- Joined
- May 2, 2004
- Messages
- 6,848
If you stay at knife making long enough, it seems, people assume you sharpen knives as a matter of course.
Its not something I advertise, but I don't turn people away either.
The other day, my good friend Jeff brought me these two knives to sharpen.
They weren't his knives, but belonged to a friend of his that worked at the same plant.
One of the knives was a well known brand, the other was a handmade piece that had been made by the mans grandfather.
As you can see, both knives had been badly abused.
I took a look at the factory knife first and decided, for the time and money involved, I would advise the man to just purchase another one. It looked to be a twenty dollar knife.
The other knife, that had been made by his relative, looked like it could be saved.
It was obvious it was someones first or second attempt at making a knife.
When a file was run over the dented edge, it was apparent the blade had never been hardened.
When I realized the blade had not been hardened and I took another look, my mind flashed back to the early blades I had made for my young son out of sheet stainless, that were unhardened also.
That's what this was. A special knife, made for the hands of a young son or a favorite nephew and it had been made with love and care.
I did my best to restore what the maker had intended, with a little grinding and a bit of buffing.
When the man came to pick up the knives, I told him straight out that the factory knife was junk and he could buy another just like it at Wally World but the other was a keeper, even though it was not meant to be a user.
I whipped up a small stand out of antler and handed it to him, along with the knife, telling him it would look nice on the mantle.
There was no charge; my pleasure.
Fred
Its not something I advertise, but I don't turn people away either.
The other day, my good friend Jeff brought me these two knives to sharpen.
They weren't his knives, but belonged to a friend of his that worked at the same plant.
One of the knives was a well known brand, the other was a handmade piece that had been made by the mans grandfather.
As you can see, both knives had been badly abused.
I took a look at the factory knife first and decided, for the time and money involved, I would advise the man to just purchase another one. It looked to be a twenty dollar knife.
The other knife, that had been made by his relative, looked like it could be saved.
It was obvious it was someones first or second attempt at making a knife.
When a file was run over the dented edge, it was apparent the blade had never been hardened.
When I realized the blade had not been hardened and I took another look, my mind flashed back to the early blades I had made for my young son out of sheet stainless, that were unhardened also.
That's what this was. A special knife, made for the hands of a young son or a favorite nephew and it had been made with love and care.
I did my best to restore what the maker had intended, with a little grinding and a bit of buffing.
When the man came to pick up the knives, I told him straight out that the factory knife was junk and he could buy another just like it at Wally World but the other was a keeper, even though it was not meant to be a user.
I whipped up a small stand out of antler and handed it to him, along with the knife, telling him it would look nice on the mantle.
There was no charge; my pleasure.
Fred
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