Hardest Use Knife EVAR!!!

[stabman]

You may remember a previous thread that involved being disgusted by this...

...but then finding these cool knives:

Well, I returned to the convenience store that had those knives, and came across another one.

This is a picture after cleaning it with hot, soapy water and steel wool, and soaking it in mineral oil.
When I got it, it was so full of plaster/drywall compound that it could barely open. The blade was caked in the stuff.

The blade has been used and sharpened to the point of being rounded at the tip, and the screwdriver was used to the point of being twisted out of alignment:

I was straightening out the screwdriver with a clamp and channel-lock pliers...it was ALMOST there...and then it snapped off a piece.

Here's what the can opener looked like:

Anyway, I took it to my brother's place, and fixed it on the belt sander.
Put a new screwdriver tip on it, gave the blade a new shape, and ground down the sides of the screwdriver and can opener where they dinged into the blade; the knife had been sat on to the point where the bolsters were dented, AND the frame bent a bit, changing the alignment of the blades.

Plus, I did the most important thing necessary to make it a truly "Hard Use Knife", something I learned about from this very forum...I put a skull bead on it.

Now it's ready for decades more of hard use.

Oh, and my campaign of harassing the cops and the city paid off.

Here is a before shot:

And some after pictures:

Under the bridge itself, they at least picked up the syringes:

Perhaps with further harassment, they'll clean up the rest of that trash too.

 

[Wowbagger]

Perhaps with further harassment, they'll clean up the rest of that trash too.

Yes but I bet it was volunteer workers that did it. At least that is how it is here. People out there out of the goodness of their heart trying to keep the city livable. The authorities run 'em out but the citizens clean up after
and . . .
about three weeks (some times three days) and it looks the same or worse than when they started cleaning it up.

The solution is institutions for all these yo-yos that can no longer deal with the mess we call our "civilization" and fix the brain madness that we call normality that causes them to check out.
I see it everyday up close on the bike path to work; or as I call it "The Colorado State Mental Hospital" which it is.

 

[stabman]

Yes but I bet it was volunteer workers that did it.

Pretty sure here it was not.
I was one of those who cleaned up the area of trash...till it got all filled with syringes.
I'll dispose of syringes that I can see, but won't pick up trash that could stab me unexpectedly.

The city came through early last year with some sort of tracked vehicle, chainsaws, and a work crew to cut down a whole bunch of undergrowth/trees from the area, and cart away a few tons (literally!) of trash.
The hope was that the additional visibility of the area would discourage junkie activity and encampments, but a lack of patrolling and enforcement made it so the additional visibility was ineffective as a deterrent.

I'll be interested to see what they do this year; this initial clean-up is a positive sign at least.

 

[Wowbagger]

Yes
The skull really makes it Evar so much more.

 

[stabman]

Yes
The skull really makes it Evar so much more.

Doesn't it though?
Got it for free due to a screw-up with shipping speed on a previous order.
Figured it really needed to go on this knife.

I truly am impressed by how much actual use the knife obviously got.
Goes to show that most any of the knives we own will last for decades of actually being used.

 

[Wowbagger]

this initial clean-up is a positive sign at least.

Oh for sure. I just wish there was some realistic solution to people living like this. Sure many /most don't want a full time job and can't get it together. If they could / did they would rent a house and have roomies.
They need full time mommys so some how we need to just wake up to that and deal.
Some how things were more difficult in the past, people had to do more manual labor and live with out two or more cars per person, take trains in place of jets, go to the shore rather than go on a cruise and I don't remember ANY of this growing up in the '60s.

Why ?

 

[GermanyChris]

Are you sure that knife is harder use than an Opinel and Squirt?

Yours looks pretty tough but I dunno...

 

[Lapedog]

You may remember a previous thread that involved being disgusted by this...

...but then finding these cool knives:

Well, I returned to the convenience store that had those knives, and came across another one.

This is a picture after cleaning it with hot, soapy water and steel wool, and soaking it in mineral oil.
When I got it, it was so full of plaster/drywall compound that it could barely open. The blade was caked in the stuff.

The blade has been used and sharpened to the point of being rounded at the tip, and the screwdriver was used to the point of being twisted out of alignment:

I was straightening out the screwdriver with a clamp and channel-lock pliers...it was ALMOST there...and then it snapped off a piece.

Here's what the can opener looked like:

Anyway, I took it to my brother's place, and fixed it on the belt sander.
Put a new screwdriver tip on it, gave the blade a new shape, and ground down the sides of the screwdriver and can opener where they dinged into the blade; the knife had been sat on to the point where the bolsters were dented, AND the frame bent a bit, changing the alignment of the blades.

Plus, I did the most important thing necessary to make it a truly "Hard Use Knife", something I learned about from this very forum...I put a skull bead on it.

Now it's ready for decades more of hard use.

