*Finished!* A Story and a Question (Somewhat off-topic)

So I have just finished sanding the handle. Pics will come hopefully tomorrow if I remember.

Right now, I am beginning to sand the spine to make a drop point, but something strange is formulating in my head; what if I were to make it a nessmuk-style blade? I think it would look kinda cool IMO, let me know what you think!
 
Alright, I now have basically all of the chips and rolls taken care of and this baby is starting to look really good!!! All I need to take care of at the moment is the micro-serrations (If I may call them such) where there was excessive damage. I have only taken the blade to 80 grit sandpaper on a mousepad and it is already shaving!!!!

Right now, I can say that I am learning a lot about sharpening, how to properly mod, proper amounts of pressure, how to raise a bur, etc...It seems that Papa is still teaching me a lot by giving me this knife!!

I am really gaining an appreciation for full-height convex blades as well; 'v' edges just seem ambiguous to me at this point...

Edit: at the moment, the blade is really stiff upon opening. Looks like I have another thing to take care of!
 
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I've only read through about half the posts on the first page, but I have to say, Deadfall, that I'm kind of jealous of your experience. I'm 19 now, but both of my grandfathers passed before I was 16, meaning I was a bit too young to ever really experience their wisdom. You don't seem to need it, but my advice to you is to cherish the time you guys have together and soak up everything you can. You're lucky to have such an awesome grandfather :)

You've got me wondering if either of my grandfathers may have left some interesting blades behind. I'll have to give my grandmothers a call soon.

Good luck with refinishing your Opinel though. I'm looking forward to some pictures!
 
Shawn7656 said:
I've only read through about half the posts on the first page, but I have to say, Deadfall, that I'm kind of jealous of your experience. I'm 19 now, but both of my grandfathers passed before I was 16, meaning I was a bit too young to ever really experience their wisdom. You don't seem to need it, but my advice to you is to cherish the time you guys have together and soak up everything you can. You're lucky to have such an awesome grandfather :)

You've got me wondering if either of my grandfathers may have left some interesting blades behind. I'll have to give my grandmothers a call soon.

Good luck with refinishing your Opinel though. I'm looking forward to some pictures!
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That means the world to me, thank you brother. Pics are to come, and I have to say, I can barely tell that this blade was once a beat to hell No.8 :)
Let me know if you find anything! Heck, I wanna know about your trip down memory lane when you talk with your grandmothers! You know, I never really thought about all the time we have spent together and how it has truly has molded me; the same goes with my other grandfather.

Thank you so much for the kind words my friend!
 
DeadFall27 said:
I definitely want to take a whack at an 'easy open' notch. Tell me, how comfortable is the notch when you are using the blade?
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Very comfortable in use, just keep the notch long and shallow rather than short and deep.

I'd forget the Nessmuk idea, I don't think it looks nice in a small bladed knife, but it's your choice of course.
 
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DeadFall27 said:
Alright, I now have basically all of the chips and rolls taken care of and this baby is starting to look really good!!! All I need to take care of at the moment is the micro-serrations (If I may call them such) where there was excessive damage. I have only taken the blade to 80 grit sandpaper on a mousepad and it is already shaving!!!!
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That's GREAT to hear. :thumbup:

I knew these blades lent themselves very well to sharpening on sandpaper, from my own experience. But, the fact you've got it shaving at 80 grit is all-the-more proof.

Right now, I can say that I am learning a lot about sharpening, how to properly mod, proper amounts of pressure, how to raise a bur, etc...It seems that Papa is still teaching me a lot by giving me this knife!!

I am really gaining an appreciation for full-height convex blades as well; 'v' edges just seem ambiguous to me at this point...

Edit: at the moment, the blade is really stiff upon opening. Looks like I have another thing to take care of!
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Sounds like you've been thoroughly bitten by the Opinel bug! You're one of US, now... :D

Seriously, this sounds like great progress. Very eager to see the pics when you're done. Nice work! :thumbup:
 
Alrighty, so, I spent a good portion of my time yesterday restoring the blade and sanding the handle of this old No.8. After you guys gave me that push to ignore the pivot pin, I used my Swayback Jack to whittle (VERY SLOWLY!) the general contours that I wanted in the handle and to get rid of the blocky figure; she has curves now :cool:. After that, I took the spine of my BK14 (yeah, yeah, it isn't traditional :rolleyes:) because the squared spine took off the gloss much more quickly than the sandpaper. When all of the gloss was off, I sanded her down to my liking. When I finished the handle, I moved on to shaping the tip and sharpening.

