Fellowship of the Coffee Cup ;-)

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,510
JackKnife's video, while he said he would like to re-do it, I think that'd be great as it was noisy place they were sitting but it did go to show you that it doesn't matter where you happen to be, you don't have to live with a dull knife !! But a quieter vid would be great.

In the mean time, I figured to start a Fellowship of the Coffee Cup, FotCC as it were ;) yesterday at work as I was preparing to head out for a weeks vacation next week, I checked with my friend that I had given a knife to a long time ago, he's a real good egg and always willing to help others so I noticed he didn't have a knife and gave him one that he loves and with that came a life time sharpening too. So I wanted to make sure I didn't leave him in the lurch, it's hard to teach those that don't want to learn, and for some people that are really NOT knife people, it's probably a good thing not to try and make them learn, if your heart isn't in it, you'll not really get it kinda thing. So he handed over the knife and it was in pretty serious shape, I should have checked with him sooner! There were a lot of chips in the edge, but I said I'll get her fixed up.

Back to my desk and as I dug through it, I found that I must have taken all my stones home!!!! OH NO ! what to do??? AH enter the coffee cup and I thought, well, I don't know how it will do with all those chips but we will see, and it wasn't too coarse on there either so my hopes were low, but after a few minutes and some pretty strong pressure I was pleased to see that the edge had come back and actually would now shave hair !! haha, nice a couple people in cubicles beside me were about to dial 911 thinking I had gone over the edge...get it, over the edge ;) but I digress, when I explained what I had done, they were incredulous and didn't believe me but I showed them the black marks on the bottom of the cup as proof that metal was abraded off and the edge was restored to a very sharp edge.

So thanks Carl for reminding me that you really are never too far from a sharpener ! just make sure to empty the cup before you turn it over!

G2
 
I resharpened one of my mom's Vic hawkbill kitchen knives with the bottom of a mug about a week ago. I gave the knife to her about 10 months ago and it hadn't been sharpened since. I believe that I got it to shave off of a coffee mug then I went to a ceramic rod I had laying around. Copy paper strop wrapped around a dowel finished it off. It was really sharp!

On the topic of sharpening with what is around me, I have been doing a lot with jeans, shorts and even boxer shorts. Got to be careful when you are using that last option! :eek:
 
Gary, I recently had a friend from church that asked me to sharpen his knife for him. We were at a weekly group meeting, and I said, "sure, give it to me and I will get it back to you next week." He began to crawdad a little, and said he really would need it before then. I thought of Jack's video and reached for a coffee cup and turned it over and started to work on his knife. The expression on his face was priceless. As I explained to him that I was sharpening his knife, he began to watch me carefully. In about 2 minutes, his little peanut was sharp again, both blades. I have sharpened this knife before for him, so he knew I could get it razor sharp. When I was done, I handed it to him and he just shook his head. I think I lost a sharpening job, as he said, "if that is all it takes, I think I can do that".

He thought I had hundreds of dollars of sharpening equipment at home, so he always had me keep his knife sharp. I had him work on my #6 opie to see if he had the technique down, and he did a great job on it. I guess that W E and all the other system makers have lost a possible sale to a $3 coffee cup. So I guess your Fotcc group is growing already.

Blessings,

Omar
 
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Chris "Anagarika";12644378 said:
It's in this thread:www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1029230-New-to-Sharpening-Need-help!/page3

I always maintain my in laws' knives (kitchen, paring) using coffee mug or cereal bowl. They only need that level of refinement ;). No hair splitting & shaving face (full dry shave) but good enough for veggies, & fruits!

Does it count as member of the club?
Click to expand...

Most certainly ;) and thanks for posting that link too, and yes I'm sure it will grow even more as we share the knowledge !
G2
 
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Thank you, Gary, for the fellowship of the Mug. But I really can't take the credit, as I watched my old man use the mug as a regular sharpening tool for his pocket knife. Like many kids, I just learned by watching my elders.

I hope you can find a place for me in your fellowship of the coffee cup. :D

Carl.
 
Not to mess up the fellowship of the cup but any ceramic object that hasn't been glazed on the bottom works. Cups have too curved of a surface for me. I like bowls and sometime plates for bigger knives. Also a smooth red brick has saved me a long walk home. I have even used rocks from a creek, just don't used sandstone.
 
jackknife said:
Thank you, Gary, for the fellowship of the Mug. But I really can't take the credit, as I watched my old man use the mug as a regular sharpening tool for his pocket knife. Like many kids, I just learned by watching my elders.

I hope you can find a place for me in your fellowship of the coffee cup. :D

Carl.
Click to expand...

Most certainly :) !!!

The reason I went for the distinctive listing of 'Coffee Cup' was just to be clear ;)
I was going to use mug or just cup but alone they can mean other things like a mug's face or an athletic support cup, didn't want to go there lol, so yep mug is a more homey sounding term, I'll have to start work on some T-Shirts and of course MUGs !!!!
G2
 
I recently sharpened the entire set of kitchen knives, doing one a week or so, and now I maintain their edges using a coffee mug. I usually use a bigger mug with drawings of the different versions of the M1 Garand, and that works great. I did a mirror finish on all the knives originally, but now all touch up work is done while waiting for the microwave, or letting tea steep, or whatever. I also use a piece of magazine paper from the recycle bag to strop afterwards. I also use coffee mugs when a friend needs a knife sharpened and I'm at their house.

Connor
 
Honed_Edge said:
Not to mess up the fellowship of the cup but any ceramic object that hasn't been glazed on the bottom works. Cups have too curved of a surface for me. I like bowls and sometime plates for bigger knives. Also a smooth red brick has saved me a long walk home. I have even used rocks from a creek, just don't used sandstone.
Click to expand...

Some sandstone is way better than others. Wide variability in grain size and friability. A lot of old-time grinding wheels for blades were made from it. The best results I've had on a stone found on the ground, yet to date, were from a piece of red sandstone I picked up on a neighborhood stroll one day. Used it like a waterstone; soaked up moisture like a sponge, and produced a fine slurry. Worked great on a Case SS blade, using an edge-trailing stroke. I even used some of the same slurry on a piece of leather to strop the burrs from it, which resulted in a shaving edge from all this.


David
 
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