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267590 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑01‑10 KNives
Cruising the innerwebs and just saw a teaser ad that admonished:

"Never throw away old knives.  This device will make old and dull knives really
sharp again"

Had to click on it.  First there is a dissertation on how many people feel that
their knife can only be sharpened a few times then it is “garbage” or else they
spent enough money on a knife that it never needs sharpening.  Then it showed
one of those tools that you set on the counter and draw the knife through.

Sheesh

Ed Minch
267591 gary may 2019‑01‑10 Re: KNives
Hi Ed---
  My Dad used to pull all Mom's kitchen knives through a little 'Oster' 120V
two-wheel hollow grinder, noisy and spinning up a cloud of grit---a tailed demon
of the most UN-redeeming sort.
  Its inventor went on to invent  leafblowing pressure-washers, or MUZAK, IIMN
---anyway, I don't think my Mom found the Oster to be particularly effective
(I'll ask her while she's still 88, which means soon) but the buzzing and
clattering kept him busy while she cooked, which had to be good. May men are big
babies when they're hungry; it's a well-known fact
   I'm picturing the tool you describe as a pair of porcelain rods set to hone
at "THE PERFECT ANGLE", providing a knife that can "slice meat so thin your in-
laws will never come back" etc---personally, I don't see any reason why such a
tool could not exist---in my experience, it does not---but that doesn't stop ME
from watching the ads.......

   Fifty years ago, when I was fifteen, I pulled a fairly sharp hunting knife
through Ed May's Oster(izer) and immediately knew that there had to be a better
way.  I'm still working on that; there is always a better way, but thanks to
Steve LaMantia,  the Porch in general and to Brother Brent Beach in particular,
galoots are able to work fatly, happily and efficiently,---with a minimum of
doubt and effort. And no muss.   After all these years, it's still a privilege
and a comfort to be a part of OldTools.
                                        best to all galoots, everywhere: GAM in
Oly,WA/USA


How horrible it is to have so many people killed!---And what a blessing one
cares for none of them!
Jane Austen 

    On Thursday, January 10, 2019, 12:18:56 PM PST, Ed Minch 
wrote:
 
 Cruising the innerwebs and just saw a teaser ad that admonished:

"Never throw away old knives.  This device will make old and dull knives really
sharp again"

Had to click on it.  First there is a dissertation on how many people feel that
their knife can only be sharpened a few times then it is “garbage” or else they
spent enough money on a knife that it never needs sharpening.  Then it showed
one of those tools that you set on the counter and draw the knife through.

Sheesh

Ed Minch




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267602 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: KNives
Gary

My dad had a similar “tool” for sharpening - noise and a cloud of whatever.  All
of my mom’s good knives had the dip in the center of the blade so they would’t
cut flat on a board anymore, so none of the 8 siblings wanted them when the time
came.  I picked up a fantabulous Sabatier stamped logo 10” kitchen knife 15
years ago and the dip is finally gone - and what a knife.

The rigger on the tall ship I worked on 20 years ago is now the head rigger at
Mystic Seaport - “THE" rigger’s dream job.  He taught everyone to drag their
rigging knives across the belt sander in the wood shop until we found out he was
doing it an banned non-carpenters from the shop all together.

Ed Minch
Good to hear from the elusive GAM
Stay sharp
267609 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2019‑01‑11 Re: KNives
Then it showed one of those tools that you set on the counter and draw 
the knife through.
................................................................................
..............................

When I was just a kid I saw a guy hustling knife sharpeners at the 
county fair.
  I was enthralled.
Even then at my young age, I could easily tell the product was crap,
but the guy pitching the junk was good.

  He had a small crowd right in the palm of his hand.
He'd first called them in. Called up a crowd out of nothing at all. 
Calling loud enough to be heard but not so aggressive as to be 
offensive. Talking pretty fast but not garbled at all.

    Once he had them (about 30 as I recall) he began to steadily and 
smoothly pitch the unbelievable wonders of the miracle gadget for all 
time. 22 uses and thensome.
  He has his pitch ballet schtick down like glass too.
Called the dhoop shot in the carnie trade but I didn't know that yet.
Showing how incredibly easy it all was, (because he'd obviously 
practiced it a million times).
  Precise movements through many different operations, including cutting 
glass of course. They always included a glass cutter.