I used a mousepad and 80 grit sandpaper to get rid of the chips, rolls and kinks in the edge in a short period of time. I actually tried the nessmuk idea out since, if I didn't like it, I would have to remove that metal anyway for a drop or spear point. It actually looked fairly good, but I knew I wouldn't like it as much as a drop point, so I took it off (sorry, I should have gotten pics). I rolled the edge accidentally at the end of shaping when the blade cut through the sandpaper :eek:. Aw well, I just get to perfect my technique again!

I really like how she is looking so far. As much as I was obsessing over making the handle black, I am now pondering whether or not I could keep this color, waterproof it, and retain this matte look it has going on. Why I am having these thoughts is because, when I was shaping the point, my hands were covered in metal dust and my sweat made it stick to the handle. It had I really amazing 'Earthy' look to it that I adored, but I sanded it off for obvious reasons.

I am still deciding on the EO notch simply because I do not want to ruin the natural looking curves of the handle. I may sand down the front so the notch is more subtle, shallow and long.
I am also debating whether or not I would like a lanyard hole...so many options :rolleyes:



Well, let's get to the good stuff, shall we??

Here she is before:
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And here she is now:
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whatever024.jpg


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So, I hope you have enjoyed this transformation so far. I know it is not much, but I don't want to go too crazy and mess up a knife that means so much to me. I really want the handle to have some deeper, darker, matte 'Earthy' tones to it; I just don't know how I want to do it. Is there any way to waterproof or seal the wood without a glossy finish? I am also wondering how I should go about giving the handle a more natural and subtle 'Earthy' look that I am looking for...any ideas my good friends??


I have said it before, but I am beginning to truly appreciate knives with thinner stocks and convex grinds. I have always had a place in my heart for them, but this experience has solidified that feeling. I really want to convex all of my knives that I haven't already gotten my paws on :D
Also, with how my post high school life is starting to look as it unfolds, I might do what I can to start make this a long-term hobby of mine. Hooray for seasonal employment!!



Thank you so much for the comments, links, suggestions and help everyone. It is much appreciated
Tell the family I said hello:)


OH! And a little suggestion, music is a great tool for projects like this; I have Wagon Wheel playing as i type this and it is perfect...just thought I'd share that too, lol.
 
NICELY DONE, DeadFall! :thumbup:

That blade reprofile looks great, and the handle re-shape looks a lot like mine. That should be very comfortable in hand.

Again, well done!
 
That looks good, brother. Modding Opinels is fun, I have a monster No. 12 that I sanded the handle down and cut an EO notch into. And it's your grandpa's knife, so it's special and that means something beyond just making it your own... Great job.

Also, Wagon Wheel... Is it the one by Old Crow Medicine Show? If so, that is an excellent piece of music. :)
 
hawaiianhawk said:
That looks good, brother.

Also, Wagon Wheel... Is it the one by Old Crow Medicine Show? If so, that is an excellent piece of music. :)
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Thank you! And why yes, it is by Old Crow Medicine Show :)
Ever since my desert trip, it has become a new favorite of mine!
 
Alrighty, I have now sanded the handle ever so slightly so that I have just enough room to pinch the blade with my two fingers. It is not anything near the amount of grip you would get with a standard EO notch; the blade sticks out a good 4mm from the handle.

Now that I feel that the handle is sanded to my liking, I now have to color it and waterproof/ stain it.

How do you think I should go about coloring this old girl? Also, is it possible to waterproof the handle and keep a matte finish to it? I really think that a glossy finish would somewhat detract from the beauty and look I am going for.
 
I used Watco Danish Oil to finish this Walnut No. 08. It's a blend of linseed oil, varnish and mineral spirits, so it will seal & waterproof the wood. I used the 'Natural' version (clear), but they also have it in a few stain colors (their website shows 8 color variations, aside from the 'Natural' finish). The finish is what I'd call matte or satin, but not quite glossy. The little bit of shine you see on mine is immediately after buffing on denim. Most of the time, with some handling, it looks more just like oiled & buffed wood. I sanded to ~1500 grit wet/dry, before finishing. Applied a total of 3 very light coats, with a paper towel folded up. Allowed about 30 minutes drying between the first 2 coats, then waited 3 or 4 days before the 3rd coat. The drying time may vary significantly, depending on humidity. I'm in the desert southwest, so mine actually dried to the touch in about 10-15 minutes. The instructions say it takes up to several weeks to fully cure & harden, but mine was fully usable within a couple days. The 'cure' time is important if you wish to put some other type of finish on top of it. They warn against doing that too soon.
 
