Knife Restoration

Do you have any interest in my process for restoring a knife that's been damaged and/or neglected?

Every time I take a knife from "beat to heck" to "like new" I think, after the fact, that I should've documented the process.

I just finished one this morning and wish I'd tracked my progress.

Since I still have a garage full of gear I can't get to my tools. This means I have to do all the work by hand.

If you want to see/read my process, then I'm going to need to pick up a nice beat-up knife...

Thanks for reading,


B

Cache Lake Country

Jake has needed to be challenged for quite some time.

Today I gave him his very own copy of Rowlands' Cache Lake Country and we're now going to begin reading it together.

This book ranks very high on my lifetime favorites list and I hope he enjoys it as much as I have the number of times I have read it.

Thanks for reading,


B

Spen's a Knife Designer

Spen of JRE Industries has designed a knife--several, actually. He's had prototypes made up and I grabbed one to bring home today after meeting him for lunch.

Here's the problem.

I can't put it down.

Laura said, "It's cooool!" when she saw it and I have to agree.

It's got a name and I could give you specs on it but I think it's staying very hush hush for now. Just know that when you hear me tell you that his knife is being made in significant numbers, you might well want to check it out.

I'm going to be testing the heck out of this one as time allows and will be reporting back but I'm afraid there won't be any pictures of the actual knife or sheath system for a while.

Here's what I can tell you for now:

1. It's full tang.
2. It has Loveless Bolts (or are they corbys) holding on the green canvas micarta slabs
3. It appears to be Scandi Ground
4. It appears to be Carbon Steel

This is a pretty exciting opportunity to learn about a knife I have in hand but have very little hard data on other than what I can observe from personal experience.

Let's figure it all out together shall we?

Thanks for reading,


B

Diving Sparrow Boreal

It's been a long time huh?

I bit off more than I can chew and now I'm paying the price.



I'm still alive and kicking though. :)

Thanks for checking in,


B

Off the Map Terrasaur

Some more steel that's come in and needs some outdoor lovin'...



I got in from "work" last night around 3 and got up with the kids this morning just before 7. I'm draggin' a bit...

B

Adventure Sworn Bushcrafter

On top of everything else, I've been fighting a nasty cold most likely caused by the long days and short nights (and having three kids bringing home every cootie floating around.) :)



I think about you, dear readers, every day when I am getting my fanny kicked.

B

Happy Birthday Mary!

Another year better right? :)

Happy Birthday!

B

Early Morning Activity

I got up early this morning to enjoy the relative silence before the rest of the household wakes up.

While my coffee was brewing I decided to do a little maintenance on my axe after working it all weekend. (Yes, axe sharpening and cleaning in the wee hours of the morning.)

I've got this sharpening routine down to a pretty quick and dirty process and it works for every knife I'm currently using except for the Scandi-Ground edges.

I have the EMS system from JRE loaded with a piece of 325-grit paper that has been used enough that it's probably pretty fine by now. I take 5-10 passes on each side of the blade dry and then repeat the process after spraying a bit of WD40 on the blade.

From there I go straight to the loaded strop and do 5-10 passes on black compound before wiping down the blade and putting it away.

That's it.

The coarser paper makes quick work of sharpening but it's not so coarse that it's removing excessive amounts of steel and shortening the life of the tool. The strop then cleans up and polishes that toothy edge and more stropping means a smoother edge.

I had read somewhere that Wayne Goddard does a sharpening demonstration using nothing but a 325-grit stone from Norton and a strop to sharpen so that's what I'm attempting and so far I've been pleased with the results.

Now I can obsess over my edge-finish with the best of them and will on certain knives but the one-grit, one-strop method is really working well for me right now and I'll stick with it for a while.

Thanks for reading,


B