I have more knives than I need. I"m sure i'm the only one here with that issue.
Early on, I was somewhat obsessed with the knives being "just right", depending on what they are. I love a wharncliffe 1095 GEC knife (mine are harder than their spec, which makes them just lovely for fine edge holding).
I've also got some wondersteel knives, etc.
But the challenge is when you're an edge chaser, but lazy - how do you get a knife that's cheap to be really nice to use?
When I first started buying pocket knives, a friend of mine who was toolmaker at williamsburg told me that he would charge $1500 for a knife similar to one of the unxld knives he bought if someone asked for it custom, he was just puzzled with how they could do as good of a job as cheap. And then I'd read reviews somewhere and certainly, someone would show up with "barely better than rough rider, and rough riders are $14 - save your money"
So, I couldn't resist buying a rough rider lockback. The first one that I got had enormous side play and compared to the GEC knife, it was soft - very. Even a simple novaculite stone raises a huge wire edge on it. I put it aside and didn't think about it too long.
Then, I came across a knife in SGPS that didn't seem to like a fine edge from any stone that I have (I have hundreds). By that, I mean similar subjective sharpness to carbon steel at 61 hardness, and no burr. In exasperation, I reset the bevel on the knife on crystolon (whoa, that would almost file it away- a complete departure vs. everything else), and hit the edge with a few strokes on an india stone and then ran the knife over a gray deburring wheel and a buff with 5 micron compound.
The edge was silent shaving, no carbide pits or anything in it, just perfectly smooth. I came to find out that this isn't a hair hanging edge, but it's protective of the apex since it's modified. The rest of the geometry is not much changed.
That left me with an idea for gouges that I hate to sharpen for woodworking but like to use for heavy work, and then I got the idea that the butter blade on the RR lockback could be sharpened without burr formation off of the buff. It was great! Not a good knife, but a great solution. A stroke or two on the india stone when it gets out of shape and then deburr and buff. Easy clean silent shaving on both sides of the bevel ( no burr). I've since applied this to every knife that seems a bit soft and has edge deflection issues (and will have an article in a woodworking magazine in a week or two describing the method to eliminate early edge damage on bench chisels).
If the buffing is kept just to the tip of the blade, only the tip of the apex is gone and the subjective sharpness is at least as good. If the edge gets damaged, it takes probably a minute to change a damaged edge to fully polished.
Application for kitchen knife abuses is also excellent - you have a wife who draws a knife edge across a cutting board? far less damage (or chipping if the knife is hard).
What's the virtue of the cheapie knives if you have nice ones? Last year the mrs. and I went downtown with the kids to look at a gingerbread house contest setup (it's serious business here - hundreds of them, some professionally done in fondant, etc). Unfortunately, they moved the display to the lobby of the courthouse last year. That means for you, me and everyone else who has a small pocket knife, no entry and we were with a group of friends who is ...let's say, a bit sheltered. They think anyone carrying a knife is looking for trouble. On the way in, I tossed the RR in the trash without saying anything. When I got home, I ordered another one for $11. And got in no trouble with the mrs. because she never saw any of it, either.
Just used the RR today (the "new" one) to open a box from NJ steel baron - the box had a hidden ply side that was stapled in, which did fairly minimal damage to the edge compared to what it would've done if there was a full crisp apex. Time to repair the damage and be back to full polish (india, deburr, buff)....68 seconds.
Early on, I was somewhat obsessed with the knives being "just right", depending on what they are. I love a wharncliffe 1095 GEC knife (mine are harder than their spec, which makes them just lovely for fine edge holding).
I've also got some wondersteel knives, etc.
But the challenge is when you're an edge chaser, but lazy - how do you get a knife that's cheap to be really nice to use?
When I first started buying pocket knives, a friend of mine who was toolmaker at williamsburg told me that he would charge $1500 for a knife similar to one of the unxld knives he bought if someone asked for it custom, he was just puzzled with how they could do as good of a job as cheap. And then I'd read reviews somewhere and certainly, someone would show up with "barely better than rough rider, and rough riders are $14 - save your money"
So, I couldn't resist buying a rough rider lockback. The first one that I got had enormous side play and compared to the GEC knife, it was soft - very. Even a simple novaculite stone raises a huge wire edge on it. I put it aside and didn't think about it too long.
Then, I came across a knife in SGPS that didn't seem to like a fine edge from any stone that I have (I have hundreds). By that, I mean similar subjective sharpness to carbon steel at 61 hardness, and no burr. In exasperation, I reset the bevel on the knife on crystolon (whoa, that would almost file it away- a complete departure vs. everything else), and hit the edge with a few strokes on an india stone and then ran the knife over a gray deburring wheel and a buff with 5 micron compound.
The edge was silent shaving, no carbide pits or anything in it, just perfectly smooth. I came to find out that this isn't a hair hanging edge, but it's protective of the apex since it's modified. The rest of the geometry is not much changed.
That left me with an idea for gouges that I hate to sharpen for woodworking but like to use for heavy work, and then I got the idea that the butter blade on the RR lockback could be sharpened without burr formation off of the buff. It was great! Not a good knife, but a great solution. A stroke or two on the india stone when it gets out of shape and then deburr and buff. Easy clean silent shaving on both sides of the bevel ( no burr). I've since applied this to every knife that seems a bit soft and has edge deflection issues (and will have an article in a woodworking magazine in a week or two describing the method to eliminate early edge damage on bench chisels).
If the buffing is kept just to the tip of the blade, only the tip of the apex is gone and the subjective sharpness is at least as good. If the edge gets damaged, it takes probably a minute to change a damaged edge to fully polished.
Application for kitchen knife abuses is also excellent - you have a wife who draws a knife edge across a cutting board? far less damage (or chipping if the knife is hard).
What's the virtue of the cheapie knives if you have nice ones? Last year the mrs. and I went downtown with the kids to look at a gingerbread house contest setup (it's serious business here - hundreds of them, some professionally done in fondant, etc). Unfortunately, they moved the display to the lobby of the courthouse last year. That means for you, me and everyone else who has a small pocket knife, no entry and we were with a group of friends who is ...let's say, a bit sheltered. They think anyone carrying a knife is looking for trouble. On the way in, I tossed the RR in the trash without saying anything. When I got home, I ordered another one for $11. And got in no trouble with the mrs. because she never saw any of it, either.
Just used the RR today (the "new" one) to open a box from NJ steel baron - the box had a hidden ply side that was stapled in, which did fairly minimal damage to the edge compared to what it would've done if there was a full crisp apex. Time to repair the damage and be back to full polish (india, deburr, buff)....68 seconds.
