Nov 23, 2009

Cutlery

A couple of annoying obligations kept me around here over the weekend. At least there was enough dead time to give some of the shop tools a workout, and there's a new letter opener on my desk. With it's symmetrical dagger blade (decent enough stainless) and sturdy walnut handle, it looks a lot like a dangerous knife, but that's just a coincidence.

The other one is that trashed out Navy Mark II Kabar I mentioned a few days back. Draw filing and polishing erased nearly all the pits, not to mention about a quarter of the original blade thickness. Its walnut handle is rough cut, just enough to make me think this one will turn out well, so I guess I'll take some pains with the final finish.

It's fun to plug this minor hobby of creating useful edged tools from junk. The required skill level isn't very high, the cost is negligible, and the rewards are substantial. I'll post a picture or two when I return from a short trip south.

(I urge caution in recommending home brew cutlery for readers who live where Great Britain used to be.)


4 comments:

Anne Toal said...

Do you have any opinion on Fisk knives?

Anonymous said...

Not really, Anne. I've never used one.

From a hit on his catalog: His damascus steel looks wonderful, and all of the other knives I saw are at least eye-catching. He tosses the term "Bowie" around a little too freely to suit me. The assertion that the knives are good investments bears a lot of skeptical investigation.

Jim

JohnW said...

Whoa, if the first commenter is who I think she is, its getting a tad incestuous around here, doncha think?

Anne Toal said...

I don't generally like knives as investments. I've always been fascinated with the idea of using a Damascus blade for kitchen work, but I'm intimidated about having a high carbon blade around water all the time. Fisk's blades look utilitarian and workmanlike, as opposed to the 'precious' appearance of collector blades.