- Joined
- Aug 31, 2011
- Messages
- 3,123
First of all, let me say how glad I am to have found these forums.
I have been familiar with knives and how to handle them and care for them since the 1970's. Back then, I believed my Uncle James when he said that stainless won't hold an edge. I never had much enthusiasm for stainless, even after I heard about "high-carbon stainless." I bought a little SOG folder around 1995. If that one is stainless, it would be my first stainless. Whatever it is, it holds a decent edge.
My pocket knife is a Gerber mini lockback, so it is probably 440c.
Back in the late 1980's- early 90's, I made three knives, with some help from my brother-in-law: one was made from an industrial hacksaw, one from a file, and the other one I, don't remember. Anyway, I still have the one made from a file. It doesn't hold much of an edge; I guess we did something wrong in the heat treating. Regardless, it looks good, so I keep it in the drawer, and use it for cooking.
After about 20 years without making any knives, I recently got a bug to do a project. I got a blade off of ebay, from a seller who appeared reputable. It isn't what I would call a "blank." It arrived shaped, ground, heat-treated, finished with a brushed appearance, and razor sharp. It has a higher quality of grind than my old SOG, which is stamped SEKI, by the way. I'm very impressed with my new blade.
I thought, "This will be easy. Just shape the scales and glue them on."
My thumb hurts. Oh, yeah. That reminds me. Last night I had the scales basically cut out. Then I put the final shaping and finishing on the front part of them. Next was gluing. I was accustomed to using epoxy. I had never tried super glue gel in knife-making. Last night, using super glue gel, I attempted to attach both scales at the same time, and it became immediately apparent that it would be a challenge to keep my fingers from sticking to the scales and blade, and each other. Before I knew it, the glue was setting, I was struggling to keep my fingers from sticking to everything, and the scales were misaligned. I couldn't move them, so I started prying them off. I got one loose before it completely set. The other one set fast and hard, and I reached for a chisel. Now pay attention, kids. A pry bar is a pry bar, and a chisel is a chisel, and these two tools were designed for different purposes. Are you listening? And don't put your thumb in the path of a chisel, especially if you are using it as a pry bar, OK? And don't force your work; just let the tool do the work. Oh, did I mention that you should keep your thumb out of the way? Just follow these these simple guidelines, and you can avoid having a wound through your thumb nail, and half-way through your thumb.
Besides the wound, I also have a nice new blade with little spots of super glue all over it, and some scratches where I tried to sand off some of the superglue.
Looks like I am back into knife-making.
Of course, I dinged my chisel too, so I had to re-sharpen it. It's nice and sharp now; ready to make another gash on my thumb.
I have been familiar with knives and how to handle them and care for them since the 1970's. Back then, I believed my Uncle James when he said that stainless won't hold an edge. I never had much enthusiasm for stainless, even after I heard about "high-carbon stainless." I bought a little SOG folder around 1995. If that one is stainless, it would be my first stainless. Whatever it is, it holds a decent edge.
My pocket knife is a Gerber mini lockback, so it is probably 440c.
Back in the late 1980's- early 90's, I made three knives, with some help from my brother-in-law: one was made from an industrial hacksaw, one from a file, and the other one I, don't remember. Anyway, I still have the one made from a file. It doesn't hold much of an edge; I guess we did something wrong in the heat treating. Regardless, it looks good, so I keep it in the drawer, and use it for cooking.
After about 20 years without making any knives, I recently got a bug to do a project. I got a blade off of ebay, from a seller who appeared reputable. It isn't what I would call a "blank." It arrived shaped, ground, heat-treated, finished with a brushed appearance, and razor sharp. It has a higher quality of grind than my old SOG, which is stamped SEKI, by the way. I'm very impressed with my new blade.
I thought, "This will be easy. Just shape the scales and glue them on."
My thumb hurts. Oh, yeah. That reminds me. Last night I had the scales basically cut out. Then I put the final shaping and finishing on the front part of them. Next was gluing. I was accustomed to using epoxy. I had never tried super glue gel in knife-making. Last night, using super glue gel, I attempted to attach both scales at the same time, and it became immediately apparent that it would be a challenge to keep my fingers from sticking to the scales and blade, and each other. Before I knew it, the glue was setting, I was struggling to keep my fingers from sticking to everything, and the scales were misaligned. I couldn't move them, so I started prying them off. I got one loose before it completely set. The other one set fast and hard, and I reached for a chisel. Now pay attention, kids. A pry bar is a pry bar, and a chisel is a chisel, and these two tools were designed for different purposes. Are you listening? And don't put your thumb in the path of a chisel, especially if you are using it as a pry bar, OK? And don't force your work; just let the tool do the work. Oh, did I mention that you should keep your thumb out of the way? Just follow these these simple guidelines, and you can avoid having a wound through your thumb nail, and half-way through your thumb.
Besides the wound, I also have a nice new blade with little spots of super glue all over it, and some scratches where I tried to sand off some of the superglue.
Looks like I am back into knife-making.Of course, I dinged my chisel too, so I had to re-sharpen it. It's nice and sharp now; ready to make another gash on my thumb.
