Rediscovered an old friend...

[Loneriderz]

Here's a knife I just re-discovered a few days ago. It was gifted to me when I was in secondary school (American equivalent of middle school) by my shop class teacher. Always wondered where it was and I finally found it while packing my stuff before our big house moving day.

When I found it it was totally black with oxidation. 15mins later this is as much as I could clean up. Sharpened it on a 2 dollar double sided sharpening stone (USD1.30) under a running tap. Then on 1500grit silicon carbide paper I glued on a piece of glass, finished by stropping on Autosol (a local brand of metal polish, no Flitz here) over an old leather belt. Not pretty... But cuts paper like butter and I got the edge to a mirror polish... That and now the back of my left hand is totally devoid of hair as I kept checking if I have gotten it sharp enough. Managed to find some info online about the company that produced these... Marples, based in Sheffield, England. Now I have a new box cutter for moving day.

Not expensive nor pretty but it does bring back fond memories of my school days.

 

[Dag-nabit]

Pretty cool. always nice to find a lost/forgotten treasure. :thumbup:

Kevin

 

[crbauhs]

the best finds are the ones you've forgotten about and find again.

 

[Loneriderz]

Pretty cool. always nice to find a lost/forgotten treasure. :thumbup:

Kevin

the best finds are the ones you've forgotten about and find again.

Yup... It was a pleasant surprise especially when I saw the condition it was in. Tool steel don't usually fare very well in tropical and humid Singapore, or at least I thought so. Especially not in my my dark and dank store room. This is actually pretty cool. It means I can get that RAT3 I always wanted. At least now I know carbon blades don't fare as bad as I had previously thought.

 

[Steven65]

It must have brought back great memories:thumbup:
Christmas came early for you this year

 

[Loneriderz]

Ever since I got into this knife thing... Every month seems to be a Christmas.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Looks like a Japanese Kiridashi woodworking knife.

 

[Loneriderz]

Looks like a Japanese Kiridashi woodworking knife.

Thanks! I Googled Kiridashi knives and hey, I guess it does look like one. Except the Japanese ones seems to be missing a handle. Learnt something new today . I'm gonna look around some of the old hardware stores to see if I can get a back up piece in case this goes missing again. Hope they still make these with wooden handles. Wood looks so much nicer than the synthetic stuff they use for tool handles nowadays.

 

[Dag-nabit]

Wood looks so much nicer than the synthetic stuff they use for tool handles nowadays.

:thumbup::thumbup: I'm a big fan of wood and other natural products for knife handles, although the synthetics/composites do have their place.

Kevin

 

[fleshwound]

That's no box cutter it is a marking knife. I use one in my wood shop instead of a pencil to obtain a more accurate layout line. You've got a nice one there. It would be a shame to see it used as a box cutter.

http://www.garrettwade.com/right-bevel-knife/p/19S03ddd01/

 

[orca8589]

Like fleshwound said, marking knife. Marples makes some great tools. A friend of mine has used a set of chisels form them for almost 15 years now. Really good, well made stuff. :thumbup:

thx - cpr

 

[A.L.]

I know the feeling, so great to find after you thought you had lost it for good.
And nice kiri!

 

[Loneriderz]

Yup... I know it's a marking knife. Don't have much if any chance of doing any woodworking anymore. In fact woodworking is more or less a dying art in Singapore. The good woodworkers are either too old or have given up totally. Recently an Indian temple had to "import" 15 woodcarvers all the way from Thailand for their expansion work. Shop class is also in danger of being taken out of the school curriculum because too many parents are worried that their "lil princes" could injure their precious pencil pushing hands. Pains me as a parent and a teacher. Despite all this they are expected to handle an M16 when they turn 18 for their 2yrs millitary service.

Back on topic... I'd rather use it as a boxcutter and utillity knife than let it rust away in a drawer. Friend of mine told me there's a store about 2hrs away from me that still stock these for cheap. Gonna see if I can get my hands on 1 or 2 more this weekend. Thanks for the link... Very appreciated. Did more Googling and found something surprising... There are people who collects old tools! Wow... Imagine that. There's probably a few stamp collectors saying the same thing about knife collecting at this very moment.