Knife and Edged Tools Acquisions

[Steve56]

The PA slate is nice.

Here’s a low end bunka, a 170mm Kotetsu White 2 that I picked up at CKTG for under $100. I’m a fam of white 2 and this was a heavy knife, so I plan to use it for hard veg and maybe chickens.

It doesn’t seem to be the exact same knife as the one in the listing, mine seems much cruder, a kit knife. It had a major wavy grind and the cladding doesn’t seem as uniform as the one in the ad copy. But the edge is flatter than the site image, so I’m good. Also 6he walnut grip wasn’t finished and the end of the handle isn’t sealed.

It took several hours with Norton Crystolon and India to flatten the bevels, and they’re still not perfect but I worked up a sweat and am tired, so I’m done for the night. Then 320 Shapton Pro, an Aizu, and Okudo suita to actually finish the bevels and sharpen. I’ll probably go back and re-work the bevels again but the knife is serviceable and looks …. OK. Took a good edge as you might expect from White 2.

 

[Legion]

Another, in what is quickly becoming a collection of small, pointless antique penknives. This one in mother of pearl, for a change. Stamped James Dewsnap, who was a Sheffield cutler.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Received today a Mora Eldris Light Duty discounted to 20 bucks, a tiny Rough Rider with fake tortoise scales for 14.00 and a G10 spacer for my Bugout.

 

[Steve56]

Hot in a couple of Moritakas, a 165 nakiri and a 210 gyuto. I chose the brand because of the similar construction to my vintage Takedas, and Moritakas can be had and at a reasonable price. Both the vintage Takeda and the Moritaka are thin, have soft iron cladding over aogami super steel, both are hard and both have a stainless steel tang to hep minimize corrosion in the handle.

One thing about the Moritakas, they seem to have a hollow main bevel. When I went to put an edge on them, the stone didn’t hit the middle of the main bevel, and still doesn’t. I ‘flattened’ the main bevel until the stone hit the apex of the edge all along the edge, and then went up the grits. Some of the hollow is still there, but I figure that it is supposed to be. I put a micro bevel on the edge with a good JNat razor hone, and boy do they cut!

 

[Whiterook]

AG Russell medium Gunstock

 

[Steve56]

Pair of ‘sen’, or scrapers. The narrow one is more familiar to us as a draw knife. I think that they’ve never been used, and they have a good bit of surface rust. They also have no smith’s stamp, so likely made by a very small maker, maybe a village smith. I got them to maybe try the large one out scraping the sides of JNats in the traditional manner. Some of the current JNat stock being sold have rough non traditional cuts, so maybe this could help. It’s very heavy, probably 5 pounds or more. If you’re going to scrape a rock, this should do it. I’ll post some images after cleanup.

 

[rideon66]

Pair of ‘sen’, or scrapers. The narrow one is more familiar to us as a draw knife. I think that they’ve never been used, and they have a good bit of surface rust. They also have no smith’s stamp, so likely made by a very small maker, maybe a village smith. I got them to maybe try the large one out scraping the sides of JNats in the traditional manner. Some of the current JNat stock being sold have rough non traditional cuts, so maybe this could help. It’s very heavy, probably 5 pounds or more. If you’re going to scrape a rock, this should do it. I’ll post some images after cleanup.


View attachment 1749856View attachment 1749857

Steve,

nice never seen one like that. Will be interested in seeing both the finished sen and what it can do on The rocks.

 

[Steve56]

Will do Tom,

I got most of the loose rust off the big one, then worked on the edge a bit with a good quality file. The steel is unbelievably hard, it smoothed the file and then the cutting dropped off. Amazing. So I switched to a Shapton Pro 320 and that was slow going too. Next up, diamond plates, lol

I’m not going to put a lot of effort into it until I get a feel for how it’s going to work. My main issue now is a way to hold the stone on edge securely enough. I’m thinking a bamboo sink bridge is the way to go.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

My main issue now is a way to hold the stone on edge securely enough.

Wooden bench vise?

 

[Steve56]

Wooden bench vise?

Possibly, but. lot of stones have lines (cracks) in them, and I’d greatly fear putting pressure on the stone. This usually turns out badly. The stone needs to be held with little or no pressure just so it can’t slide back and forth.

Update: I tried it out on the side of a stone that was pretty smoothly saw cut, just sitting on a bar towel. It works, but the scraped finish is finer than what I’ve seen on scraped JNats. Maybe time for some advice from Alex Gilmore rather than re-inventing the wheel. The finish it made is scraped and you can see the lines, but it’s almost a polished finish.

Maybe I just need to send it to Tim Zowada and have him make razors out of it lol.

 

[rideon66]

I wonder if they used the same small sen that is used on hollowing out the back of kamisori blades.

 

[Steve56]

Not for stones I think. There’s a video of a tourist visit to one of the stone cutters, and he used a larger sen like a draw knife.

I spoke with Alex G and he said that it mist likely made to shave metal that was softer than the sen. He’s probably right, I’ve seen an image of a mechanic using a sen on the mating surface of an engine block, and this big one would be about right for that given the straight edge.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Not for stones I think. There’s a video of a tourist visit to one of the stone cutters, and he used a larger sen like a draw knife.

I spoke with Alex G and he said that it mist likely made to shave metal that was softer than the sen. He’s probably right, I’ve seen an image of a mechanic using a sen on the mating surface of an engine block, and this big one would be about right for that given the straight edge.

As far as Rockwell is this high 60s approaching 70?

 

[Steve56]

As far as Rockwell is this high 60s approaching 70?

Yes, I believe so. The edge is very robust and can handle the hardness. Here’s a shot of my file that has a couple of smooth spots now from the sen bevel.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Yes, I believe so. The edge is very robust and can handle the hardness. Here’s a shot of my file that has a couple of smooth spots now from the sen bevel.

View attachment 1750624

It must ring like a bell…

 

[Steve56]

It must ring like a bell…

You’re correct, it does ring in spite of being 1/4” thick!

 

[Whisky]

Picked up this old Plumb BSA Voyager hatchet. These were made from 1933-1938 and according to the adds were designed “by a famous scout.” They’re supposed to be modeled after the small hatchets that fur trappers used in the 18th and 19th centuries. It has its original handle and in the right light you can still just barely read Voyager. I’m going to go over it with fine steel wool to remove the very light surface rust, sharpen it, and since it’s so small use it to cut kindling and feather sticks. I’m also going to make a leather sheath for it.

 

[kenrok1]

Just got a notice that preorders are open for AVAIR M390 from Exceed - just order one of these

 

[Whiterook]

Just got a package from SMKW.

Case Russlock in purple barnside bone.

I also tossed a RR Blue Mule sunfish, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

 

[Whiterook]

Here's the sunfish, no bad for eleven bucks.