what do you do with your Screwups?

kile

kile

Joined
Mar 19, 1999
Messages
620
I am starting to accumulate a large number of my knives with some cosmetic problems? Most of them the problem came when I did the final sharpening. These knives are functionally fine, and except that I put some really ugly lines in them when I tried to sharpen them there is nothing wrong with them. Should I keep these, throw them away, sell them cheap, give them away, attempt to fix them? What do you guys do?
Kyle Fuglesten
 
You can enter them in the up coming ugly knife contest. need someone to beat Peter. Make them into damascus.
 
For what it is worth, I have a policy that if a knife
is structly sound and can be salvaged and made into
a viabile knife I do so, some times I get suprised
with what I have. This also makes me more carfull.
Gib
 
I try to make a smaller one like Gib said. If that fails I do like George says and make damascus. Don't bother entering it in the ugly knife contest. I have some world class ugly coming this year.:D
 
I hang them on the wall to serve as an example to my self and others on how not to do it. They seem to serve little other purpose. :( Really don't want anyone to get a hold of one of those, so they are destined to the box under the bench. Not sure why we keep them?
 
i do have a few that have become shop knives.:D but i have learned over time to just put it down. and then a few months will pass and then i suddenly know what to do. these have been some of my best recived designs.
 
If the knife is completed,I would just clean up my ugly that I put on it or reshape the blade a little,If it is not complete I would scrap the blade,I used to set the blades that I messed up on in the window sill and let the neighborhood boys fix them for themselves whenever they would visit.They would have a blast reshaping and grinding then finishing out the knife,and learned respect for the shop and the knives.Plus I didn and don't worry about anybody stealing anything from the shop as I have to many shop guards this way:D
Some I would finish out and give to friends to destruct test for me,I figured they would do more to them than I might,this also let me know how they were holding up.
That is the other use for mess ups is to test the blade,like a bend and break test,cutting steel drums open and seeing if the edge of the knife holds up,just basic destruction tests.This way you don't feel like you are hurting a beautiful knife just tearing up a ugly one..
Bruce
 
I have the world's largest collection of *extrememly* heavy duty kitchen knives...

My wife longs for a set of Ginsus, since she doesn't seem to prefer 3/16" and 1/4" thick kitchen knives, and that seems to be all we have...


Larry
 
The knife that prompted me to start this thread was a 4 inch mirror polished hunter, the hollow grind was perfect on both sides, the polish was perfect, It had the nicest Bocote handle slabs I have seen, and two mosaic pins, when I went to put the final edge on the blade, I put a big nick in the plunge area, and the final edge is kind of wavy along the side of the hollow, It is perfectly functional, but it looks butt ugly now, at least to me. I buffed the hell out of the scratched area, and now you have to turn the knife at weird angles to see the weird grinding marks, everyone else who has seen it has not noticed it until after I pointed it out to them, but then they all saw it immediately. I think I will just give this knife to my Dad, or grandpa, they are both pretty blind, and will probably think the knife is perfectly finished.

p.s. Anybody else have a tendency to wreck their knives at the last moment(when final sharpening) or am I just retarded?
Kyle Fuglesten
 
Just put them in an out of the way place. When you get more experience under your belt, you will know what to do with them.;)
 
If I should get a screw up, I redesign it into another.
I've ended up with knives adding $100.00 or so to them.
once in a great while the ban saw will catch
one I'm profiling and do a 90 deg bend
test for me, not really the time for that
type of testing. Kit hit it on the nose.
Kyle
 that lesson of sharpening mistakes gets old fast.
lessons learned
 
If I screw up I will usually hcange the design altogether. Making it a one of a kind. However, I usually screw it up soooo badly or even screw up the altered model too. So, I throw a fit and fling it into the farther brick wall ruining it entirely...:mad: :D ;)
 
I do know someone who throws/sticks the rejects in the ceiling! Please, don't ask who.

They do live in an area of few earthquakes, thankfully!

I've been tempted to try it a few times, but my ceiling is sheetrock. With my luck, they wouldn't stick in a joist and I don't want to wear a helmet since we occasionaly have an earthquake or 85mph winds which shake the place.

Honestly, they are either fixed or used/abused to test heat treat.
 
Been thinking about this thread all day as it
concerns all of us. Years ago I had a art teacher
tell me that the mark of a good artist is to be able
to correct his screw ups, this is quite a challenge,
but in my mind so true. Gib
 
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