What did you hone today? -Knife and tool edition

[Legion]

First test of some Penrhiw Welsh stone found by @cotedupy on one of his rambles. It's novaculite, but thankfully not as hard a hard Arkansas or something of that nature. A cement path, SIC, WD paper progression got it flat and smooth.

While the stone feels very fine and smooth to the touch, there were some visual inclusions that had me a little worried, so trial one is with an inexpensive stainless paring knife I don't care about.

The knife was fairly dull from the wife using it to cut rocks, or whatever it is she does, so initially the Penrhiw was doing 9/8th of bugger all. It was to be expected, these stones tend to be on the slow/fine side. I switched to a soft Ark, made the blade kitchen sharp, then moved over to the Penrhiw.

Now we were in the region of where this type of stone shines, and it increased the arm hair shaving level of the knife up about ten points. I haven't done a tomatto test yet, but it is shaving hair like crazy.

Next I guess I will give it a go with a razor. This would be where the stone would be most useful, or putting a crazy laser edge on a pocket knife, etc. And I can't see any damage done to the edge by the inclusions, so I feel a bit more confident.

 

[Tomo]

Not the sharpest tool in the shed but I think that I improved it with a Norton India.

 

[cotedupy]

First test of some Penrhiw Welsh stone found by @cotedupy on one of his rambles. It's novaculite, but thankfully not as hard a hard Arkansas or something of that nature. A cement path, SIC, WD paper progression got it flat and smooth.

While the stone feels very fine and smooth to the touch, there were some visual inclusions that had me a little worried, so trial one is with an inexpensive stainless paring knife I don't care about.

The knife was fairly dull from the wife using it to cut rocks, or whatever it is she does, so initially the Penrhiw was doing 9/8th of bugger all. It was to be expected, these stones tend to be on the slow/fine side. I switched to a soft Ark, made the blade kitchen sharp, then moved over to the Penrhiw.

Now we were in the region of where this type of stone shines, and it increased the arm hair shaving level of the knife up about ten points. I haven't done a tomatto test yet, but it is shaving hair like crazy.

Next I guess I will give it a go with a razor. This would be where the stone would be most useful, or putting a crazy laser edge on a pocket knife, etc. And I can't see any damage done to the edge by the inclusions, so I feel a bit more confident.

View attachment 1695750

Ah very cool, nice work!

Sounds like your piece may be a touch finer than the two I’ve flattened so far, which were certainly at the coarser end of the Welsh novaculite spectrum.

I’m still rather impressed with myself at picking out lumps of grey novaculite on the ground as the light faded. But might have to go again at some point and see if I can make it the last few 100 metres to the quarry itself, where the stone is presumably a little more consistent...

 

[Legion]

Ah very cool, nice work!

Sounds like your piece may be a touch finer than the two I’ve flattened so far, which were certainly at the coarser end of the Welsh novaculite spectrum.

I’m still rather impressed with myself at picking out lumps of grey novaculite on the ground as the light faded. But might have to go again at some point and see if I can make it the last few 100 metres to the quarry itself, where the stone is presumably a little more consistent...

Well I haven’t tried it on a razor yet, but based on this one fairly cheap knife, the sharpness seems to be similar to an Idwall. I’ll test it a bit more with knives first, since I haven’t been shaving much lately and my beard is magnificent, haha.

 

[2bit_collie]

During a biz trip to Little Rock last week, I had enough time to take quick journey towards Hot Springs to visit Dan’s Whetstones. I bought a very pretty pinkish translucent there. Once I got it home I of course had to try it out. I have a Watanabe gyuto that was just a bit dull and I was pleasantly surprised that the stones was able to raise a burr on the knife when I applied sufficient pressure. I also generated a respectable amount of dark swarf. Usually when I use a stone in the class, its a Dan’s black and of course the swarf doesn’t really show up on a black stone.

 

[Legion]

Tidied up a little ivory pocket knife. Sanded off the active rust, removed some chips in the blade with a coarse India, then honed on a fine India and a Charnley Forest.

 

[thp001]

Thinned this Akira Saku Funayuki in White #2. Thankfully I have a 2x72” belt grinder to do this kind of thing. Soft platen produces a bit of convex on the blade road which I like. Microbevel applied with a King 1000. Smearing is Ballistol.

 

[2bit_collie]

A few weeks ago I dropped my old Watanabe Ajikiri on the floor and the tip chipped off. This was my first Japanese carbon steel knife, the one I bought to see if this type of knife would be too difficult to take care of. It wasn’t and now I have quite a few white and blue steel knives. This is also the knife on which I mostly practice polishing of the bevel.

Today I got around to repairs. I started by breadknifing the tip to generate the modified profile. Then thinned it down. Both accomplished with a SP 320. Then on to a SG 500. Then the key step, polishing the new modified bevel with a King 800. Then I created a microbevel with the King, refined a bit with a SP 2000, steeled and stropped. I didn’t try it on anything, but it sure feels sharp at the moment! If you look at the closeup of the tip, you can see that it was not at all a perfect job of blending the damaged area into the rest of the edge. But the tip should cut now.

