesting background information about the American pocketknife industry, by Walden village historian Mary Ellen Matise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loY2aomiKrY&pbjreload=101

My goal was to get the knife in proper working order again, and i only did what was necessary to get to that point.
Trying to remove all traces of age and use on this venerable oldie would not have felt right.

The finished knife.
Both blades can now shave armhair above the skin, the joints have had a few drops of 5-weight Nano-Oil, and the knife is fully usable again.

Specs:

Maximum length opened: 17.0 cm
Maximum length closed: 10.0 cm
Blade length main blade: 7.1 cm
Maximum thickness main blade (ricasso): 3.2 mm
Blade length secondary blade: 4.6 cm
Maximum thickness secondary blade (ricasso): 1.96 mm
Steel: Crucible steel
Handle materials: Cocobolo wood, solid nickel silver bolsters & shield inlay on brass liners.
Pocket pouch: blue leather

How the main blade currently looks.
It's surfaces have for now been finished on 1000 grit wet & dry on a semi-hard rubber backing using WD40 oil as a lubricant.
A microbevel has been applied on the white sticks of a Spyderco Sharpmaker at the ~30 degrees inclusive setting, again using some WD40.

And the smaller blade:

As i intend to carry & use this well made old knife for a while i'm treating it to some TLC.
Already cleaned everything thoroughly using toothpicks, a old toothbrush, an ultrasonic cleaner, and also electrolytically.
Then removed the bladeplay in the pivot and gave the old wood panels a few coats of IKEA mineral oil and a topcoat of Granger's wax.

Currently in the process of reshaping & regrinding both blades, the points of which now don't stick out of the handle in the closed position anymore.
This is the smaller blade after hand regrinding it ever so slightly convex on 400 grit wet & dry SiC paper clamped on a piece of hardened glass using WD40 as a lubricant.
There's a visible burr all along the edge, so it's now ready for one or more refining steps.
The single sided swedge was redone with a small diamond file.

And the larger blade.
It's double sided swedge was also redone with the small diamond file.

On most period Hammer Brand knives the tang stamp shows a shorter upper arm section with a bulging bicep, while on mine the upper arm is more elongated and without that pronound bicep.
Speculating i would think that the bulging bicep could be seen as an improvement from a marketing point of view, making the tang stamp on my knife an older version.

Picture from the tang stamp with the more commonly seen muscular arm:

The stamp on my knife:

Recently i bought this old Hammer Brand 2 bladed jackknife, made by the New York Knife Company in Walden, New York.
The company was operational from 1856 until 1931, when it closed it's doors.
The main blade seems to have an early version of the arm holding a forging hammer, and this is how the knife looked when i got it.

The blades on these knives were forged from crucible steel:

Old image of the New York Knife Company situated on the Walkill River.

You might also have a look at Vespa knives on YouTube.

This is one of several projects i'm currently working on, a vintage XXL Fahrtenmesser/Scout knife manufactured by Kienel & Piel in Solingen, Germany.
In Germany knives this size were often used by hunters for clearing shooting stands etc, but basically by anyone in need of a good quality heavy chopper with a classic design.

Once used in the jungles of Suriname by Dutch soldiers of Third Suriname Company in the early 1960's, this knife was recently found sheathed in an attic during a house clearing after the owner had passed away.
It's blade was corroded black, somewhere in time it had been "sharpened" on a bench grinder, and all handle parts were loosened and dried out.
But as the blade was still structurally sound and i have a soft spot for vintage German knives it became another project.

I chose to regrind the originally saber ground blade to convex by hand using a Chinese 300 grit diamond file, which removed most of the corrosion & edge damage, while at the same time giving the knife a much more effective blade geometry for chopping.
Also did a few refining steps using waterproof SiC paper on a semi-hard rubber backing with WD40 as a lubricant, but just enough so i can do a bit of test chopping when time permits.
The new edge measures somewhere between 25 and 30 degrees inclusive, and i still have to remove the burr.
The original stag handle was way too thick & lumpy for my hand, so after glueing all parts together i gave it a bit more ergonomic & functional shape.
Especially the thinning of the handle just behind the guard while leaving a thicker midsection makes for a very comfortable hold with much less hand fatigue.

How i received the knife:

How it currently looks:

Specs:

Overall length: 17.4 inches (44,2 cm)
Blade length: 12.3 inches (31,3 cm)
Blade thickness: 4,0 mm
Steel: hot drop-forged carbon steel
Weight: 476 grams

https://trends.gab.com/coronavirus

I posted the link because the website it refers to has been a useful & trustworthy source of news to me for a few years now, much more so than the main stream media in my country is, so i thought i'd share it with my fellow forum members here.

User LH Sebenza Micarta with it's blade made from Devin Thomas stainless basketweave damascus (AEB-L and 304)
Reprofiled & sharpened the old slightly convex edge with it's apex @ ~40 degrees inclusive into a new slightly convex edge with an apex @ ~30 degrees inclusive on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound, then removed the extremely fine burr on a piece of copypaper with a dab of 0.25 micron diamond paste.
The new apex is reverse chest hair whittling sharp and the new point is also quite close to being centered again.
To my functioning eye the bevels look near-mirror like, but the camera sees a bit blotchy scratch pattern due to the different layers in the damascus steel.

