Making of a Sheffield knife video

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

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Aug 6, 2007
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A video with horrible audio on the making of a sheffield knife. Look at that guy HOG on that wheel :D. Note the cutler's anvil, an ORIGINAL cutler's anvil with different tools dovetailed into the top, and HT'ing two at a time :D

[youtube]nRAzwgJWMF0[/youtube]
 
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Thanks for sharing another cool video Sam. I like that 2 knife quench, looks like he might have done an oil and then water quench also but I couldn't really tell. The speed and accuracy displayed was amazing, I feel like I'm screwing around after watching this.
 
sweet. can't help but notice how many of these old shops have the grinders running the right way - AWAY from the maker. Makes me wonder if we're doing this stuff wrong...
 
My thoughts exactly Matt!!! I'm trying to figure out how to build a grinder like that :D

Big thanks to the King of Cool Videos Finder Sam :D I really loved this one. They must quench two blades at a time half sideways like that for creating a little warp in the blade for multiblade slip joints. ;) LOL :D

I'm sort of hoping this video will spark a WHALE OIL QUENCH debate! :p ;) :D

edited: So have you made a copy of his cutler's hammer yet Sam??? Looks stout! Maybe 5 pounds?
 
Glad you guys like it! Dan, you make over 100 blades a day and see how quick you get it down LOL.

Matt, that is an interesting subject you bring up (which you have an affinity to do). However, the way I have seen most maker's grind is looking down the blade edge up, if the wheel ran the other way it would throw sparks into the face. so you would have to grind semi blind like these fellows (and most of the japanese) do on the upper area of a wheel. Some guys grind on the far top of the wheel so they can see the edge while grinding which is basically what most modern makers do, but that's hard on a belt grinder that is horizontal on a table, you'd have to set it at a 45 or 90 to not run into the slack belt. There's no RIGHT way to do things, except the way that works :D A big thing I see alot is the use of a lever stick to get more pressure! not something I have seen alot of in modern times, if ever. And also water cooling so they can really bear down and not worry about overheating.

If you think you'd like one of those types of grinders, listen here to this song :D

[youtube]pTXjp2bf1vo[/youtube]

"a broken stone will give a wound that will not heal"
 
Matt I have made this drawing to illustrate:

227399_1989443666710_1561909122_2185502_4203056_n.jpg
 
And this one to show how you'd end up with a small work area and poor visibility of the edge if the machine was left as is and belt reversed.

227912_1989465187248_1561909122_2185568_4505913_n.jpg
 
Whale oil - I don't know if it's still available but there was a thread on Swordforum with a member of the Wilkinson family. As I remember they used 1095 and quenched in whale oil into the 1940s.
 
Thanks for that. Very cool viewing.

Is that Photoshop you are using for your illustrations?:p

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To remove Hijack
 
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Right at 3:15 that blade looks hot, and the guy still puts his fingers on for pressure. Must have some serious callusing going on.
 
Just for the record I wasn't ribbing you about building hammers for other people Sam... I really wondered if you'd made one like that yet or had plans to. Looks like something right up your alley and it's really moving that steel!!! :) I watched it again and am still thinking about 5 pounds... definitely at least 4.
 
Did she really say that the blades were quenched in whale oil "To make them firm for grinding."?? :)
 
Sammy, I understand the metrics of it (which your drawings do a bang-up job illustrating), however I suspect the point of this style of grinding is that it relies less on witnessing the edge and more about knowing where you're making contact with the steel on the grinder. The best grinding I do is when I relax and let myself put the steel where it needs to be, and not focus on looking at it - which, really, you can't see, as the point of contact is usually behind the visible area.
Certainly needs a different skill set or style, but I still contend it's a smarter way to do it than our machines allow now...
 
Okay, I know I'm a newbie, but I'll chime in too.

What I've noticed is that the sound made by contact of the belt and steel tells you a lot about what kind of contact you're making. If I'm making contact along a long surface, the sound is more like a swishing sound, but if I'm hitting a smaller area it's more like a grinding sound. I can also tell by sound if I'm going over smooth surfaces or rough. I suspect the same would hold true for the grind stone in the Sheffield video.

The feel and sound are, for me, more helpful than sight. I have too many layers of protection between my eyes and the work anyway, making it hard for me to see what's going on under the best of circumstances. Even when only wearing glasses and a mask my breath inevitably fogs the glasses. In the Sheffield video the work conditions seemed pretty dark, so they probably wouldn't be able to rely on sight either.

- Greg
 
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