- Joined
- Apr 15, 2002
- Messages
- 3,376
I went a little ebay crazy last week and picked up a few new slippies. four were barlows, two russell green bone, and a red wavy bone boker, all with carbon steel, all NIB. The last barlow, which hasn't arrived yet, was an imperial, looked to be slightly used. the fifth knife was a kutmaster equal end jack with black bone handles and carbon steel blades. the knife was in rough shape to say the least. There seemed to be grout or putty or some similar substance on the face of the main blade, in the thumbnail pull, between the locking bars and liners, and all sorts of crud beneath the blades inside of the knife's handle. the blade had a patina and some light pitting, so i used my beater gerber armor tanto point to scrape the gunk from the main blade. the pen blade was worn, scratched, and did not sit completely in the handle. after cleaning the knife as best i could and restoring some snap to the blades, i cleaned it out inside the handle with alcohol. then i sharpened the main blade on the sharpmaker and it took a scary edge.
I thought that there was one of two things wrong with the pen blade: a. it was sharpened so much that the point did not seat in the handle any more. i have this problem on a victorinox spartan I own. or b. the spur on the ricasso was so long that the blade would not seat fully in the handle. this posed two problems, one, it was difficult to access the main blade because the pen was high enough to cover the pull on the clip point. the other problem was that the point was exposed enough that I worried about cutting myself.
I had the choice of grinding the pen blade into a sheepsfoot or filing down the ricasso. I tried the latter first and with only two or three minutes of filing, it sits deep enough in the handle that the point isn't exposed any more. I may have taken off too much because the pen sits low enough that if i have a short thumbnail it may be difficult to access it easily. however, any higher and there would still be a bit of the knife's point exposed.
anyhow though, I have a new little edc to put into the rotation. I like the knife's weight, it feels very solid in the hand and is smaller than the 96OT I've been carrying. it is beat up enough that i don't mind carrying it with my keys in my left front pocket, and hopefully with a little use the putty between the liners and backsprings will work itself loose and i'll get a little more snap to the main blade.
pete
I thought that there was one of two things wrong with the pen blade: a. it was sharpened so much that the point did not seat in the handle any more. i have this problem on a victorinox spartan I own. or b. the spur on the ricasso was so long that the blade would not seat fully in the handle. this posed two problems, one, it was difficult to access the main blade because the pen was high enough to cover the pull on the clip point. the other problem was that the point was exposed enough that I worried about cutting myself.
I had the choice of grinding the pen blade into a sheepsfoot or filing down the ricasso. I tried the latter first and with only two or three minutes of filing, it sits deep enough in the handle that the point isn't exposed any more. I may have taken off too much because the pen sits low enough that if i have a short thumbnail it may be difficult to access it easily. however, any higher and there would still be a bit of the knife's point exposed.
anyhow though, I have a new little edc to put into the rotation. I like the knife's weight, it feels very solid in the hand and is smaller than the 96OT I've been carrying. it is beat up enough that i don't mind carrying it with my keys in my left front pocket, and hopefully with a little use the putty between the liners and backsprings will work itself loose and i'll get a little more snap to the main blade.
pete
