Construktionwork and slipjoints.

N

NirreBosse

Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
1,131
I want to make a post on knifes while working with construction. Im in building fever. In 12 days my new home arrives. Its a 1 1/2 floor villa. From factory it has the bottom floor started and real construktionworkers will make this first floor of 102 squaremeters ready to live in. Im taking the sommer of from work, to build a garage/carport/workshop annex. For the next winter I plan to Work on the upper floor thats not delivered ready to live in. Upper floor will be 65 squaremeters and annex will be 80 squaremeeters, so it involves a lot of handywork. Ive done this before as a work for a period and later on two smaller houses where we spend holidays. I realy look forward to do practical work. I love to work with tools.

When it comes to knifes I have a set of 6 mora 511 that I rotate. I carry two on my body. One real beeter in my carpenters belt and one in better shape buttoned to my workingtrousers. As they loose sharpness the one in the belt goes to the sharpeningbucket and the one from the trousers to the belt. All has the same sheats and those dont has to be remooved.

Besides of these moras I always carry a slipjoint. This is the realy sharp knife that is often needed. This one doesnt get abused but wery much used. Most often I have been carrying a EKA carbon 38 but I now hope for the mailman to bring me a Yellow case sodbuster jr CV to bound with. The slipjoint is kept at razorsharp all the time, and nothing but a thin carbonslipjoint, is sharp enough and easy enough for me to sharpen quickly on a flat stone.
I have tried a delica because of the good ide carrying a onehander when working construktion, but I didnt fancy it, very good knife but not the superiour cuttingability I want. I now hope to try out the sodbuster, otherwise its the old EKA again.

Bosse
 
For carpentry work I use a Stanley sheet rock/utility knife. That’s what my father taught me to use, and he was right. The handle is about six inches. The blade is short and triangular, and slides in and out at need. When the blade gets dull I either reverse it or replace it.

There are occasions when I use something else; for example when I’m laying carpet. But for 98% of my construction work the sheet rock knife is just right.
 
Raymond1000 said:
For carpentry work I use a Stanley sheet rock/utility knife. That’s what my father taught me to use, and he was right. The handle is about six inches. The blade is short and triangular, and slides in and out at need. When the blade gets dull I either reverse it or replace it.

There are occasions when I use something else; for example when I’m laying carpet. But for 98% of my construction work the sheet rock knife is just right.
Click to expand...

This is about the best reality statement there is.

I carry my custom slipjoint though & do use it at lunch,apples & whatever,also,the pen blade for the under finger crud & I do cut paper & cardboard w/ it,for covering finished floors.
Also,the warncliffe blade on my Hampton swayback ,EDC most often,is great for trimmimg tape ,we tape stuff up w/painting.That razor pointy blade gets in tight & cuts precise & clean,effortlessly

I am currently working on another 2 blade for EDC/work,I'll show it off w/ I get it

But no doubt,the sheetrock knife can't be beat,well,yeah,you can beat it :)
-Vince
 
In construction here in Israel,
I used for many years a larger orange tough hi-quality plastic long snap off disposable-blade knife.

Each blade snap to 9 new points.
The blade can be extented to just a tiny fine point, so useful for skining wire, cutting soft plastic electrical piping.
Extended slightly more for marking out against a rule.
More for sheet-rock
Sits well in a tool pouch
The blade opened and locks with one hand.
Has a large handle
Is insulated for live work
Can be dropped a couple of stories off a ladder

Costs $4
And is always razor sharp!
 
Thank you for reminding me of snapblades and utilityknifes. These ar for sure very useful tools. I think more of them as tools for laying carpets and cutting wallpaper than aktual alaroundknifes. Didnt think that long in my post as I stand before work with cement and wood boards and sheet-metal this summer. I have had my Stanly since my youth and its a heck of a good tool.
 
Doing wood framing,
if I had to cut wood it was with a 1" stubby chisel, never a knife!
 
How strange it can be with traditions.
Here we hammer on a knife or use an ax most of the time.
The chisel is mabye on its way through the use of the new shiselknife I seen in some stores latest year.

Bosse
 
Nirrebosse, I've never heard of EKA knives until you mentioned them here in this thread. So ofcourse I googled it. They're sweet.
 
