Horsewright
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2011
- Messages
- 13,224
I was sent this knife with the plea: "Can ya fix up the wife's favorite kitchen knife?" This old kitchen warrior had seen some use and abuse. I could find no markings of any kind but I'm thinking maybe Henckle? Well the tip was broken off, pitting in the blade and the handle was toast.
Sit back, grab your coffee and lets see what kind of rehab program we can put this ole girl through.
First deal is lets get those handles off. I sawed them off with my metal cutting bandsaw. Aw you know how ya always say don't throw that knife in a sink full of water or put it in the dishwasher? Here's how come:
That wood is about as rotten as it could get and still be sticking on there. I use a punch and a hammer to clean the rivets out of the tang holes:
I use a flat disc grinder to clean up the tang and a file to clean up the bolster. Little more to do:
Well lets regrind the edge including reshaping the tip. Gotta go slow here so as not to screw up the heat treat. I use my 2x72 grinder that is VFD controlled so I can slow the belt way down and not create too much heat. This took quite a bit of time. The edge had a hollow that was tougher to get out than reshaping the tip was.
On the blade regrinding I started at 80 grit then 120 then 220 and then hit it with a Scothbrite belt. This is after the 80 grit. Ya can see some of the deep pitting this blade had.
I work in batches. Now the blade is done at the grinder and she's hanging out with all the flat ground blades from this batch of 31 knives total. The ones on the left that are darker are damascus that haven't been etched yet. I'll do the post heat treat grinding on my hollow ground blades for this batch, etch the damascus and start handle material prep.
This knife is getting a cocobolo handle and she's in the bottom right of this pic. Handle materials are prepped for this batch:
Got the bolsters on each knife that needs one and the first side of the handle material is glued on, clamped and drying. In the background is the second side of the handle material for each knife. Each is marked with a number to correspond with a specific knife. Our kitchen knife is #24:
Too cold out in the shop for the glue to set up properly, so I haul the whole shooting match inside to spend the night:
Next morning I'll use my bandsaw to trim off any excess handle materials and on my knives to trim off any excess bolster material:
Here they are after I've used my grinders to profile everything down to the tang. Little bit of file work to true up the bolster face on each and they are ready to have their handle holes drilled:
Drilling the holes needed, using the holes in the tang as a guide:
Ready to glue the left side of the handle material. After drilling, each knife is placed on top of its left side handle material and spacer:
After glueing and clamping the second side it was warm enough outside that I hauled them outside to dry. Later that night I drilled the holes in the second side and glued in the pins and in the case of our kitchen knife two small Loveless bolts. Next morning trimming off excess again:
After the whole crew is trimmed I haul them outside to the grinders. I have my grinders mounted on an eight foot workbench on wheels and roll it outside to do all my grinding.
So first step at the grinders is 60 grit, then 120 on a slack belt and 220 on a slack belt and then hit the corners of the handle at 60 grit on a spindle sander to start rounding them off. I will do the tang and spine of the blade at 120 grit at a 90 degree angle to the spine. I will then come back and do the spine at 220 grit at 90 degrees to the grind marks left by the 120 grit. This alternating in directions between the grits is the secret to getting your tangs and spine clean and scratch free. Part way through:
Hitting the corners on the spindle sander:
Slack belt on 220 grit:
Perpendicular grind at 120 on the spine followed by the 220 in line:
Wipe er down with WD 40 and then repeat 30 more times:
I will repeat the handle shaping process at 320 grit and then 400 and finally finish the spine with 600 grit. I'll then use my small wheel attachment starting at 120 and going up to 600 to get the underside of each knife handle:
Hand sanding time. I start with 220 grit. Each handle material is process differently from this stage on. Cocobolo, iron wood and camel bone are sanded up to 600 grit:
Some of the other woods drying with either finish or stain. These were all wet sanded.
The cocobolo and ironwood after being sanded were lightly buffed with pink scratchless:
Then two coats of carnuba car wax are buffed off:
All the wooden handles are then taped off to protect them and the bolsters are buffed. Same with the camel bone too. The other handles like jigged bone, elk etc are hand sanded at 220 and are standing by to be buffed:
My buffer array is on wheels too:
Then the whole knife is waxed and buffed when dry. All blades with a Scothbrite belt finish are also run over that belt again at this time:
After each knife is buffed its waxed and then stuck in this box for the night:
Next morning I sharpen them all and check em. I require each knife to slice this thin paper three times without any drag. If not I sharpen it again. They were sharp.
Each knife is laid out on a towel. From here final cleanup, blade oiling, bolster polishing and leather thong attachment (for most of my knives) is done. The knife is then placed back in a numbered slot in the box so that when I go to building sheaths I know which sheath goes to which knife.
