CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES

A place to share, learn, & show off sharpening tips, tricks, techniques, & tools for sharpening edges of all kinds.
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Rannard
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:49 pm

CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES

Post by Rannard »

CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES


You may have noticed in my pictures cleaning knives has taken a back seat. At this time of year it is cold in my workshop. I find most of my knives and edge weapons at car boot sales and fairs. Being after antique and vintage examples, invariably they need a clean and sometimes repairs. A purchase is not just an investment; it is a project and a topic for research. The purchase price takes no account of the fun one has when one gets the item home and to the workshop, especially now with the resources of the Internet for research. When slowly and carefully working on any knife or edge weapon one notices details of construction and material that collectors of pristine examples would miss. Besides, sympathetic cleaning and restoration adds value.

At risk of teaching granny to suck eggs I'll talk about cleaning. Please bear with me because alI too often I see things that have been devalued by inexpert cleaning. Sympathetic cleaning means not over cleaning and not leaving scratches. Victorian domestic staff were expert cleaners. From shining the family silver to cleaning the laird's guns they could do it properly. Today the skills are being lost. When buying a pair of shoes the sales assistant said to me "People today don't know what shoe polish is".

Gentle cleaning can be done with metal polish with frequent checking to avoid too much shine. Autosol is my choice. Brasso is more aggressive, so much so it can take scratches out of glass. For soft red rust (ferrous oxide), steel wool and oil works well. On hard steel, such as knife blades, a power wire wheel can be used. For hard black rust (ferric tetroxide) cleaning of the rust patches with small pieces of fine silicon carbide (wet and dry) paper and oil is ones next more powerful shot. The wet and dry must be kept to the rust as the abrasive will leave scratches on bare metal. I have no use for phosphoric acid rust remover, other than as a rust converter for things I am going to paint.

It is a joy to see a knife clean up and the blades regain their snap. Often at this stage the purchase turns out to be better value than when bargaining for it. Cleaning the inside of a pocketknife helps its parts to move easier and smoother. With a pocketknife blade three quarters open, part of the sides of its spring are revealed and can be cleaned and oiled. Oiling needs to be with a good quality lubricating oil. Synthetic motor oil is great. Silicone oil has its uses for air guns, not dieseling, but it is not as good a lubricant as other oils and dries out quicker.

Honing on an oilstone is as much about the stone as the blade. One wants to keep the wear even across its length and breadth. A good oilstone is not cheap and is easily ruined. Special oils are sold for stones but a lubricating oil will suffice. Think carefully about the angle of the work on the stone. If the blade has been well used, its cutting edge may need thinning down on a grinding wheel before honing.

I made my own power grinder and wire wheel nearly forty years ago. The photograph shows it under construction, a Picador shaft driven by a Hoover single tub washing machine motor. The frame is a wooden stool with the top built up. The sides were clad with plywood. It is now fitted with an 8'' wire wheel and 6'' abrasive wheel. There are no guards but neither has the work on a lathe. With some things one has to be careful. I wear glasses so always have eye protection. The wire wheel has ben well used so the ends of the wires are not a sharp as they once were, making it less aggressive. The shaft was geared to run moderately slowly so as to be certain not to drive the stone above its maximum safe rotation speed. Commercially made bench grinders run too fast for my liking. One has more control with slower revolving stones.

The wiring of the washing machine motor was complicated so while being removed it was kept connected to its switch panel. The 'On' switch was up to work the wringer and down to work the tub paddle wheel. I use the tub option! Conveniently the switch panel incorporates a large red stop button. Considering this motor had already had a life in a washing machine it has lasted remarkably well. The V drive belt, a car fan belt, has never needed its tension adjusting. When first fitted it was done with packing under the motor.

This grinder was originally made to clean the mitres of 3/16inch angle iron for welding, when making a road trailer. The angle iron was from old bed frames. In turn the trailer is used to move reclaimed materials. Recycled materials being used to recycle materials, a philosophy that leaves money for collecting. It is something one sees in the developing world. For example, ship breaking at Gdani Beach in Pakistan is done with equipment and tools salvaged from the ships. In the West it is something that has been left behind but climate change is forcing a reappraisal of how we use our resources.

Many a useable washing machine motor goes for scrap and it already has a pulley wheel on its shaft, asking to be used for something else. Replacement brushes are easily obtainable and you know the motor will run on local mains voltage, 240Volts A/C here. I was once given a 110Volt DC sewing machine motor. Sadly it would not run on A/C. I had to dump it but not without first removing its pulley wheel.




21 February 2022
Attachments
Grinder under construction.jpg
Picador shaft with 6'' grinding wheel and 8'' wire wheel.jpg
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Rdubya21
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2021 8:41 am
Location: Ohio

Re: CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES

Post by Rdubya21 »

Looks to be a good tool . I like to repurpose also . ::tu::
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rea1eye
Posts: 2210
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:59 am

Re: CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES

Post by rea1eye »

A lot of information is presented in the OP. Using power tools obviously
can get you great results if you know how to use them and their
limitations.

I really enjoy getting an older,used knife and cleaning it up. I very
seldom use any power tools.

Bob
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cudgee
Posts: 6187
Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 7:21 am
Location: Victoria. Australia.

Re: CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES

Post by cudgee »

rea1eye wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 3:44 am A lot of information is presented in the OP. Using power tools obviously
can get you great results if you know how to use them and their
limitations.

I really enjoy getting an older,used knife and cleaning it up. I very
seldom use any power tools.

Bob
In my experience, very few people know how to use power tools properly. Even less so when it comes to knives and tools. As you stated a fantastic aid if you know how to use them.
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Mumbleypeg
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Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:28 am
Location: Republic of Texas

Re: CLEANING AND SHARPENING KNIVES

Post by Mumbleypeg »

Looks like you’ve made good use of re-purposed items. ::tu::

I do my knife cleaning and sharpening by hand, with old-fashioned elbow grease. For me it’s relaxing and therapeutic. I have the power tools but I only use them for larger, rougher stock like mower blades and farm equipment.

Ken
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.

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