Ongoing Learning Project: Repairing Old Kitchen Knife

I

iammzz

Joined
Jun 10, 2012
Messages
4
Hello all, long time lurker first time poster here.

I've only started getting interested in knives recently and am going to embark on this project to improve my knowledge. I would like to eventually accumulate enough knowledge to build my own knife. Currently, I'd like to learn how to take care of and sharpen properly what I do have.

So instead of ruining the few nice knives I have (thanks to the corrupting influence of this forum), I've found an old and super-cheap cleaver to repair.

Unfortunately, I don't have any true "before" pictures, but I do have the result of my first day's progress (not much).

I've stripped off the cheapest plastic handle that China has to offer, but I'm having trouble removing the final bits of plastic from the handle rivets, and the rivets themselves.

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So here is my planned course of action, I'm really new to any form of.... work, so any advice would be appreciated.

Clean off the handle

- Planning to buy some CLR to clean the rust

- HELP: Not sure how to remove the plastic from the rivet

- HELP: Is it possible to remove the rivet itself?

Make a new handle

- HELP: Any suggestions on how to do that? I'm thinking maybe wrapping paracord around it, but the knife would be poorly balanced

Sharpen the blade

- I've been looking into guides on sharpening, I'm really confused at all the material that is presented on the internet but I've currently settled on the course of action of buying several Japanese waterstones and a strop, while learning to hand sharpen.

- I currently have a Lansky Hard Arkansas stone, which I believe is around 650x. I am very open to buying whatever I need, so suggestions are very welcome.

- I believe I need to several Japanese stones, probably a trio of 250 grit, 1000 grit, and 5000 grit. Any commentary would be helpful on that.

- NOTE: This knife is EXTREMELY dull, I can basically rub my finger on it, and it absolutely is about as effective at cutting paper as my keyboard. I do not know the steel, but it is very soft. I can bend the knife easily with my bare hands and it is difficult to hold rigid while sharpening.

I hope people find my project interesting and post some advice on how to proceed. If this post takes off I will keep it active by updating the original post with details.

My plan is to eventually turn this rectangular piece of crappy steel into a knife that is easy to use and very sharp. Mostly, I'd like to gain the skill of being able to put a keen edge on something. That way I would have the confidence to start sharpening my other knives (my BK2 is nearing this level of un-sharp...)
 
Whenever possible I use a power tool. I would use a wire wheel mounted on a bench grinder to clean up the tang and remove the plastic. It's a tool I use a lot - inexpensive and easy to set up. Wear safety glasses.

If it's really crappy steel, you will have a hard time putting a decent edge on it. Depending on how bad the edge is I would use a belt sander followed by paper wheels or just the paper wheels. If you're dead set on stones, I'd probably start with a diamond stone. A lot depends on your personality. Some folks get a lot of satisfaction sharpening by hand. I don't. I get satisfaction by obtaining a usable edge quickly. Paper wheels do that for me.

I have water stones, diamond stones, carborundum stones, Arkansas stones and ceramic stones. I seldom use them any more as well as the other "sharpening" devices I've used over the years. Most of them work just fine. They're slow.
 
Cut the rivets off with a hacksaw, once you cut the heads off of one side you should be able to punch the other half out.

Go to the General Knife Makers Discussion section. Shop talk has some stickies at the top. Read through these. There is much information there. i think you will be able to find the information you need there.

ric
 
Any sort of grinder/sander/saw can get the rivets off, and they'll take the plastic with them.

A 650 grit arkansas stone will put all the edge on that thing that it needs. If it has no edge, start off with any rough abrasive like sandpaper to get a basic edge, then refine it with increasingly light strokes on the stone until you're just barely touching it. At that point it'll be nice and smooth and should cut stuff just fine.
 
Sorry I've neglected this post. I have been very busy with work matters.

I have pried out the rivets, and will follow Grease's advice in buying some low-grit sandpaper to wear down the edge first before using my 650 to try refining it.

I will head out to Home Depot today to pick up various sandpaper and hopefully make a strop as well to convex my BK2.
 
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