tcmeyer

A highly polished edge will make slicing easier – with one caveat.  A knife edge cuts at the apex, but the bevels must push the two sides of the material being cut apart so that the apex can advance and a high polish reduces the friction.  This can be very significant with materials that are firm and especially so where the blade is thick.  Th…[Read more]

Sorry I hadn’t visited this thread before now, but on examining the photo of the jack screw, I count only about 2.5 turns of thread on a 20 thread-per-inch screw extending through the jaw.  If the screw is indeed screwed all the way in, that’s only 1/8″ and is simply not going to work for blades more than about 1/16″ thick.  My WE100 vise screws w…[Read more]

A blade thickness of 0.140″ shouldn’t have any problem clamping in the Gen 1 vise.  With the proper screws supplied, it should clamp blades of 0.25″ and better.

Just to be clear, let’s talk about the vise set-up.  For blades with parallel face grinds, you should adjust the upper screw so that the right-side jaw (the moveable side) is vertical – t…[Read more]

Years ago, I did some knife sharpening as a service for a friend gunsmith shop.  There are (were) a few individuals who simply can’t seem to sharpen a particular knife and they resort to letting someone else try.  I remember one fellow handing me his hunting knife, which he said had been made from a file by a friend during WWII.  He cautioned th…[Read more]

Hi Amelia:

What sort of info do you need?  Chances are at least one of us can provide the right info, assuming it’s something less than R rated.

I suggest not using vertical scrubbing strokes unless you are doing some serious reprofiling and have a ways to go before reaching the apex.  Circular strokes will also contribute to what you see as blemishes.  If you are concerned about the appearance of the bevels, try to use unidirectional strokes, alternating the direction between g…[Read more]

Wishtai:

With regard to knives which are best for cutting meat, I’ll offer the following comments:

Meat falls into the category of soft and slippery.  Depending on the temperature of the meat, the thickness of the blade can be a factor, as well as the degree of polish.  Very cold meat will prefer a very thin knife.  Thick blades with polished be…[Read more]

I have an aritsugu that came directly from the shops in Kyoto.  Initial  impressions were that the knife was extremely sharp, at about 6 dps.  The edge was full of what we would defects, appearing to be more like a foil edge.  You can see a video of my first inspection with a handheld microscope here.  Another video shows the edge after one year…[Read more]

D2… my favorite steel, simply because it’s air-hardened and so easier to make knives at home.  Last fall I made 4 knives with D2 and heated them to 1850F in my propane mini forge.  I quenched them between 2 thick aluminum plates and compressed air.  I tempered them in a 450F oven for 2 hrs. They sharpen very nicely, but I wondered about their ac…[Read more]

I bought 5/16″ stainless square bar stock from Mcmaster.com (8986K13).  Cut to the desired length and use the original bar as a template – clamp it centered to the new bar and drill the two holes through the original holes.  A 7/32″ drill ought to work.

And wicked edgy when referring to the prices as well!  Wife and I were there in ’94 for proton beam treatments at Harvard.  I think I paid $18 to park for a 20-minute breakfast near Harvard Square.  Otherwise, a great time.

Diamond lapping film lasts longer than you would think.  If you can find a supplier that will sell you 8X11 sheets of PSA film, the costs per strip are actually quite reasonable.  That having been said, I’d recommend buying the 1500/2200 diamond stones rather than the 1500/glass platen set.  Diamond stones aren’t subject to contamination like st…[Read more]

Thanks for the post, Robert.  I ordered a set of the files today.  I hope to use them on blades I harden in my propane mini-forge.

I’ve always noticed that the stainless knives I’ve sharpened in 420C and 440C “felt” different.  Not hard, but resistant to normal abrasion by my diamond stones.  I think I’ve sensed something similar on other man…[Read more]

Well… pretty much, but we have had a couple of individuals who gave up on it either because they didn’t want to invest the time to learn the basics or were so mechanically-challenged they didn’t begin to understand the basic principles.  Never underestimate the limitations of those at the bottom end of the bell curve.

Emily was played by the late, great Gilda Radner.  I remember her wondering what all the fuss was, about “sax and violins” on television.  That was another of her “Oh!  Never mind!” moments.  I thought she was even better in her other character role, as Rosanne Rosannadana.  Gilda, a gifted comedienne, was married to Gene Wilder and died in 1988…[Read more]

Sorry I hadn’t read this before, as I could have saved you some time and money.  Planer blades wouldn’t work in a chisel adapter or even in the WE because of their angle.  You can, however, use the diamond stones to finish the edges.

Planer blades tend to see damage that is quite deep along their edges and which usually requires some sort of p…[Read more]

I’ve made a number of knives from kits over the past 45 years.  Recently, I’ve done a few that have turned out quite good.

If you want an inexpensive ($23) EDC folder, I’ve done the “Sarge” kit, which is available from a number of sources.  My source was Woodcraft.

My kitchen knives, which I also bought from Woodcraft, are completed blades of e…[Read more]

Back to the scalpel in the photo I posted above.  Please note that what the manufacturer has done is to form the bevels with (what appears to be) 600 grit, then polished one side.  They are skipping all the intermediate grits between 600 and 3000 (?), so the 600-grit scratches and the 600-grit apex are retained.  Only the high ridges of the 60…[Read more]

Clay reported at one time that he had some success with 200 as the “tooth”-producing grit.  Probably used as an elk-gutting and skinning application.  I don’t recall the details, but I would think that 50 grit is too coarse and would accelerate the loss of steel.  I have a set of non-serrated Wuesthof steak knives and they are quite thin and ha…[Read more]

I made a batch of skinning knives which have a more or less constant radius belly (see photo below) and found that the best way to mount the knife is to center the belly directly over the center of the vise, ignoring any of the normal landmarks or key positions.  This works so well that I’ve adopted it for any knife that has a somewhat constant…[Read more]