And our old kitchen warrior? Ready to do battle again:
The order also included a holster for a Glock 43
The old gal hanging with a couple of her new friends she made while she was in rehab:
Hope ya enjoyed our little tour. Questions and comments are always welcome.
Sit back, grab your coffee and lets see what kind of rehab program we can put this ole girl through.
First deal is lets get those handles off. I sawed them off with my metal cutting bandsaw. Aw you know how ya always say don't throw that knife in a sink full of water or put it in the dishwasher? Here's how come:
That wood is about as rotten as it could get and still be sticking on there. I use a punch and a hammer to clean the rivets out of the tang holes:
I use a flat disc grinder to clean up the tang and a file to clean up the bolster. Little more to do:
Well lets regrind the edge including reshaping the tip. Gotta go slow here so as not to screw up the heat treat. I use my 2x72 grinder that is VFD controlled so I can slow the belt way down and not create too much heat. This took quite a bit of time. The edge had a hollow that was tougher to get out than reshaping the tip was.
On the blade regrinding I started at 80 grit then 120 then 220 and then hit it with a Scothbrite belt. This is after the 80 grit. Ya can see some of the deep pitting this blade had.
I work in batches. Now the blade is done at the grinder and she's hanging out with all the flat ground blades from this batch of 31 knives total. The ones on the left that are darker are damascus that haven't been etched yet. I'll do the post heat treat grinding on my hollow ground blades for this batch, etch the damascus and start handle material prep.
This knife is getting a cocobolo handle and she's in the bottom right of this pic. Handle materials are prepped for this batch:
Got the bolsters on each knife that needs one and the first side of the handle material is glued on, clamped and drying. In the background is the second side of the handle material for each knife. Each is marked with a number to correspond with a specific knife. Our kitchen knife is #24:
Too cold out in the shop for the glue to set up properly, so I haul the whole shooting match inside to spend the night:
Next morning I'll use my bandsaw to trim off any excess handle materials and on my knives to trim off any excess bolster material:
Here they are after I've used my grinders to profile everything down to the tang. Little bit of file work to true up the bolster face on each and they are ready to have their handle holes drilled:
Drilling the holes needed, using the holes in the tang as a guide:
Ready to glue the left side of the handle material. After drilling, each knife is placed on top of its left side handle material and spacer:
After glueing and clamping the second side it was warm enough outside that I hauled them outside to dry. Later that night I drilled the holes in the second side and glued in the pins and in the case of our kitchen knife two small Loveless bolts. Next morning trimming off excess again:
After the whole crew is trimmed I haul them outside to the grinders. I have my grinders mounted on an eight foot workbench on wheels and roll it outside to do all my grinding.
So first step at the grinders is 60 grit, then 120 on a slack belt and 220 on a slack belt and then hit the corners of the handle at 60 grit on a spindle sander to start rounding them off. I will do the tang and spine of the blade at 120 grit at a 90 degree angle to the spine. I will then come back and do the spine at 220 grit at 90 degrees to the grind marks left by the 120 grit. This alternating in directions between the grits is the secret to getting your tangs and spine clean and scratch free. Part way through:
Hitting the corners on the spindle sander:
Slack belt on 220 grit:
Perpendicular grind at 120 on the spine followed by the 220 in line:
Wipe er down with WD 40 and then repeat 30 more times:
I will repeat the handle shaping process at 320 grit and then 400 and finally finish the spine with 600 grit. I'll then use my small wheel attachment starting at 120 and going up to 600 to get the underside of each knife handle:
Hand sanding time. I start with 220 grit. Each handle material is process differently from this stage on. Cocobolo, iron wood and camel bone are sanded up to 600 grit:
Some of the other woods drying with either finish or stain. These were all wet sanded.
The cocobolo and ironwood after being sanded were lightly buffed with pink scratchless:
Then two coats of carnuba car wax are buffed off:
All the wooden handles are then taped off to protect them and the bolsters are buffed. Same with the camel bone too. The other handles like jigged bone, elk etc are hand sanded at 220 and are standing by to be buffed:
My buffer array is on wheels too:
Then the whole knife is waxed and buffed when dry. All blades with a Scothbrite belt finish are also run over that belt again at this time:
After each knife is buffed its waxed and then stuck in this box for the night:
Next morning I sharpen them all and check em. I require each knife to slice this thin paper three times without any drag. If not I sharpen it again. They were sharp.
Each knife is laid out on a towel. From here final cleanup, blade oiling, bolster polishing and leather thong attachment (for most of my knives) is done. The knife is then placed back in a numbered slot in the box so that when I go to building sheaths I know which sheath goes to which knife.
And our old kitchen warrior? Ready to do battle again:
The order also included a holster for a Glock 43
The old gal hanging with a couple of her new friends she made while she was in rehab:
Hope ya enjoyed our little tour. Questions and comments are always welcome.
:thumbup: