Going back to Carbon Steel knives

[Jeff Farris]

There were dull chisels everywhere. I never dreamed they would let me do my hatchet schtick on the show, but they ate it up.

[Ken S]

Jeff, your last post gave me a good and long laugh!  Of course there were dull chisels everywhere, as there probably are in any working shop.  Your hatchet schtick certain does get someone's attention!

Your sharpening demo reminds me of Ben Franklin's comments about a circuit preacher.  The preacher got in hot water for reusing the same sermon in different places.  The congregations were offended.  Ben Franklin thought it was a good idea, as the sermon had been refined through much retelling.

Ken

[grepper]

Rhino,

I can see why you like the high carbon steel knives.  I sharpened some Calphalon Katana blades last night.  They are VG-1 steel, which is supposed to be high carbon "stainless" Damascus steel.

Even though they are called "stainless", the things took an edge beautifully.  They got incredibly sharp.  Quite possibly the sharpest edge I've been able to coax out of a blade.  I was a third of the way through a 3" cucumber before I was even aware I had started cutting.  I didn't even have to slice the rest of the cucumber as it simply cleaved itself into very thin slices out of either fear or respect for the blade.

The "stainless" blades have stains, and their owner says they dull quickly.  I don't know if he's using a steel to keep them conditioned, but I suspect not.  He hates the knives and said they were the worst investment he has ever made.  He does not like having to wipe the blades off all the time or hand washing them.  According to what I've read, VG-1 should have pretty good edge retention, so the quick dulling could be due to how they were previously sharpened, or how they are being used, or the surface they are cutting on, etc.  I don't know.

Personally I don't like these particular blades.  I think their shape is odd, and I don't like the hand feel of the grip.

Nonetheless, they easily took an edge and got extremely sharp.  Very, very sharp.  Other than the handle is not right for me so they felt odd to hold,  they were a joy to use.   I can easily see why the additional maintenance of a high carbon steel blade is desirable for some folks.

[Herman Trivilino]

Even though they are called "stainless", the things took an edge beautifully.  [...]
The "stainless" blades have stains, and their owner says they dull quickly. 

Ron Hock claims there are three relevant steel characteristics: ability to resist staining, ease of sharpening, and edge-holding.  He admits it's an oversimplification, but claims you can at best get only two of these three characteristics.

It appears these knives have only one!

Of course, if you weren't unhappy with their handle and blade shape you might be able to use one of them long enough to judge for yourself if they really can hold an edge.  The fact that the manufacturer calls them stainless in a red flag.

See if a magnet sticks to them.

[Herman Trivilino]

April 2000

So, my memory seems correct.  I bought my Tormek in 2003 from Sharp Tools USA.  Back then we ordered things over the phone as the internet was in its infancy with dial-up modems.  And of course we had to watch Norm in standard definition as high definition TV was also in its infancy.

[Herman Trivilino]

There were dull chisels everywhere. I never dreamed they would let me do my hatchet schtick on the show, but they ate it up.

Ah ha!  I thought so.  So Norm was just "playing along" with the schtick when he claimed all his chisels were sharp.

[Rob]

schtick?

[Jeff Farris]

schtick?

Yiddish for a show business routine used to draw attention and/or laughs.

[Ken S]

The stew of language is certainly more flavorful from the spices of Yiddish.   Great choice of words, Jeff.

Ken

[Rob]

Got it.....shades of Woody Allen spring to mind. Remember the two Yiddish robots in "Sleeper" where they fit him for a corduroy suit?

Its way too long....OK soooo we'll take it in...drop dead ya wanna drop dead already etc etc

I came close to dying of laughter when I first saw that film :-)