Odd question: knives to acquire for practicing thinning

[bdaabat]

Good day all! I've got an odd question: any recommendations for knives to acquire so that I can practice blade thinning?

I currently only have one knife that would potentially benefit from thinning. I'd like to be able to get more practice in than what I can get from one knife.

I've perused the local Goodwill stores and have come up empty or with a cheap set that has super thin blades.

Thanks in advance!
Bruce

 

[kwackster]

Personally i like older Solingen made knives for that purpose.
In general these are made from hot drop-forged carbon or stainless steel that is very tough but at the same time not overly wear resistant.

Due to this you can use a variety of stones and also cheap wet & dry SiC paper on glass for thinning/regrinding, no need for specialty stones or belt grinders.
And with a little practice the end result can be both pleasing to the eye & much more functional at the same time.

In this thread are just a few examples:

K

Post in thread 'Solinger Fahrtenmesser'

Dec 27, 2024

In the 1920's the Gebr.(brothers) Lützenkirchen from Solingen, Germany were known as manufacturers of straight razors, but starting around the 1930's they also made & distributed general cutlery & scissors.
Just like many other Solingen manufacturers during the 3rd Reich period they also made Hitlerjugend knives and SA dress daggers, these last ones being quite rare nowadays.
In 1935 their factory was situated on the Klingenstrasse (blade street) 36 in Solingen, and this is a list of the various brand names they used: 'Botafogo' (1920), 'Ciwis Solingen' (late 1920s?), 'Conte Aiollo'...

• kwackster

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[Obsessed with Edges]

I've found thinning a couple of my Opinels to be very rewarding, both in how they improved in cutting, and also in how their shallow convex grind is very conducive to the thinning process. Even from the factory, they're already relatively thin slicers as compared to so many other knives, and they perform well. But taking them even thinner will teach a lot about where the limits of the steel are (how thin is too thin?) and how much they can improve in cutting. And a bonus is, they're also not expensive, only having to spend maybe $15 or so for a No. 08, which is the most popular size.

I thinned mine using a sheet of wet/dry sandpaper (SiC) around 220/320 grit or so, atop a granite surface plate, using edge-trailing passes with the blade laid flush to the paper. I moved the blade perpendicular to the edge of the surface plate, so the grind scratches are perpendicular to the spine. Opinel's blade steels aren't too difficult to grind either, which makes progress come pretty quickly. And following with higher grits makes getting a near-polished finish pretty easy. In the picture below, the lower 2 knives are the ones I thinned in this manner. The upper one's blade is still factory with a high polish, and I haven't altered the blade on that one at all. And as you can see, Opinels are also very conducive to creative shaping of the wood handles. All three of these came with Opinel's standard round & plumpish handles, which I eventually thinned out to suit my own preferences as well, even adding brass tubing for the lanyard holes I drilled into them.

 

[elevator man]

I would recommend some cheap knives with soft blade steels like 8cr, such as found in CRKT knives. I just today did a regrind on two knives. One was a 15V knife I started regrinding awhile ago and put the project on pause. That one took awhile. I ended up finding to get steel off I really needed to use just the corner of the belt to get enough pressure to actually cut that hard wear resistant steel. My harbor freight 1x30 belt grinder would bog down if I pushed too hard on the flat. Using new 80 grit silicon carbide belts. I did get it done. That paid off big since it was a paramilitary 2 so I got rid of that God awful choil and added a good bit of cutting edge to the knife as well as thinning out the entire blade.

Then after finishing that I grabbed a CRKT tanto with a serrated portion. I personally now dont like serrated or tanto knives. I used the same belt that I just finished the 15v on and went to town taking a 1/2" or more off the end of the blade, thinning the entire thing, and making it a fully plain edge wharncliff. Now I might actually use that knife again.

It was crazy the difference in how easy it was to grind that 8cr compared to 15v. The 8cr was almost like shaping a stick of butter. Regrinding knives like that would actually be fun. Keep a glass of ice water next to you to dip it in to cool it down