Prep for sharpening

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,479
Hi keen people :)

When I sharpen I put painters tape around the pivot area to block grit/dust from getting into the mechanism, but sometimes you don’t have a lot of room in front of the scales for the tape to really cover enough, so I thought using some of the tacky putty like used to put up posters and roll it out into a narrow cord shape and then press it down and around would help cover the area and then I can put painters tape on the rest of the handle

Here's a different knife with the thumbstud close to the scale, you can easily push in some of the blue tack stuff to cover that opening and it pulls off easily and cleanly, I like it ;)

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Before applying to the other side you can see the narrow gap that the blu tack will cover up on the right side in this photo
Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Keep safe folks
G2
 
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That's an interesting idea, as long as the material doesn't get in the way when sharpening and comes off easily.

I'm assuming you're referring to Blu-Tack?
 
Just used it and it worked out very well.
You know how the tape doesn’t really stick to the blade as well as you’d like it to, this covers it perfectly. I recommend it and you can always roll it narrower if you need to, I could have rolled mine a little smaller but the stones still cleared it fine and I have an exceptional edge on this rascal now ;)

G2

And yes the blue tak stuff that you can use over and over again, and it stays put, unlike the tape, so you know you must be getting some fine grit in there if you are not careful
 
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Here's a short video showing how that is pressed in around the blade/scale area. Beyond that area you can then wrap some painters tape if you feel the need to, but as you can see, painters tape along the front of the handle would be tougher to make sure it was sealed up from any dust from sharpening.


Nice thing about the blue tack is you can use it over and over so I just keep a small ball of it at the sharpening station

G2
 
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Pretty cool idea. I don't have trouble getting grit into the workings, but maybe I haven't looked closely enough.
 
I concur with that as I didn’t use to worry about it but it is better safe than sorry so anymore I do cover it up.
G2
 
Keep in mind, around the pivot area it is usually lubricated so you might blow in the dust further with an air compressor.

I sharpened one more knife last night, tough to find something that needed sharpening! lol and I used the same method, very easy and fast to seal up around the front portion of the scales to blade area.

G2
 
Some knives easier than others to take apart but some are a pain and some can’t be taken apart but I agree if you can get the blade out it’s a good thing too
G2
 
Thanks bud, kind of you to say but I'm sure you treat your knives pretty good too. And it's an easy thing to implement, I'm sure others must have thought of it, but in any case, hopefully it will give some guys a spark to give it a try themselves. Nice that this stuff is reusable as much as you want, amazing stuff. I used it more for when I am taking photos, it helps to keep blades up level and stops things from sliding around...sharp things sliding around is NO fun lol
G2
 
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