"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

jc57 said:
GT - Go read the sticky posts at the top of the Maintenance, Tinkering, and Embellishment forum. Great stuff about angles, bevels, apexes, burrs. Couple of inexpensive tricks to help you "get it" are use of a Sharpie to mark the edge, and a loupe or some other magnifier to inspect your work close up to see exactly where you are hitting and where you are missing.
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Thanks for the suggestions, John. I seem to be doing OK according to the Sharpie, but I'm still "burrless" in my sharpening attempts.

- GT
 
Does anyone have any experience with 'Dan's Honing Oil', and specifically if it is food safe?
 
5K Qs said:
I'm enjoying, and hopefully learning from, this discussion of sharpening. It's encouraging to me to hear that many people struggled at first, and then finally "got it"; I'm still waiting for that breakthrough. (I'm working, as well as waiting, but maybe need to work harder.) It's also interesting to hear opinions on guided systems and stropping. Special thanks to Cory for his detailed comments, and photos, on his approach. :thumbup::thumbup:

- GT
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GT I thought I would add this. When I first got serious about sharpening my knives I went to Goodwill and bought 9 or 10 old kitchen knives and started sharpening them everyday. That kept me from destroying the edges on my good knives. Some days maybe only spent 15 or 20 minutes on them but did it every day. I also folded a piece of cardstock like a model airplane that gave me about a 45 degree angle then folded it again to give about a 23 degree angle. I would lay the knife against the cardboard and study what that angle looked like until I had it in my head then started concentrating on maintaining that angle until I could pretty much hit that angle every time. Then I started reducing that angle just a little to obtain about 20 degrees. After that came how much pressure to apply. Every body talks about angle but not much about pressure. For a while I would maintain the angle and not the pressure being applied and the result was only an edge that would cut but not really sharp. I then read that you should listen to the sound you make when you run your blade across your stone. I found that a consistent "scrapping" sound on my diamond or course stone equaled consistent pressure and then after many tries I found the sound "and feel" I needed to produce a burr on the opposite side I had last sharpened. Then came the fine grit stone to remove the burr. I quickly found out that same sound for a course grit was way to much pressure and would undo what I had just accomplished. I found on a fine grit stone almost no sound at all to be correct. After all what you are trying to accomplish at this point is simply removing the burr. Next came stropping, I took an old leather belt and bought a 1 lb block of green compound, laid it to the belt and went to town on it, Results were I dulled the blades I had just sharpened. I quickly realized that a little compound rubbed in goes a long way and that maintaining angle and pressure again was the key and just a few passes over the strop was plenty. Now everything just falls into place even on the dullest of knives. The other day I bought an old USA made Schrade 70t that was in really great condition but was as dull of a blade as I have ever owned. In about 15 minutes I laid it against my arm, sliced and a section of hair came off as easy as if I had used my Schick Razor. I hope this helps and just keep on sharpening because it takes a journey to reach a destination.
 
You can make a quickie angle guide from a piece of 8.5x11 copy paper. Turns out that a right triangle with a base of 11" and a height of 4" is almost exactly 20 degrees, and 11" base with a 3" height is 15.25 degrees (2 15/16th inches if you want exactly 15 degrees).

So if you lay the paper lengthwise and make a pencil mark along the 8.5" side at 3" and draw a line to the opposite bottom corner, that's a 15 degree angle. From the 4" mark, that's a 20 degree angle. You can cut your copy paper and use it as a template to transfer the angle to a piece of cardboard or wood for a sturdier angle guide.

Good old basic trig.
 
Has anyone seen the Revenant, or the Hateful Eight? Two movies I am very interested in. It appears they took a lot of artistic license with Hugh Glass's story.

Two that I'm looking forward to in the theater, hoping to see one tonight.

Happy New Year!
 
Thanks for the additional hints, Randy and John. :) It sounds like good sharpening is a "multi-sensory experience" that depends not only on sight and how things look, but also on touch to get the right pressure for a specific grit, and on hearing to get the right sound of blade against stone. A resolution for 2016 for me better include more time for sharpening practice!

