A pay it forward giveaway GAW

cchu518

cchu518

Joined
Mar 6, 2013
Messages
8,331
Just recently I won one of PocketKnives4Sale's gaw's. It was a really handsome and stout Schrade IXL Canoe from the early 80's. It came in a fantastic sheath as well.

I was really surprised when I got it. First at how good looking the handle was and second at just how stout this canoe was. It was a far cry from the Boker and Case canoe's that I've tried in the past.

What was a little disappointing though as with many traditional's that I have picked up in the past the knife was butter dull and had no bevel. As of lately I've narrowed down my edge repair kit to a basic Norton two sided benchstone I use the "fine" 320 grit side more than the course side in combination with a Spyderco Sharpmaker, I finish by alternating stropping on a Lansky turnbox and an old leather belt. I also have a Norton Crystolon stone in my basement but it is literally too aggressive on all but the hardest steels.



The result is a hair shaving edge with no burrs. In thanks for Al's (PocketKnives4Sale) generosity, I wanted to share some of the fun that I got out of winning this knife and putting a bevel on it. The winner is going to get a brand new basic Norton Econ Alum Oxide Benchstone sent to them. This is a two sided stone with a really aggressive course side and a fine side that most people would probably consider to be a medium grit. It's a really high value piece of my sharpening arsenal despite it's low cost. Since discovering it and after messing up a 440C Benchmade on the Crystolon, I've found the Norton Alum Oxide Benchstones fine side to be the fastest way for me to create a clean edge or reprofile a knife. For example I've picked up two old moderns with broken tips and it didn't take much more than 20 minutes to reprofile the tips. Generally speaking for traditionals it's a great tool for putting on or reprofiling an edge!

In any case I hope this comes in handy for someone, it also makes for a great toothy edge if you happen to need a toothy edge for cutting fibrous materials.

Rules are is you need 200 posts in traditionals. And your first post with I'm in is your entry.

Winner will get a brand new Norton stone sent to them.

Of course here is a photo or two of the Schrade the Norton stone is in the background! When I have time I'm going to grab some sandpaper and put a satin finish on the bolsters and blade. G'luck to all!



 
Not an entry please, but a generous giveaway of a historically interesting knife. The parts were made by Camillus I believe, then shipped to the Richards factory on Moore Street, Sheffield, where they were hafted, assembled, and finished by cutlers from Rodgers & Wostenholm, before being shipped back to the US.
 
I'm in:)

Thanks for the chance, I've never used a stone like that before and I'd like to try it out. Very generous of you sir👍🏻
 
Jack Black said:
Not an entry please, but a generous giveaway of a historically interesting knife. The parts were made by Camillus I believe, then shipped to the Richards factory on Moore Street, Sheffield, where they were hafted, assembled, and finished by cutlers from Rodgers & Wostenholm, before being shipped back to the US.
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Do you know why there was a contract to assemble this series this way? I had read a pretty heated argument about it from a few years ago.
 
Not an entry. Cool knife my dad picked one up at a gun show for me a few months ago, great knife, unique and collectable
 
cchu518 said:
Do you know why there was a contract to assemble this series this way? I had read a pretty heated argument about it from a few years ago.
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There is an old post on here about these knives and the story behind them was near the end for Schrade as it was
 
Not an entry please. Just wanted to say that is the stone I commonly use, usually only the fine side then I finish with a few strokes over some high grit sandpaper. They do the job good enough for what I need.
 
Turk88 said:
Not an entry please. Just wanted to say that is the stone I commonly use, usually only the fine side then I finish with a few strokes over some high grit sandpaper. They do the job good enough for what I need.
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I've tried Sharpening over all different grits and Waterstones and by and large the combination that you use is just perfect. I've made the mistake of mirror polishing an edge and while it slices paper really well, it wouldn't have anything to grab onto with other materials.

It is why I hope the Norton stone gaw will be useful to anyone who might not have tried one.
 
I'm in, what a great idea for this giveaway!
Norton stones are to sharpening what Case Knives are to the knife world as a whole. Sure there are many Handy new varieties (of both stones and knives) out there and then there are the unchanging standards that both Case and Norton seem to represent.
 
excellent gift.
i use a combination of carborundum, Arkansas and diamond stones. plus sandpaper and belt grinder depending how dull a balde is.
Norton makes excellent stones. i use their grinding wheels.
buzz
 
Thanks I had really thought through the gaw, and I have to say this stone is one of the really good sharpening devices for high carbon/1095 type blades as put into many traditionals. The diamond and crystolon work great too but they are really aggressive in taking off materials.

I do have to admit when it came butter knife dull I was hesitant but after doing a first sharpening to me, I got it back to hair popping in about 10 minutes, had to do some chores today and picked up some Dremel abrasive buffing wheels and will see how that works on the blade and bolsters. I've never tried the Dremel buffing wheels before so it should be fun.

I suspect I'm going to have to do some hand rubbing to get some of the deep scratches off but I really want to give this guy a second life, restore it before beating it up all over again, lol.
 
cchu518 said:
Do you know why there was a contract to assemble this series this way? I had read a pretty heated argument about it from a few years ago.
Click to expand...

Sorry, only just seen this, and it's late here now. I have posted about this before, and recently, with some photos and images. In 1971, IXL/George Wostenholm was acquired by Joseph Rodgers, the combined group were acquired by Richards in 1975, and a couple of years later, the group of companies was acquired by Imperial-Schrade. Imperial launched the Schrade-Wostenholm line of knives, but a big part of the selling point behind this range of knives was that they were made in Sheffield. The small group of cutlers from Rodgers & Wostenholm had by this time moved into the Richards plant, and it was they that put the knives together. They were never sold in this country, and the knives were marked 'Strictly export only' at the factory. Frankly, by this time, I doubt that knives of that quality could have been produced at the factory. Maybe Imperial knew this, or maybe they wanted greater control of the quality of the knives, or whatever. For sure, it's a strange way of going about 'making' knives, but these were difficult times for all involved. Richards made a lot of money selling cheap clam-shell knives, but by the time they were bought by Imperial, they were struggling in the face of competition from both the Far East and from Europe, and I think Imperial almost certainly lost money on the deal. They sold their Sheffield interests in 1982, and Richards went bust less than a year later. Perhaps the Schrade-Wostenholm line was Imperial's attempt to salvage something from what they must have quickly realised was an unwise investment.
 
I'm in, Thanks!! Btw, 2000 grit wet/dry paper or "automotive" give steel a satin/mirror finish. If you finish with Flitz metal polish, it will be satin. Just FYI. Looks great.
 
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