Have I mentioned?

Since we're talking knives, have I mentioned how much I like my Spyderco Paramilitary?

This knife has taken a beating and kept on ticking no problem.

Today I dinged the edge doing something stupid (metal doesn't cut metal very well believe it or not.)

I pulled out my DMT credit card sharpeners (C, F, and XF) and went to work to get the ding out. 10 minutes later, the knife will once again easily pop hairs off my arm.

I use it for EVERYTHING and it has never been lacking.

Being able to restore a bad edge so quickly means it's much more likely to stay in my pocket. S30V is NOT a steel you hear often as being easy to sharpen but nothing can resist the hardness of diamond and the DMT stones really do a great job.

Even better, the DMT stones wear after some initial use and basically become one grade finer than they are advertised (i.e. Coarse becomes Medium, Medium becomes Fine, etc.)

Thanks for reading,


B

Whoops! Sorry.

I wrote a while back that I'd detail my procedure for restoring a knife.

Today I had a guy drop off an older handmade Scandi knife that was in desperate need of some TLC. It was dull and rusty but showed lots of potential and he said it had been a great knife for a long time.

So, I pulled out the stones and tried to clean it up. The 1000 Grit stone was too fine for the early work so I went back to a 220 to set the bevels. This showed me two things.

First, the edge was actually done on a large wheel as there was a slight hollow down the middle of the bevel when I began flattening it.

Second, the blade was laminated and the lamination line really popped at 220 Grit when I got it nice and flat.

After working for quite some time at 220, I moved up to the 1000 Grit stone to refine the bevel and begin to put some polish on it.

Then it was the 4000 Grit and 8000 Grit stone before many, many passes on the strop loaded with Black Magic.

Now it's SHARP, the edge is like a mirror, and the knife's owner is more than pleased with the kind of edge he got back in just an hour or so.

I coated the entire knife with mineral oil just to keep rust away and he's already got it back in action.

Fun times.

Thanks for reading,


B

Laconico EDC

I got a new knife from Ray Laconico yesterday. It's what he calls his EDC (Every Day Carry) and it sports green micarta handles, an 1/8" thick Carbon Steel blade, 2 7/8" of blade length, and a very handy overall size.

The knife shipped with a handmade leather sheath set up for right-hand carry and it drops into a pocket easily. I think I will probably send the knife off for a lefty sheath at some point but the knife itself really fills a niche.

I've been in the market for a small fixed blade for some time and have tried the Izula, the Becker Necker, the Koster W&SS neck knife, the Fallkniven WM1, the Swamp Rat Swamp Warden, etc. and all have their strengths and weaknesses and none have yet found a spot in my regular rotation.

This one could possibly be the one. It fits well in the hand without being too big or too small.

Ray has the edge wicked sharp so it cuts whatever I've put in front of it so far. The spine is also nicely squared and will throw massive showers of sparks from my Light My Fire Army firesteel rod.

The Carbon Steel blade (O1? 1095?) will take a patina which is something I really like to see on my users and the micarta handles will survive the humidity of summer and the dryness of winter without dimensional change like some wood handles have done.

Being non-stainless, rust may become an issue so I'm going to use the heck out of it right away to get that protective patina going.

I hope the next time you see it it'll have lots of color on the blade.

Thanks for reading,


B

Quick First Aid Tip

You've all got duct tape in your PSK right?

Here's a tip I applied for the past couple of days thanks to a careless error in judgment.

I was sharpening my SAK on a Fallkniven DC3 and thinking to myself, "Huh, my fingers are really in a poor position and could be cut easily" at just about the same time as I noticed a line of blood starting to form on the tip of my thumb.

Fingertip cuts are the worst because I'm constantly breaking them open during the healing process and it drags things out by days.

What I needed and didn't have was a butterfly bandage to keep things held together but allow airflow to get to the cut.

I cut strips off the duct tape (bright pink gaffer's tape in this instance) and then cut the "V" notches on each side in the middle and used it with great success to hold the cut together until the skin healed enough to keep itself together.

The tape held when wet, greasy, and dirty and it was easy and cheap to change.

Thanks for reading,


B

Coming Back Soon!

Tell your friends!

September 6th.

That's the day.

My big summer gig that has taken such a huge chunk of my time ends on 9/5.

I cannot wait until the 6th...

Kids will be back in school, soccer will be underway, and Scouts will be going but it'll still be less time committed than this...

I have lots to write about including an initial assessment of the Fehrman Knives Tactical Nessmuk which I received just yesterday.

See you then!

Thanks for not giving up on me,


B

Bummer!

I was sharpening the kitchen knives and my pocket knife today.

I'm using a nice Japanese Water Stone because I really enjoy the process and the edges I can get with it.

As I was moving the stone back into the water bath to keep it wet, I dropped it.

Now I have two smaller sharpening stones and lots of stone dust in the kitchen sink.

It didn't even fall that far. It just slipped out of my hand and onto the bottom of the sink.

To add insult to injury, it looks like it scratched the stainless basin...

Bummer.

Thanks for reading,


B