 

[Legion]

Ok, hold my beer….

 

[2bit_collie]

Last week I had to repair the tip on my original Watanabe ajikiri. This week I noticed that the little guy was cutting much better than his newer and bigger brother. So pulled out 2 stones that don’t get a ton of use. A Dan’s Soft Ark to generate the burr, followed by a vintage butterscotch trans Ark. The trans Ark is definitely not a flawless stone, but none of the dings are toxic. Then some steeling and stropping, and the end result was almost scary!

 

[Tanuki]

New to me 'coltello lama dritta' straight bladed (leaf shaped) traditional Sardinian knife from Coltelleria Is Lunas in Villanovaforru, Sardinia. The handle is carved from a single piece of horn. I had never seen a Sardinian knife until this one opened my wallet at a local vintage place.

The modern Sardinian cutlers do some elaborate handle sculpture and blade engraving, some with obviously modern tools. Their showpieces are fun to check out on the web. My knife is a practical piece.

The vintage store owner was out front whittling away at a foot long piece of about 5" pole. Where that project was headed I did not ask.

The former knife owner was sloppy with the hones. Plenty of scratches! I polished a bit with Case/SMKW paste, then did a first level edge repair with my brand spanking old $3 Carborundum #110 double grit 7x2x1 hone. The blade is modern 440 steel but I will still be very careful as I continue to clean up the edge.

It is now plenty sharp for EDC and the remaining blade ding is not a functional issue. The remaining scratches continue to offend me.

My other project was a light aluminum-handled scythe, but that will need to wait until daylight for a photo. Today entailed a lot of wire brush work on the blade and some preliminary edge restoration.

I used a synthetic scythe hone of doubtful quality. If that hone hadn't been inside a plastic bubble, I would never have bought it. I'm not sure what characteristics my scythe edge will need to reap my invasive reed canary grass. Maybe an apparently crappy hone will create the perfect edge.

This tall grass is quite persistent, so I have years available for experimentation. My little hand sickles did the job, but slowly.

 

[cotedupy]

This was quite a nice NOS Takohiki I got recently, that came with a particularly beautiful red marble horn ferrule on the Ho wood handle. Saved the ferrule and used it to make a new handle with some Olive wood and a bog oak spacer. Also ground a little of the end off the blade to make it more sakimaru shaped.

Sharpened on a few things, but ending up with; Tam O'Shanter, Water of Ayr, Y-G Thuri.

 

[Tanuki]

And now for something completely different...

Still some red rust to chase. I can look for a better scythe stone, but the real edge restoration and testing testing won't commence until I have a good growth of reed canary grass late next spring.

 

[Legion]

Put an edge on my "new" ivory penknife. India followed by a Penrhiw stone.

Those vintage carbon pocket knives are so easy to get scalpel sharp. From dull to hair popping takes about two minutes.

 

[cotedupy]

I just adore Turkey stone edges. This is as good as the very best coticules.

 

[Tanuki]

For the first time, I honed my old aluminum snath basic scythe 'in the field' with my new Norton India scythe stone. The instant feedback from knocking down invasive reed canary grass is very helpful in improving my honing technique on that honkin' huge blade.

I'm also reading The Big Book of the Scythe courtesy of @Old Hippie I have plenty more to learn, but I already see that a better-honed scythe reduces the considerable effort of cutting immensely. I am still far from able to produce a high quality edge.

Next spring and summer, with fresh growth, will really tell the tale.

I am glad I have a beater scythe as I work over uneven ground. I don't suppose many reapers wear caulk boots. The tall (3 to 5 feet) grass also hides fallen branches and even fair sized logs. They don't help the edge or the cutter's peace of mind.

Extra note: scythe stones were the product that founded Pike. They were a huge part of the hone market back before mechanical reaping. Relatively easy to produce and quickly worn out.

 

[2bit_collie]

On a visit to my son to see my new grandson. They warned me that they would just be hanging out since the new baby was taking all their attention. On an off chance I decided to pack a Norton #1 grade Washita, thinking that they might appreciate getting their knives sharpened. It was a good guess. My daughter-in-law used to be a professional chef, and she had actually been thinking about sending the knives out. They were all in pretty good shape and the Washita took care of them all pretty quickly. I just used Safflower oil since that was what was available. Shout out to @cotedupy - I watched one of his YouTube videos before starting to make sure I was in the right frame of mind for the task.

 

[Steve56]

I just adore Turkey stone edges. This is as good as the very best coticules.

View attachment 1726061

Impressive! You’re using oil on the Turkey stone Oli? Which oil?

 

[Eshebert]

Getting skinning knives ready, it’s that time.

 

[Eshebert]

I have been in the handling mood. I had a box of old blanks from 20 years ago. Adding handles and honing them up. This was today during my first 4 cups of coffee. Like I need another skinning knife. I guess you can never have enough.