My Sharpening and knife related videos

[blgentry]

More work on poor quality knives...  This one is an old boot knife that I bought on a closeout sale at a local place back in something like 1988.  I know I drove there and my first car was 1987 or 88.  So way back.  I let these knives (there were two of them) rot in their bad leather sheaths for 35 years.  I almost threw them both away because they were in such bad shape.  Instead, I decided to experiment with them.  On this one, I refinished the handle.





Brian.

[chino]

Very cool, Brian! This was a good idea (too have your videos in one place). Keep them coming.

[blgentry]

Edge testing is probably the reason this forum exists.  I'm really glad I have the BESS tester.  But most knife sharpeners don't have one.  They use all kinds of stuff.  One of the most common tests is paper cutting.  If you cut enough paper with a knife, you're going to notice different things about the cut.  A lot of things affect the cut, including the paper itself.  This video explores a little bit about this.





Brian.

[blgentry]

When I got my 7" Old Hickory knife I noticed that the handle overlaps the tang a good bit.  Maybe 1/16" or so?  Not a good flush fit.  There's also no finish at all on the handles.  Which should not be surprising in a $12 knife!  It's really quite a bargain.  I can see why so many people buy them and mod them into other shapes and things.   I worked on the handle including applying some finish.  Here are the results.





Brian

[blgentry]

Sharpening serrated blades can be challenging.  One "right way" to do it is to use tapered conical files on each individual scallop.  I've had poor luck with that method, but I haven't tried it that way in several years.  The SharpMaker triangle rods do a good job, but they round off the points of the serrations over time since you are essentially running the rod down and through all the scallops.

This method I show grinds only from the flat side, which should preserve the pointy parts of the serrations.  It's also very fast as compared to trying to do each scallop individually.  I like the results.  Some disagree with me.  Some very strongly.  That's fine; to each their own.  I like the results and the amount of time spent with this method.





Brian.

[blgentry]

I refinished the handle on my larger 10" Old Hickory knife.  The Kally makes short work of wooden handles.  I used a 120 grit Blaze belt to do all of the shaping of the handle.  Then hand sanded with 100 and 150 to smooth things out.  I'm enjoying working on knife handles. 





Brian.

[grepper]

Nice work!  You made it nicer than when it was new.

[Mike Brubacher]

You've given me inspiration Brian! I acquired a very large, heavy knife with wooden handle at the thrift store a few years ago for testing purposes. I took a great edge and felt very manly in my hand so I took it home where it has become my go-to knife for all big/tough cutting jobs. The handle was so impregnated with grease that I never could get it clean though. I suspect that it was used in a butcher shop. I'm going to retrieve it back to the office and give it your Kally treatment. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[grepper]

Take before / after pics!

[blgentry]

The handle was so impregnated with grease that I never could get it clean though. I suspect that it was used in a butcher shop. I'm going to retrieve it back to the office and give it your Kally treatment. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Neat!

You probably don't need my advice, but...  The kally with a 120 grit belt will consume wood at a pretty fast pace.   It's not crazy, but it definitely removes a good bit of material in a short time.  For reshaping it's pretty friendly.  Depending on how deep the oil/grease goes, you might try 100 grit sandpaper by hand first.  If you are careful I'm sure that the Kally will work.    Either way I would finish sanding by hand.

I'll be very curious to hear about your results.  Good luck!

Brian.