ID and explain please

K

Knifeclerk

Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
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At my store we do sharpening, cleaning, and repairs for knives and electric razors. A while ago, a series of random kitchen knives were dropped off and one peice in particular has brought no end of trouble to the store:
The knife is a 4in boning knife and the name on the blade seems to be "Morty the Knife Man"
I think the steel is high in carbon, but it may be the exact opposite. When on the belt sander, it produces a lot of sparks. The blade is also slightly blackened where we had to re-tip it.
The problem with this knife is that we CAN NOT get this thing sharp!! Our manager has spent so much time working this thing on the sander and by hand. Spyderco Sharp Maker: nothing. Lansky Ceramic Rod Thingie: Nothing. Diamond Steal: Nothing! Oregan Stone: NOTHING!!!!! WTF is going on here??
::ahem:: Please pardon my obscene abbreviations.
I spent more time than I should have working on this knife as well. (I'm actually not supposed to work on customer knives at all, but this is a special case.)
Has anyone heard of this manufacturer? Why will this knife not take any kind of edge? Is there a way for us to put an edge on this?

Thank you all for your time and help.
 
May be the result of an extremely poor (bad) heat treat. Blades with this condition never seem to be able to get any sort of good edge.

N2
 
Googling "Morty the knife man" just turns up contact into for what looks like a industrial seafood kitchen supply company in Washington NY. My bet would be that it is a cheapie that has poor heat treat.
 
Titanium sparks like a mutha when grinding. Stick a magnet to the blade and see if it sticks, if not you could have a ti blade with a carbide edge or just a ti blade - either could represent a challenge sharpening.

If it's a real cheap looking knife it's probably not any of the above, but if he's using cheap junk he probably wouldn't see the value in paying money to have it sharpened either.
 
I presume you mean won't hold an edge because even mild steel will take an edge. One suggestion could be that it has not been heat-treated at all the other is that it might be a "gimmick" give-away as advertising. I too am in the sharpening business and have come across similar knives - there is just no way such knives will keep an edge. Actually I had a set of so called kitchen knives in that a person bought "on special" for $50. Nice looking knives but wouldn't hold an edge - the customer was quite upset.
 
JDBLADE, no. I do mean, can not take an edge! I've never seen anything like this! It wouldn't bother me if we could get a decent edge on it and then it just dulls up. But this thing just doesn't get sharp at all. I'm starting to doubt all the skills I have aquired.
Oh well, Cest La Vie.
 
try to pick up a small carpenters nail with the tip if the blade. If it cant pick up the nail, i.e. not magnetised, its not hardened or the temper has been tempered with!!! Like the old cowboy movies where they burn the blade until red hot and cauterize a gunshot wound with it. That will kill the blade and turn it into a piece of mild steel. The blade wont take an edge because the edge just flops from side to side.
 
I believe that Morty the Knife Man makes knives out of metal that he finds laying around. When he made the knife your having trouble with he had just come back from Roswell, NM. Couldn't resist, good luck with it. ;)
Danny
 
You mean I might be dealing with alien alloys?? Mmmmm, sexy. ...and dissapointing. I was really hoping ETs would have some real premium cutting tools.
 
Knifeclerk said:
You mean I might be dealing with alien alloys?? Mmmmm, sexy. ...and dissapointing. I was really hoping ETs would have some real premium cutting tools.
Click to expand...

Like lightsabres !
 
I'm sure the ET's have Striders & Randels. I'm thinking it was part of the spaceship.
Danny
 
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