Messages

It was actually a project to find out if it was possible to change a saber grind blade into a hollow grind blade, and do it completely cold on the Tormek.
I had never tried this before, and although not perfect in execution it did work.
A diamond wheel would most likely have done a better & faster job, but the SB-250 Blackstone was and is all i have.

The clamp i used can be seen here:

https://forum.tormek.com/index.php/topic,4780.msg34190.html#msg34190

Rhe window cleaner helps to keep the pores of the SB-250 stone open, which is especially helpful when not enough force is applied to the stone surface to release fresh grits at a normal rate.
Which would occur when just sharpening a new edge, but much less so when grinding wider surfaces.
What i was after was the best material removal rate i could get together with the smallest change in stone diameter during the process.

Years ago i modified this Spyderco Endura ZDP-189 from a saber/flat ground to a saber/hollow ground knife with the help of my trusted Tormek T7 fitted with an SB-250 Black Silicon stone & a modified knife clamp.
Previously the knife looked like this (with an already Tormek reprofiled edge angle of ~25 degrees inclusive)







Afterwards the knife looked like this.
Although the edge angle was only marginally thinned to ~22,5 degrees inclusive, the area just behind the edge is much thinner now at ~0.3 mm, making the the knife cut better noticeably.













The job took about 2 hours of grinding (with the SB-250 stone graded to coarse with the help of the TT-50 diamond stone grader), as ZDP-189 in it's hardened state (64-65 HRC on this model) is quite some wear resistant stuff.
To grade it back to fine (for normal sharpening) i use a large diamond stone, as the standard SP-250 grading stone is completely useless on the silicon carbide stone.
For this project i ran my SB-250 in a trough completely filled with a Windex clone to avoid glazing the surface during grinding & sharpening.

The knife is on a more or less permanent loan with a friend of mine who works as a process operator in a baby milk plant, where part of his job is cutting open huge plastic bags (with glued cardboard top layer and about the size of a small room) containing milk powder.
The wear & tear resistant plastic plus the industrial type of cardboard in those bags ruin edges in no-time, and so far this reground ZDP-189 Endura lasts the longest from all the knives used in the plant, also because of those serrations which enable him to get the job done when the plain edge part gets too dull.

Strider DB in 3V steel.
This is a limited edition of the DB model in CPM-3V steel and made from thinner stock than the usual S30V versions.
Originally it looked like this:







The straight edge was reprofiled on a Wicked Edge sharpener to 30 degrees inclusive & polished up to 6 micron 3M diamond paste, while the slanted edge was done on a Tormek T7 to 45 degrees inclusive & polished up to 15 micron 3M diamond paste.
Both edges will treetop armhair, the straight edge will also whittle hair in some places.
Now this DB can and will cut, and it still can be used as a sharpened prybar in an emergency.











Some close-ups:







Difference between 15 micron and 6 micron;

Cletus is a cook and that's what he does.

The clip showcases the amazing things one can do to a knife edge with a pull-through "sharpener".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMBD1Hhgdzo

Maybe i should sell my Tormek and buy one of these ?

This knife was sold a while ago for 325 Euro to an experienced local hunter who actually uses it as a hunting knife.

Decades ago the man owned exactly the same Boone model but somehow lost it, and he spent many years looking for another in good condition.

He praises both the very useful overall design as well as the crucible cast steel quality that is relatively easy to sharpen like 1095 steel, but keeps a keener edge for longer.

He uses this knife for deers and smaller game, and a higher end Fallkniven in more wear resistant 3G steel for boars (everzwijnen in Dutch)

A few pictures i took for my own archive:

Paper ad from 1926 showing the Wade & Butcher Teddy model on top and the Pioneer, Boone, and Bowie models below:

The blade has been refined through grit 800 and 1000 wet & dry (again using WD40 on the piece of conveyor belt), removed the very fine burr on the Tormek leather wheel, and the apex can now whittle one of my chest hairs from root-to-tip at about 3.0 centimeters from the point of holding.
Also polished the aluminium pommel a bit on a felt wheel, recut the swedge & jimping with a few small diamond files, and next step is to refine the swedge surfaces a bit more.