The last foreman I was working with carried a Buck 110. I did plumbing by the way. He said he used that knife for everything you could use a knife for. He would hammer, *with an Estwing*, through two-by-fours for making backing for the pipe. He literally cut the piping, 1/2 CPVC, with the knife, scraped cement and brick mortar off copper pipe, trimmed large three to six inch PVC pipe, sliced and diced boxes open to get water heaters out of the box and lord knows you will cut to deep with that blade and hit the water heater. I just realized that the Buck 110 isn't a slipjoint. But he used a razor knife by someone, that knife was blue, but now faded into a steel color with blue slivers and a Case Sodbuster with a very dark pantina and has not been sharpened in the 3 years he has had it, but some how has maintained a very limited, but serviceable blade.
 
SPC_rex said:
Nirrebosse, I've never heard of EKA knives until you mentioned them here in this thread. So ofcourse I googled it. They're sweet.
Click to expand...

Once, a long time ago, (up till the 90-ties) the EKA swede 38 also came with woodhandles, bubinga. That was a sweet and strong working slipjoint with its own personality. They also came in Yellow and orange plastic as opposed to the dull colors they have now.
The EKA 60 wood is also a sweet workingknife that can be had with woodhandles, Its a bigger lockback that has been popular in sweden for decades. It was my first onehander as it can be spyderdropped.

Bosse
 
NirreBosse said:
Once, a long time ago, (up till the 90-ties) the EKA swede 38 also came with woodhandles, bubinga. That was a sweet and strong working slipjoint with its own personality. They also came in Yellow and orange plastic as opposed to the dull colors they have now.
The EKA 60 wood is also a sweet workingknife that can be had with woodhandles, Its a bigger lockback that has been popular in sweden for decades. It was my first onehander as it can be spyderdropped.

Bosse
Click to expand...

How does it compare to the cutting power of an Opinel? Sweden's not that far from here. Perhaps I should take a drive on up there and oogle the local cutlery :)
 
Well, In comparison to an opinel I think the black carbon 38 has a fair chans. Thats not bad since the Opinel Is right on top with the best slicers I ever tried.

There are some good knifes made in Sweden. From fallkniven, EKA, karesuando to mora. There arnt any real good shops for them. Internet is the place or lokal hardware for the moras.
Beside that we have many skilled knifemakers among the better ones that can be found around the world. Most of them is traditional and fixed but some like Kaj Embertsen also make folders. I would say there is less than a handful stores worth a long journey and if you make that journey to dose stores youd better be loaded with money because there are not many knifes under say 700$ there and most are lot more expensive than that. Here and there you find homemakers like me who maybe sell in small shops for lokal gear. Those can be had around 75-300$ according to material and amount of work. these are all fixedblades.

Bosse
 
How long are the blades on your Mora? I'd have a hard time working with a blade over an inch or two. Aside from cutting some itchy fiberglass insulation or something.
 
Jacknate, they are 4 inches long. For insulation I use a Hultafors insulation knife with a 10 inch blade. I also sometimes use a saw to cut it. We probably use different materials and teknices when building, I thought that already seeing what neeman wrote about the chissel. I see the short bladed utility knife as a special tool and would have difficulty's using only a 1-2 inch blade. Very limiting the way we use wood for construction. See for ex Hultafors homepage or Mora of sweden for typical Swedish karpentarsknifes.

I just these days building a new house for us and use my mora eriksson 511s a lot.

Bosse
 
Cutting fiberglass insulation (I hate working with that stuff) I use either a long bladed knife or a well sharpened broad hatchet.

I don’t do major wood shaping with the Stanley knife. I might round a stick to make wooden plugs to drive into the snap tie holes in concrete forms, or minor stuff like that. But for major shaping of timber there are better options. Anything from hand saw, wood chisels, or rig axe to skill saw, sawzall, or big belt sander.
 
We use much fiberglass insulation here. Its strongly cold more than half the year. Most typically we use 20-30 cm in floor, 15 cm in wall and 30-40 cm in roof. Its done crosswize in layers of 5 or 10 cm. This makes a hole lot of insulation for a house. My new house is 100 squaremeters in bottom floor and 63 in secound floor. I recon to use more than one week to do insulation. The ground should also be insulated but this is done with frigolitplates. I use the long knife for the cutting and some simple breathingmask.

Most of the tools you mention is also used here, but the shise and beltsander is thought of as speciality tools here.
I got 5 different saws with motor on them but still finds plenty of use for a knife. Right now im been cutting windplastic for the whole house (walls, floor and roof). And waterprotection plastic for inside the gruond is next. its for not letting condensation in.

Bosse
 
its for not letting condensation in.
Click to expand...

In English, on the jobsite, we'd say "vapor barrier."

That's not to criticize your English, with is vastly better than my non existent Swedish. I'm just offering what I hope is helpful information.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top