Cutting tricks

U

UPSTARTCROWE

Joined
Oct 17, 1999
Messages
122
I want to amaze my friends with the sharpnes of my blades. I can do the shaving sharp but the free hanging rope trick is kind of tough. Is there a special way to sharpen the knife for a free hanging rope cut? Is there a special technique as regards swing? Oh, and is there a special way to sharpen knives that lets them "slide" through paper? If you know any other parlor tricks with a sharp knife (not mumbly peg J/A) that will amaze my friends please, let me know about them.
 
This is my favorite....
I take a single sheet of notebook paper and roll it into a tube about 1 1/2" in diameter. I tape the bottom and the top so it stays together. Usually I do this at work and stand the tube on a workbench. Using a SHARP knife, slashing at about a 45 degree, downward angle will cut it in half and often leave the bottom still standing on the bench. One thing I learned is hitting even a small amount of the tape will ruin the whole trick! Good luck and be carefull!
Neil

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What i like is to take a single sheet of typing paper, hold it up, let it fall and cut it in half while falling. You have to be fast and accurate like in the rope cutting test. If you really want to know if your knife is sharp try cutting a piece of cigarette rolling paper. The very thin french paper is the toughest to cut.

Achim
 
That sounds pretty cool, Dr. Lathe. I'll give it a try. It reminds me of the pop can trick: you take an empty soda pop can, fill it with water, place it on the corner of a table, and cut through it while leaving the bottom half on the table. I haven't tried this, but it looks very impressive. It might only be possible with a beefy blade though.

As far as rope cutting, a thin edge would probably work best. When you cut it, you'll meet a surprising amount of resistance and you'll have to use some force. I'm not sure about any special techniques, although someone more knowledgeable might have some insight. The important thing is certainly to keep your weak hand outta the way! If you're right-handed, the palm of your left hand should be firmly pressed against your chest.

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Cerulean
Denver, CO
 
Thanks guys. As if I wasn't frustrated enough, now I'm smashing paper tubes with my Trailmaster. Thankfully I don't have easy access to French cigarette papers. I still would appreciate any other tips. For example, do you "rough up" the edge of the blade with a few strokes on a caorse stone for a micro-serrated edge....I read that somewhere and it sounds logical. Dr. Lathe, can you do the paper tube test with a 1/4" thick blade? Do you use a draw cut?
Oh yeah, Cerulean, you make a muy importante point about the free hand.
 
Upstart,
It works well with my 3/16" thick tantos. At this time I don't make any knives using 1/4" material and the only knife I have that is that thick is a P.O.S.!
Both of my Hawkbills work very well. I think the curve of the blade sort of captures the paper and prevents it from sliding off the end of of the blade.
I take a few practice swings a few inches away from the tube, then move in and let it rip
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Sort of like a golfer would do before a tee shot!
Neil

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New Hawkbill Pics!
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[This message has been edited by Dr.Lathe (edited 21 December 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Dr.Lathe (edited 21 December 1999).]
 
Neil,
could you try your notepaper trick with my knife before you ship it to me please
smile.gif
If it passes, it'll be sharp enough for me
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I found that newspaper rolled into about a 4in tube, not more than 1 1/2 layers, is harder to cleanly cut than a smaller diameter tube or one of other paper.
 
well last year I was re-sharpening an old cleaver for a friend and I had gotten it to the point that I would toss a piece of 1/4" rope into the air and shash it in half.
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Thin plastic bags like the kind you get at the grocery store are hard to cut unless you have a sharp knife. Let the bag rest on it's own ( don't pull it tight ).

The rope test is best done by making a snap cut. Roll your wrist at the point of contact.

Newspaper is a good test if you can cut it without tearing it. Not quite as good as cigarette paper though.

UPSTARTCROWE,
Those microserated edges work real well on rope. Better than the smooth edge.
I make some knives out of 1/4 inch thick stock and can cut the rope easy. It all depends on how it is ground. I will try it on the paper tube and post it later.


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If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are a part of the same process. He is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.

William Least Heat Moon
 
I've read that Sal Glesser of Spyderco, when he was out there just selling his sharpeners, could cut paper with the back of a knife or just with another piece of paper. Now that's a pretty sharp trick, I've got no idea how he does that.
 
DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!This came from an old issue of Soldier of Fortune: The ultimate test of a Samuri swords sharpness was a cut called the "Monks robe" it entailed cutting a random peasent diagonally from right ear to left knee in one stroke. How that for a test of sharpness?

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Jake Evans.. Member of the HORDE


 
Excellent Neil
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Looking forward to it
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Jake - that's some test. Kind of like Neil's paper test, except with different "material". Perhaps paper was harder to come by those days.
rolleyes.gif


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Why do they use sterile needles for lethal injections?
 
Achim's free falling paper is one that I use to impress folks but you have to be careful where you are swinging and you've got to be pretty quick, if the knife is sharp you can slice it in half, otherwise it does partway and crumbles up.

What I do almost everyday is as I walk by a persons desk, I flick out my M2 AFCK and pick a loose piece of paper, move it so a corner sticks off the desk and then flick the blade to cut off a corner of the paper and leave the paper on the desk, so it almost doesn't move. They get a real kick out of that, again, it has to be sharp.

G2

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"There are no dangerous weapons;
there are only dangerous men."
.......... Robert A. Heinlein, 1959


G2 Leatherworks
 
Jake, more often, such tests were performed on corpses. You are right though; there was a point in Japan's history when ronin ("wavemen" or unemployed samurai) took to a life of crime. Many took part in a "sport" called tsuji-giri, which literally means, "cutting at the crossroads". Basically, they ambushed random travellers and cut them to pieces. This was during the Edo period, when there were no wars in Japan, thus leaving many samurai without jobs. Sorry; I recently wrote a 10 page report on this!
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Sal, if you read this, would you please be so kind as to tell us how to cut paper with ummmmm... paper?

Howie
 
Howie...

I'm not Sal...wouldn't even try to fill THOSE shoes...but I read about that paper-vs.-paper trick, and it caught my eye.

Soon, it became a project, and I spent several minutes figuring out just how the heck it would work (much to the consternation of my co-workers!).

It worked like this (for me--Sal, if you have any other way of doing this, please pass it on!):

Have a friend or co-worker hold a piece of paper at the top corners, parallel to their chest. Take the second sheet of paper, and, holding it very tightly, slide it at a 45 degree angle to the floor, perpindicular to the sheet you're cutting. It works pretty good!

Neat, since they don't give us anything but spoons on the ward!!! Well that, and the occasional straw. And yes, you CAN punch one of those suckers through a potato (or your neighbors' hands, if they try to steal your meds...)!

Where VG has mastered the Micro-Tool, I think I shall turn to the deadly arts of Ubewasted--the Art of the Deadly Legal Pad!

Um, yeah...whatever.
rolleyes.gif




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One little nuclear holocaust can REALLY hose your bowling average...
 
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