This is how the knife currently looks:

A website dedicated to various things Sheffield, among which several clips related to knife making:

Little Mesters – Alex Glen Wilson

Footage from the 1960's where the same George Goodwin (now 77 years old) shows how he makes the crucibles:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOS05k1C7zM

Also this fascinating color documentary made in 1945 about large scale steel manufacture in Sheffield.
In the beginning there is even some footage of crucible steel manufacture.

https://film.britishcouncil.org/resources/film-archive/steel

Originally the blade used to be full convex ground, but sometime during it's existence a previous owner had sharpened a bit of a rough secundairy bevel into it.
So i reground the blade by hand to full convex again on 400 grit wet & dry using WD40 oil as a lubricant on a medium hard rubber backing (old piece of fiber reinforced conveyor belt)

The old blunt "edge" measured between 35 and 40 degrees inclusive, while the new edge apex fits almost exactly in the (specifically aimed for) 30 degrees inclusive slot of my Tormek WM200 Angle Master.
I do consider this a bit on the conservative side, as i think the steel can most likely handle a thinner edge geometry just fine, but for now i want to play it safe with this rare & valuable knife (to me anyway)
If need be further thinning can always be done later.

There is still a tiny burr on the apex, next step will be to refine the scratch pattern with probably 800 grit wet & dry.
After that the plan is to recut the swedge with a small diamond file followed by wet & dry paper & some WD40.
The handle has already been smooth sanded with 400 grit wet & dry and treated with several coats of warm Granger's wax.

Currently i'm doing a bit of online research on what kind of steel was used in these knives, and according to this old ad the Boone blades were made from (the famous) Wardlow steel.



Then i found these posts from 2017 on a forum:

Question: "What type of knife was used by Camillus in the early years, was it 1095 ?
I have a stockman made between 1920 and 1930, use it every day for carving, sharpest pocket knife I every had.
I am 64 years old this steel beats them all."

Answer: "Camillus forged their blades from Wardlow's best crucible steel from Sheffield England."

Reply: "All I know this blade steel is great, I carve 4 to 6 hours a day, sometime just strop and keep cutting.
My new pocket knives will not do this no matter the brand."

And from Bladeforums: "The S. & C. Wardlow steel that Camillus imported from Sheffield, England, was derived from about 8o percent pure Swedish iron ore; wide variation in heating did not injure it."

My most recent find is this Wade & Butcher "Boone" carbon steel hunting knife.
It was discovered together with several other vintage hunting knives in an old leather hunting bag from the 1930's somewhere in Amsterdam.
The steel has gotten a dark grey patina from being stored inside the sheath for decennia.

On the blade the letters "ILLWELL" are very faintly visible, and through Google i found that originally it spelled "GILLWELL", which is the 144 acre sight North of London given to the Scouts in 1919 and now the worlds historical site for scouts.
It seems that the change from "GILLWELL" to "GILWELL" took place when Baden Powell was made the first Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell in 1929.
So in 1919, when the first Wood Badge course was held, it was Gillwell Park.

If the info from Google is correct that would date my knife to have been manufactured between 1919 and 1929, although the sheath is probably not original to the knife but most likely from Scandinavian origin.

Sometimes i buy used older knives to restore, but also as practice material to try out certain idea's.

The tanto point on this used & worn 1980's Cold Steel Shinobu folder was made a bit pointier with the help of my Tormek T7, then sharpened & polished on a first generation Wicked Edge.
The straight edge was done freehand on Paper Wheels with diamond compounds.
The rubber grips were also re-attached to the liners (as they had partially come loose)

How these knives look from the factory (pics from the net):





How my knife looks now:













A test i sometimes do just for the heck of it is to see how far from the point of holding one of my chest hairs can still be whittled root-to-tip (reverse hair-whittling) while holding the hair at the root end only.
The edge on this modified Cold Steel folder could do it at around 1.18 inch (about 3.0 cm)
Now i don't own a BESS tester, so i have no idea where this would be on their scale.

That is a stubby screwdriver from which i ground away the tip's midsection, so it fits over the threaded tang.
You need such a tool to remove the brass nut from the pommel..

A pair of needlenose pliers might also work in a pinch, but it carries more risk of damaging both the brass nut and the pommel.

The knife has already proven to be a very effective short chopper during 2019 and 2020, with it's heavy convex blade in low alloy carbon steel combined with a stick tang covered in shock dampening rubber.

Still working on thinning the convex blade shape a hair more every now and then, slowly approaching that sweet spot where the edge bites at maximum depth while at the same time the blade doesn't get stuck during chopping, and the saw on the back works best.
I think i'm almost there.
Pics were taken in the woods surrounding my home town.