- GT
 
Not to mention the smell of the oil on a natural Arkansas stone, the taste of a cold dinner because you spent too much time sharpening and your significant other put your dinner in the microwave for when you get done sharpening that darned knife. Truly a treat for all of the senses. :D
 
jc57 said:
Not to mention the smell of the oil on a natural Arkansas stone, the taste of a cold dinner because you spent too much time sharpening and your significant other put your dinner in the microwave for when you get done sharpening that darned knife. Truly a treat for all of the senses. :D
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:thumbup::D
 
Bummer! Sorry 2016 started on such a sour note!
 
RobertJ1 said:
Well New Years Eve 2015 has been a complete disaster. I came home from work tonight to find that my place has been broken into. My coins and knives are gone aside from my two that I had with me today. The money I had put aside to get a new knife was taken. My watches etc. I have no insurance here as I am renting and don't pay rent due to an agreement with the land owner. What an awesome day. Hope all you have a better holiday.

Time to start all over again on my slipjoint collection. Atleast I still have one.
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Terrible news, but I admire your attitude.
 
RobertJ1 said:
Well New Years Eve 2015 has been a complete disaster. I came home from work tonight to find that my place has been broken into. My coins and knives are gone aside from my two that I had with me today. The money I had put aside to get a new knife was taken. My watches etc. I have no insurance here as I am renting and don't pay rent due to an agreement with the land owner. What an awesome day. Hope all you have a better holiday.

Time to start all over again on my slipjoint collection. Atleast I still have one.
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That's an awful way to start the new year. :( I have a knife to send you to turn things around a bit. Send me your info in a visitor message and I'll get it sent off to you. :thumbup:
 
Man Robert I hate to hear that. Like said above you do have a very positive attitude about this and that is the mark of a great person.
 
RobertJ1 said:
Well New Years Eve 2015 has been a complete disaster. I came home from work tonight to find that my place has been broken into. My coins and knives are gone aside from my two that I had with me today. The money I had put aside to get a new knife was taken. My watches etc. I have no insurance here as I am renting and don't pay rent due to an agreement with the land owner. What an awesome day. Hope all you have a better holiday.

Time to start all over again on my slipjoint collection. Atleast I still have one.
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I certainly hope that 2016 is a better year for you Robert, your post history makes for depressing reading :(

A few of us here have been cleaned out over the years :(
 
Sorry to hear that, Robert. A pretty lousy start to the New year.
 
kootenay joe said:
5K Qs, is it necessary to re-post every picture ? Why not comment without taking up a huge amount of space re-posting pictures ? You make the thread 'bulky', meaning everyone has to scroll through 10 or more pictures they have already seen to be able to read the posts that follow yours.
I'm posting this here rather than PM'ing you so that i can ask: Does it bug anyone else ? If it's just me i'll shut up and accept that this is how others like it.
kj
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I agree with you, KJ, and I know you are not alone. There is a certain group here who constantly "back pat" each other, I find it cliqueish and not conducive to the health of the sub forum. What does Gary and Frank think on this subject?

Kris
 
MT Damascus said:
I agree with you, KJ, and I know you are not alone. There is a certain group here who constantly "back pat" each other, I find it cliqueish and not conducive to the health of the sub forum. What does Gary and Frank think on this subject?

Kris
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I posted this and more where the original post was made.

From the guidelines;
Copying & Pasting

I've been asked by some of our members recently to request the following:

Please edit your posts and replies so that you don't have to unnecessarily copy images and quotes over and over in a thread ad infinitum. You can excise the images and portion of a previous post that are not relevant in making your point which will enhance the reading experience for your fellow forumites. Thanks for taking the time and care to do so
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The above is a request. Sometimes it makes sense to edit the images and the irrelevant text from your response, sometimes it doesn't. Personally I try to do it when it makes sense. I don't always remember though.

As far as cliques, you're going to find those anywhere human beings gather, from the school yard to the boardroom to the halls of Congress. As long as it's not breaking any rules it is what it is.

Edited to add; I do think this forum is pretty welcoming to new posters for the most part. Sometimes when they come in like gang busters they get a little correction, but that's ok in my opinion. For the most part we play nice here.
 
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