Ok guys I got off the phone with Murray about 20 mins ago for the second time.
He said he got his hands on the knife Wednesday afternoon. I recieved the first call Thursday l morning. He said there was a definite temper issue. He said he put pressure on the primary edge as I did until failure. He said he knew by the sound of the steel when he tapped the blade with his finger nail as soon as he got it in his hands lol. He said he examined the chip and the grain looked perfect so it was in tempering. He then offered to fix mine, forge me a new one or if I wanted to wait a bit, a Master Smith free of charge. I expressed my gratitude at the offer but I love the one I had and I would love if he could simply fix it.
He called again a little bit ago and said he’s just finishing the scales and I’m all set. He said he sharpened it, took a piece of iron wood and chopped it a couple dozen times and no edge damage and still razor sharp. He said that’s far beyond what the knife is indended for. He said he expects a lot out of his neck knife and he’s never done that with it.
He did say something interesting. He said water stone sharpening and this steel are a match made in heaven. He said diamond and other media is completely unnecessary and excessive. He said that water creates viscosity between the steel and stone that really cushions and correctly removes the material. He said the fine grain of this steel should never be touched with rougher than a 1000 grit stone. He said after using all other steels it takes time to get your head wrapped around how good the wear resistance really is and yet how easy it is to sharpen and remove material. He said that’s the magic of white. He said blue steel is very different and some of the more harsh media’s can be used. He said white makes a finer grain finer edge, Blue is a harder use as it has elements added. He said white is see how far you can go and what you can really pull out of it and blue is just don’t mess it up cause it’s good to go. He said he can no longer tell the difference in wear resistance between the two but the white slices more keenly. He said the first 25 years of forging both he could tell a difference. “So I guess Ive improved after 17,000 knives”.
So, I’ll get my 1000-6000 stones back out and use those moving forward. I used to be really good on them.
He lastly apologized again and said he gets one back every once in a while. He said he’ll include something cool for me with knife. I thanked him and that was that.
Couldn’t be happier with the personal service from him, we had probably a combined 20 mins on the phone. Had my knofe turned around in 36 hours and back out. Hell of a guy. He is a master at what he does. You can tell speaking with him he truly lives it and puts his soul into it. He was truly upset that one left imperfect.
