Local knife sharpening service just butchered 3 of my knives.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Ribeyeguy said:
Is there anything I can do with the Barlow to make it look better?
Click to expand...

I believe so. Post this over in "Maintenance and Tinkering" and I'll bet someone can offer some advice.

Unfortunately you can't add metal back, you can only remove more. I have taken very worn blades and flattened the recurve out with a file, and started over with a new grind.
 
r8shell said:
I believe so. Post this over in "Maintenance and Tinkering" and I'll bet someone can offer some advice.

Unfortunately you can't add metal back, you can only remove more. I have taken very worn blades and flattened the recurve out with a file, and started over with a new grind.
Click to expand...

Just posted. Thanks
 
Ribeyeguy said:
Is there anything I can do with the Barlow to make it look better?
Click to expand...

You could take out some of the recurve by removing some material near the ricasso but you would have to also remove some of the belly to get rid of all of the recurve and that would be a lot more material that I would want to remove in one fell swoop. If it were me I would use the knife regularly and periodically resharpen it on a flat and 3" wide stone (or guided system) to gradually straighten the edge out.
 
Paul Tummers said:
I see nothing that you could not have fixed yourself with a decent grinding system like a Lansky deLuxe or an edge Pro and some patience, too bad to look at what the man has done to your knives!
Click to expand...

Yea well it's too late for that. It was certainly my mistake for thinking this guy or any service would treat these knives with finesse and love.
I'm just going to put it behind me, have a nice Oktoberfest beer later, and remember the good times I had together with those 3.
 
Brisket said:
You could take out some of the recurve by removing some material near the ricasso but you would have to also remove some of the belly to get rid of all of the recurve and that would be a lot more material that I would want to remove in one fell swoop. If it were me I would use the knife regularly and periodically resharpen it on a flat and 3" wide stone to gradually straighten the edge out.
Click to expand...

I don't even feel like it's my knife anymore and feel disconnected from it.
 
With the GEC, you might want to contact them and see what they would charge you for re-blading that knife.
 
jc57 said:
With the GEC, you might want to contact them and see what they would charge you for re-blading that knife.
Click to expand...

I just called GEC and spoke to Bill who was awfully nice and he told me to send it in and they'll see if anything can be done. It's worth a shot.
 
Last edited:
Sorry your knives were messed up but this is one reason you should learn to do it yourself.
 
Ribeyeguy said:
I don't even feel like it's my knife anymore and feel disconnected from it.
Click to expand...

I can understand that and the downside of using it regularly is the regular reminder of that guy messing up your knife. Starting over by selling and replacing the PM2 and the Old Timer is feasible but with the Soup Bone Charlow not so much. I really feel for you Ribeyguy.
 
The Schrade is the most permanent loss. No chance in factory repairs since they went out of business in 2004. Furthermore, that tang stamp dates the knife to the early 1980s or so. Fortunately though, they are relatively common on the secondary markets and even a NIB example won't cost much more than a new knife from GEC.
 
I learnt a similar lesson early on in my knife collecting career, when I took a pretty old worn alox SAK to be sharpened at a similar place, the guy ran the blade over a sander, sending sparks everywhere, gave the blade a crooked edge with a burr.

Anyway, at least it inspired me to learn how to sharpen and reprofile properly, I would really not want to make myself dependent upon anyone else to keep my knives sharp, other people don't care about blades the way a knifeknut does.
 
jc57 said:
With the GEC, you might want to contact them and see what they would charge you for re-blading that knife.
Click to expand...

I was going to mention this as well. Shoot Christine an email or give her a call. She's super nice and helpful and luckily for you this particular blade shape on that pattern is one of their most common so chances are they have some spares laying around. If not hit up somebody like esynx here on the forum as he does a lot of modifying and may have an extra clip laying around. Good luck and let us know what Christine tells you. :)

Jake
 
Those sharpening services are mostly used for butcher's knives. A good pocket knife is a totally different instrument and should get a totally different treatment, but those people do not know about that.
 
Brisket said:
It hurts to look at those and I cringe whenever I hear someone mention knife sharpening service. Making a recurve out of a Charlow should be a crime punishable by hard labor (other than knife sharpening).
Click to expand...

Ridiculous. I know you're engaging in hyperbole, but it's just a knife. Admittedly Charlows are very nice knives, but it's not like the guy destroyed Abraham Lincoln's congress.

I have a soup bone Charlow that has a similar profile, though not as pronounced. I didn't bring it to a sharpening service, I messed it up myself. I had trouble with its initial sharpening, and instead of stepping back and taking stock of the situation I let my impatience get the best of me. Voila! Instant recurve. I learned a valuable lesson that day about taking my time. Perhaps this misadventure will inspire the OP to learn to sharpen better, a requisite skill if your hobby is knives.



My Charlow may no longer be pristine, but it's become one of my favorite knives. That sharpening snafu was a mixed blessing. I no longer hesitate to use it the way a knife should be used, not romanticize it as some sort of precious artificact. It actually reminds me of some of the older pieces we see around here, many of which have similar shapes.

- Christian
 
Last edited:
Whitedog said:
Sorry your knives were messed up but this is one reason you should learn to do it yourself.
Click to expand...

I was doing the sharpening myself since I got into knives but the tip I couldn't correct and it kept getting more round. I thought it might help and it didn't.
 
kamagong said:
Ridiculous. I know you're engaging in hyperbole, but it's just a knife. Admittedly Charlows are very nice knives, but it's not like the guy destroyed Abraham Lincoln's congress.

I have a soup bone Charlow that has a similar profile, though not as pronounced. I didn't bring it to a sharpening service, I messed it up myself. I had trouble with its initial sharpening, and instead of stepping back and taking stock of the situation I let my impatience get the best of me. Voila! Instant recurve. I learned a valuable lesson that day about taking my time. Perhaps this misadventure will inspire the OP to learn to sharpen better, a requisite skill if your hobby is knives.



My Charlow may no longer be pristine, but it's become one of my favorite knives. That sharpening snafu was a mixed blessing. I no longer hesitate to use it the way a knife should be used, not romanticize it as some sort of precious artificact. It actually reminds me of some of the older pieces we see around here, many of which have similar shapes.

- Christian
Click to expand...

That's a good outlook.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top