Before:

After:

Spyderco Stretch laminated blade with HAP40 core @ 63-64 HRC and an edge measuring between 25-30 degrees inclusive from the same owner as the A1 Pro in my first post.
The old & a bit pitted apex was removed on a Chinese 3000 grit diamond plate to create a very narrow and continuous light reflection all along the edge, then the blade was thinned by hand using 1 full sheet of 400 grit wet & dry on a semi-hard rubber backing with WD40 as a lubricant, right up to the still flattened edge, and then refined & apexed to an ever so tiny burr on 1/2 sheet of 1000 grit wet & dry on the same backing with again WD40.
The burr was then carefully stropped off on a piece of hard cardboard with a bit of 1.0 micron mono-diamond paste.
The new edge measures ~20 degrees inclusive and is reverse chest hair whittling sharp with just a bit of tooth.

Before:

After:

User Fallkniven A1 Pro in CoS stainless steel @ ~60 HRC from an experienced Dutch hunter, with it's apex at ~30 degrees inclusive.
The factory edge reflected light from slow wear, no dents or chips, and the owner wanted the new edge to have a somewhat toothy apex.
Pulled the edge a few times very lightly over a Chinese 3000 grit diamond plate, this to remove the weakened metal in the old apex and create a very narrow and continuous light reflection all along the edge.
I use this line as a guide to sneak up upon while sharpening, and in the end make it disappear as evenly as i can.

Sharpened the partially convex sides of the blade by hand to a new apex with an ever so tiny burr using only 1000 grit wet & dry SiC paper on a semi-hard rubber backing with WD40 as a lubricant, while regularly checking with my Tormek WM200 AngleMaster to make sure that the newly forming apex would also become ~30 degrees inclusive.
When this was done i removed the tiny burr with some careful light stropping on a piece of hard cardboard with a bit of 1.0 micron mono-diamond paste.
The sharp diamond particles are very efficiënt in removing tiny burrs on high alloy stainless steels, while the hard cardboard has just enough give to make sure that most of the toothyness in the apex from the 1000 grit wet & dry remains.
The new apex is just keen enough to pull a chest hair taught from root to tip and sever it close to the point of holding.

Took a number of pics with part of the camera & my finger in them on purpose to give a better idea of the scratch pattern.
You can click each picture 2 x for more detail.

Recently acquired this venerable oldie (1972-1974) which had a rounded point, no edge, and a handle filled with crud.
Cleaned everything with tootpicks, an old tootbrush with diluted detergent, and lastly an ultrasonic cleaner, polished the brass, then reground the blade by hand on wet & dry paper with WD40 as a lubricant.
The new convex edge measures ~25 degrees inclusive and there is a new point too.

Specs:

Length open: 21,8 cm
Length closed: 12,3 cm
Blade length: 9,5 cm
Blade thickness: 3,0 mm
Blade grind: semi-hollow convex
Edge angle: ~25 degrees inclusive
Steel: 440C stainless
Hardness: ~60 HRC (estimate based on regrinding/sharpening)
Locktype: Backlock
Handle material: Solid brass with Makassar Ebony inlays
Weight: 194,9 grams
Belt sheath: Leather

For several weeks now i've been doing a bit of testing in our home kitchen with a very cheap and second hand Thai Kiwi knife & a newly bought Zanussi polyethylene cutting board.
Got the knife for free from one of the Chefs i sharpen for, the tip being a bit bent from prying.
He bought it while on holiday for less than 5 euro, but although it cut well he didn't really like it as both the blade and the handle were too small for him (plus he's more into Japanese knives).
He did say however that these Kiwi knives are becoming a trend with a growing number of his professional colleagues.

This Kiwi knife is really cheap, very stainless, very lightweight, thin bladed, and the edge can easily be kept frighteningly sharp with just a mirror steel and/or a ceramic rod.
The simple wooden handle is nothing special, but so far it works well.
The blade steel itself isn't very hard, but with a thin relief bevel (mine is ~20 degrees inclusive) and a freehand microbevel of ~30 degrees inclusive done on a DMT red diafold the edge manages to stay arm hair shaving sharp on skin level for over a week in my kitchen use.

What absolutely kills it is trying to cut just one fresh crusted bread, then the edge looks like i've been sawing through a brick, and i have to reset the entire relief bevel on the Tormek again.
If i don't try to cut hard food like this the edge seems to hold up just fine.
Currently i'm applying the microbevel with an oiled Spyderco white ceramic stick to see how a bit finer edge performs and holds up.

An important part in all of this is the cutting board, as it's surface has to be very edge-friendly to get the maximum edge life out of these Kiwi knives, and so far i think i've found a very good performing one, made from polyethylene by Zanussi (on the bay for 16 euro including shipping from England to the Netherlands)

After reprofiling & sharpening on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound, then deburring and polishing it a bit with a second Paper Wheel coated with 1.0 micron diamond compound.
The new edge is a bit convex, and measures ~30 degrees inclusive on the straight part of the edge, changing into ~35 degrees inclusive from belly to point.
This to avoid widening the bevels there too much, as this blade is relatively thick behind the edge in that area.
The last picture shows a small facet at the heel which has an entirely different angle, so i could not remove it without making things worse.
Visually it's not perfect yet treetopping sharp, and the owner was happy.

The first owner of this small Sebenza apparently thought it a good idea to use the knife for sharpening practice in his new Wicked Edge.
The outcome made him sell the knife for a measly 150 Euro's to owner number two, who sent it to me with the request to tidy things up a bit and give it a bit of a shiny edge.

Below is what the knife looked like when i received it, still with it's very rough and partly unapexed "edge", and with an edge angle of ~40 degrees inclusive at the straight part of the edge, changing into ~45 degrees inclusive from belly to point.