Time to Get Started: Skivving Knives

Gorgeous work as always Dave(and Nichole!). Especially that round knife. I do have to say though, I am rather surprised at how square the front of the bolsters are. No issues with hot spots at all?

Chris
 
Hey Chris, sorry took so long to get back to you. No the bolsters are not an issue at all on that roundknife. That one with the purple handle is Nichole's. Well the skivving knives are finally finished. They've actually been done a couple of weeks but life has been in the way and simply did not have time to post. Very little shop time either.

Here they are all finished:

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The round front on the blade certainly does make a differenece. I wouldn't make another with out it. The round point makes the knife more effective. In fact I'm gonna play with the ironwood one and see how it works as a bread knife.

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They seem to work well for their intended purpose. And I don't have any experience with this type of knife so I'm not really the guy to know. The flex in the blade is very important. It allows you to adjust angles and it seems that the blades "bite" the leather better when flexed. Quien Sabe?
 
I really like your design, and see how it would be preferable for bulk work/strap work than the chisel types I see so common. I have one from a popular maker and the fat handle just gets in the way. That round knife is truly a work of art - what would a matching pair set a fella back?
 
Good to see you Dave. :)

How hard would it be to round the tip on the Ironwood knife? Knives that thin are typically ground after ht, no?

While I'm yaking, do you happen to have a bench grinder/buffer with 1/2" arbors? I'll have a Nigel Armitage burnisher and sanding drum for testing when I come by. I'd like your input on how it compares to the equipment you're familiar with. If not, I can bring my motor.
 
Eagle, we shouldn't discuss sales here but feel free to email me or pm me and i can get that info to you. Thanks Strig. I'd guesstimate I did 75 to 80 percent of the bevel grinding prior to ht. I have mucho faith in Peter's. I could do that and have contemplated rounding that tip but I do want to play with the bread knife idea too. Kinda building up some kitchen knives slowly. I do need to regrind that blade a hair anyhoo. I didn't get it quite thin enough behind the edge.

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I made quite a mound of skivved up scraps with these guys.

They slice up stuff pretty darn good too:

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So a couple of days to get some slip sheaths built and Paul's will be enroute
 
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Dave, they all look great. It will be good to get to try one. The round tip definitely is an advantage, and the tip does more skiving than you would imagine, particularly in tight angled areas. As you noted, the flex is very important also.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul it'll be enroute shortly. Strig I forgot to mention. I have 4 or 5 with 1/2" arbors. We're good.
 
I agree with Paul, those are looking fine. The blade finish looks really nice.

Are those a full flat zero grind? I don't see a bevel. If you do a pass around I'll look forward to trying it. So far I've used a belt sander, safety skiver, round knife and a handful of kiridashi to skive with, my favorite thus far being the round knife, but something tells me those knives are even better.

Edit- sounds good on the buffer. I believe another company will have more kit for me to review so I'll bring that along as well.
 
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wow, the look awesome and they seem to be doing a great job too. is it just the picture or does the sheepfoot style blade have a wider bevel/edge? probably just perspective. and btw, i noticed it as well when using a razor blade for skivving that the bent blade seemed to "bite" better.
 
Yes they are a full flat grind. The sheepsfoot one does have a little larger secondary bevel. It wasn't cutting as well as the other two, so I reground that bevel and sharpened. Thats when I figured out that it was thicker behind the bevel than the other two and would need to be reground a little.
 
One thing I noticed. Most skiving done with a round knife and other knives meant for skiving accomplish their task mostly with push cuts. Using these knives is just the opposite, most of your skiving will be pull cuts. Cutting toward yourself rather than away. (this technique is demonstrated in most if not all of the DVDs) Occasionally you will have to push cut a small area, and that's where the round tip shines.

Paul
 
See told ya I didn't know how to use these. Paul is the man. I was using em backwards. Paul, got the slip sheath done on yours just letting er dry. Problaby ship on Monday.
 
Hey Dave, I've probably asked at some point, but how do you go about sharpening your knives? I keep going back to the pic of the round knife, the primary is beautiful. Describe your process if you get a second.

I gotta stop looking at the group shots you post btw. Time just goes by as I look at them. Speaking of which, how did you do the granton scallops on the santoku?
 
I use to be a bench stone, hand sharpening kind of guy. I was into waterstones before they were cool. Now arthritic hands and the volume that I work with simply prevent that. I use my VFD controlled 2x72. I set a secondary bevel with a 120 grit ceramic belt. I then switch to a 220 silicon carbide belt. This refines the secondary bevel and creates the burr or wire. Most of my "cowboy' knives I stop here with as far as the grinder goes. My hunters I'll take up to 400 and the leather knives up to 800. I then use a buffer with a firm wheel and pink scracthless. I'm just knocking the burr off with the buffer and polishing the very edge of the edge. This leaves a hair popping (one of my mottos is "It will shave before it ships") edge with some tooth behind it. The leather knives I want a completely polished edge on. They get buffed with green chrome scratch remover before the pink scratchless. With a leather knife I've found that I will head back to the buffer after a short time of use. That second buffing really brings out the "ugly" sharp in them. Interestingly this was the same with all my roundknives not just the ones I've made. Man do they cut after that second buffing. Care must be taken with power sharpening not to overheat the edge of course. That knife with the grantons I didn't make. It belongs to an elderly neighbor. He brings one or two kitchen knives over every once in a while and I clean em up and re handle em in cocobolo for him and sharpen them. Its a German set I forget what brand. He's got two of my kitchen knives on order though. His wife will be surprised by the performance difference. I'm a big proponent of grind em thin. My knives are sharper than those ones are, before I grind the secondary bevel. Literally.
 
Since you power sharpen anyways horsewright, did you try those paper sharpening wheels by any chance? There is a thread about them in the tinkering and embellishing sub forum.
I am still using my lansky and sharpmaker. But I am contemplating getting maybe diamond stones and put the in an adjustable rest or something different all together.
I am slowly getting into the region where maintaining my knives and the household knives gets to be more of a chore and less of a relaxing thing.
 
I don't have the paper wheels, but have a couple of knives sharpened on them. They are very sharp!

Thanks for the breakdown Dave. I use to be a hand sharpening nut myself. I now use the edge pro or 1x30 sander. I actually tried to sharpen the round knife on the EP for a split second before realizing that it would be impossible. Too bad because I can get a very nice edge using it. I sharpened my old round knife using a SiC stone, then a translucent Arkansas stone, then stropping on green ChromOx, but I've never been quite happy with it. Maybe I'll try your process with the buffer.

I'd love to see the look on the woman's face when she first cuts with your knife. The biggest benefit of custom knives (other than the steel and ht to support it) is a very thin blade and acute apex. At least to me.

Really cool thread!
 
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