Oh, and my campaign of harassing the cops and the city paid off.

Here is a before shot:

And some after pictures:

Under the bridge itself, they at least picked up the syringes:

Perhaps with further harassment, they'll clean up the rest of that trash too.

I was gunna say you’re gunna have to spine wack that slippie until it explodes for me to believe you that it was capable of hard use.

....then I saw that skull bead and now I am sure you could pry that bridge apart with it.

 

[stabman]

. I just wish there was some realistic solution to people living like this.

Some how things were more difficult in the past, people had to do more manual labor and live with out two or more cars per person, take trains in place of jets, go to the shore rather than go on a cruise and I don't remember ANY of this growing up in the '60s.

Why ?

There were always a certain amount of people who lived like this, mostly in the bigger cities.
We now have more big cities, with big populations, and some are going to other places when things get too crowded in the larger urban centers.

That is supposed to be responsible for the 50% increase we have had here.
We had homeless folks and addicts in previous years, but we were handling it with shelters, clinics, and social programs.

I've seen at least a few here go from being homeless to working though, that I personally know of.
One went from being a homeless alcoholic to holding a job for about 11 years now.

What's the solution?
I don't know...but doesn't that lanyard look kind of neat?
I figured that out at least.

Are you sure that knife is harder use than an Opinel and Squirt?

Yours looks pretty tough but I dunno...

Probably tougher than an Opinel.
There was an Opinel at the store that I saw today...it wasn't working so well anymore.

 

[stabman]

I was gunna say you’re gunna have to spine wack that slippie until it explodes for me to believe you that it was capable of hard use.

....then I saw that skull bead and now I am sure you could pry that bridge apart with it.

Damn right.

 

[jwh720]

If only that skull bead doubled as a takedown tool for your medford.....

But seriously cool gas station find.

 

[savage99]

that Canadian confederation knife is actually really cool as a Canadian myself i really think that knife is a neat little piece of history. And good work, as someone who bikes on a lot of unmaintained river trials in my city this site is something that looks far to familiar.

 

[stabman]

that Canadian confederation knife is actually really cool as a Canadian myself i really think that knife is a neat little piece of history. And good work, as someone who bikes on a lot of unmaintained river trials in my city this site is something that looks far to familiar.

I do really like the Confederation knife.
I was going to give it to my wife at first, but the spring is really strong; she figured she'd manage to cut herself with it at some point.

 

[jbmonkey]

and who says paying taxes isnt worth what ya get.....

they cleaned it up that one part nicely. knife cleaned up well too. nice job on 'er Sir.

 

[stabman]

and who says paying taxes isnt worth what ya get.....

they cleaned it up that one part nicely. knife cleaned up well too. nice job on 'er Sir.

Yep, it did clean up well.
Liking the knife, and it works pretty well at cutting through cardboard for sure.

I actually brought a sharps container and some gloves with me to dispose of syringes when I went to take pictures, and it turned out neither was needed.

 

[jbmonkey]

Yep, It did clean up well.
Liking the knife, and it works pretty well at cutting through cardboard for sure.

I actually brought a sharps container and some gloves with me to dispose of syringes when I went to take pictures, and it turned out neither was needed.

good to hear.

better safe than sorry.

 

[SALTY]

That was a Hard Use knife before hard use knives were cool.

 

[stabman]

good to hear.

better safe than sorry.

For sure.
Turns out the drug store hands out sharps disposal containers for free, so I picked up a few.

If every person picked up a couple pieces of trash or syringes, this city would get clean in no time.
A group did just that some months back, and it did help the downtown area for a bit. Some areas were too much for even them to get rid of in a single day, but it was noticeable.

The filth comes back, but could be gotten rid of again...much like how you have to sharpen your knives with use, the city needs periodic cleaning with use too.

That was a Hard Use knife before hard use knives were cool.

Indeed!
One thing I noticed though was that buying multiples of knives you liked was a thing back then too.

There was this one which was used a hell of a lot.
There was another of the same pattern but different colour that was moderately used; the celluloid layer was cracking, so I removed it and gave my brother the knife.
Then, there is the other one I have, which was not used at all, obviously bought as a "future needs replacement" knife.

So I guess there were knutty knife knuts back then too.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Nice shell construction Richards there, and good work on it ( FYI the tip of the knife actually came that way, but it's easy to assume it just got worn )

And most of all great job getting the city off their asses to clean up that tweaker mess.

 

[stabman]

Nice shell construction Richards there, and good work on it ( FYI the tip of one knife actually came that way, but it's easy to assume it just got worn )

And most of all great job getting the city off their asses to clean up that tweaker mess.

It was a bit rounder than the other one of the same pattern I have, and the edge had been sharpened back a tad from the original width. I should have done a side-by-side shot.

The guy didn't butcher it though, and only sharpened enough to re-establish a cutting edge each time, so it didn't get mangled.