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If want something that will really protect the wood well, several coats of Birchwood casey tru oil gunstock finish will do the trick.

Boiled linseed oil does well too, and danish oil looks really nice too as shown above
 
So, for example, if I used boiled linseed oil, Would I brush it on the handle or soak it completely? Should I really worry about getting the wood near the pivot pin and inside the handle?

And OwE, that walnut is incredibly pretty :thumbup:
 
so my poor judgement strikes again
in the process of shaving/shaping the handle, i have taken off so much that the blade doesnt rest correctly anymore
the point is (i believe the term is proud) sticks up way to much. Its a shame i got the handle where i am pretty happy with it

now i think i can fix this if i can find some way to deepen the groove the blade rests in. I went out to try and buy the smallest round file i could (actually ended up picking up a chain saw file which was the smallest file they had at my local Ace hardware) but it is still too wide

any suggestions from the experts??

Oh and deadfall, sorry for the thread hijack, but it could be useful to you in the future i suppose
 
Rsmith_77 said:
so my poor judgement strikes again
in the process of shaving/shaping the handle, i have taken off so much that the blade doesnt rest correctly anymore
the point is (i believe the term is proud) sticks up way to much. Its a shame i got the handle where i am pretty happy with it

now i think i can fix this if i can find some way to deepen the groove the blade rests in. I went out to try and buy the smallest round file i could (actually ended up picking up a chain saw file which was the smallest file they had at my local Ace hardware) but it is still too wide

any suggestions from the experts??

Oh and deadfall, sorry for the thread hijack, but it could be useful to you in the future i suppose
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No worries on hijacking, I really do not care at all; it makes for a larger variety of topic discussion, additional information and can really help people out sometimes. By all means, ask as much as you need here! :thumbup:
Just put it this way; we are both doing Opinel projects, right? We both have had, and still do, have questions that we feel need to be addressed and that can only be addressed here. Think of it as a community project; we all pool our ideas together. What makes it your own project is what you do with that knowledge. Seeing everyone's own work that they have done, giving tips and suggestions, asking questions and sharing these experiences is what makes this place worthwhile; I would rather have that than have a thread all to myself.

Also, I really do not see it as poor judgement whatsoever. If you have the handle how you want it, no worries! You just have to tweak the blade a bit to match your new handle shape! It is Lila - free play. Sometimes you just have to follow the wind and see where it takes you. That is how I have been modding my Opinel. Trust me, when you just let go, unrestricted imagination and creativity will give birth to the greatest work imaginable.


As for fixing the issue you are having, my recommendation would probably be to re-profile the tip so it is not projecting out of the handle. I used 80 or 100 grit on a mouse pad and slowly shaped the blade when I was re-profiling the tip on my blade. If you need it, I would be more than glad to take pics to show you how I did it.

Would you happen to have pics yet? I would be more than happy to help you through.
 
Rsmith_77 said:
so my poor judgement strikes again
in the process of shaving/shaping the handle, i have taken off so much that the blade doesnt rest correctly anymore
the point is (i believe the term is proud) sticks up way to much. Its a shame i got the handle where i am pretty happy with it

now i think i can fix this if i can find some way to deepen the groove the blade rests in. I went out to try and buy the smallest round file i could (actually ended up picking up a chain saw file which was the smallest file they had at my local Ace hardware) but it is still too wide

any suggestions from the experts??

Oh and deadfall, sorry for the thread hijack, but it could be useful to you in the future i suppose
Click to expand...

You might be able to deepen the handle recess for the blade, by improvising a 'file' out of something like a popsicle stick with some wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around it. Might sand or otherwise adjust the thickness of the stick, so it's not removing too much on the sides of the recess. Might even use the edge of a credit card in the same manner. OR, a steel machinist's ruler might work very well also. In that case, the ruler itself might even be used like a wood/cabinet scraper, especially if one were to sand/file a nice burr on one corner of it. Just an idea...
 
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DeadFall27 said:
^Wow, why didn't I think of that??
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Back when I sanded and finished mine, I was contemplating taking a little more off the butt end of the handle, near the end of the blade recess. The thought did occur to me, at that time, that if I went too far, the tip of the blade would be exposed. So the next thought was, 'how would I fix that?' That's how that idea came about. It's why I love these projects; it gets my brain engaged, and sometimes makes me consider things that otherwise would likely never occur to me.
 
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