  The knife sharpening part of the bit was the longest and had the most 
flourish of all. It was merely an angled rod of come sort of carbon like 
material with a guide, that made the sharpener work.
   I caught his trick right away.
The contraption actually worked, but it only worked twice at most.
So as he talked, he would open a new box and take one out, draw the 
knife through a couple of times and slice a tomato. Easily talk about 
the next upcoming operation, as he deftly put it back in the box, set if 
off to the side and pick up a new box..............

     I will always watch pitchmen, at least for a little while. 
Preachers, car salesman, sideshow barkers, whatever. I just like to see 
how they work a crowd. Its quite a skill.
Oral Roberts was a truly great master pitchman.
Joel Osteen is good too, but he is more of a special effects producer 
and does that admirably.

Call them in, get their money, spill them out the side of the 
tent............... is how its been done forever.

   Well ok, closer to on topic, I guess I better get out some kitchen 
knives.
I am sure all of you know me as a terrible knife whore. Every kind, 
every size, every style.
  I just can't help looking for them, and they are not hard to find if 
you look. Especially if you are prepared to reverse damage wrought by 
idiots on perfectly innocent knives.
  New handles, completely reshape and re-bevel the blades, put on a 
polish overall. Whatever they want, and whatever pleases me.

    When I pick up any knife, who branded it is not the first thing I 
look at. Every knife maker has to produce a wide line of knives to stay 
in business. From the highest grade to the lowest. Some companies are 
generally better than others, but they all produce their cheapest line.
  So I look to the shape and handle details. And of course whether its a 
forged knife or merely stamped out. Was it ever highly polished or was 
it merely left rough ground and sold that way?

   Then beyond this there is something I can't tell by looking or 
handling a knife in its rough state.
  A balance in the work or the exact composition of the steel. How well 
it performs for me and whether I  enjoy resharpening it or not.

   Downstairs I have a whole drawer full of knives I have restored, 
sometimes heavily,  and tried out, only to find they aren't my favorite. 
Famous names and good construction or not, they just don't do it for me 
for one reason or another.
   I give them away when the occasion arises.

   Here are some of my favorite working knives. They have all been 
worked on and most of them seriously. I can't tell you exactly why they 
are my favorites, they just are.
http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/knifepix/kitchenedge2.jpg
http://users.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/images/knifepix/kitchenedge3.jpg
     yours Scott

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
267629 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2019‑01‑12 Re: KNives
Scott just explained something I had not grasped:

“  I caught his trick right away.
The contraption actually worked, but it only worked twice at most.
So as he talked, he would open a new box and take one out, draw the knife
through a couple of times and slice a tomato. Easily talk about the next
upcoming operation, as he deftly put it back in the box, set if off to the side
and pick up a new box..............”

Oh, Scott!  You may have just explained why I could not even approach the
results achieved by the glass cutter hawker!!!

He was effortlessly making straight cuts and wavy cuts in what he said was
salvaged glass.  ( IMHE Old glass is somehow more difficult to deal with than
new glass. )

He was slicing off strips only about an inch wide, which is, for me, more
difficult than making a cut across the middle of a larger piece.

Despite being cynical about salesmen in general, I bought his wonder gadget,
fortunately not paying all that much.  When I tried it, weeks later, it did not
seem to do any better than a traditional glass cutter.  I’ll have to check it to
see if the carbide wheel wore prematurely.

Getting back on topic, the evilest knife destroyer ever invented must be the
little grinding wheel built into the back of a countertop electric can opener.
I would not allow one of those things in my house for fear that my (then) wife
or some other “helpful” person would take the good knives to it.

John Ruth
24 degrees here in Central NJ
267633 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2019‑01‑12 Re: KNives
> He was effortlessly making straight cuts and wavy cuts in what he said 
> was salvaged glass.  ( IMHE Old glass is somehow more difficult to 
> deal with than new glass. )
> He was slicing off strips only about an inch wide, which is, for me, 
> more difficult than making a cut across the middle of a larger piece.

Hey John
   It might have been an inferior cutter that wore instantly.
   But also,.......... what he was doing was warming up!

The effortless wavy and straight strips? Notice he was doing it totally 
freehand? Just zipping along and snapping the pieces with his hand as 
fast as they were cut?
  I warm up this way myself.
because.............
   This is the absolute easiest way to cut glass!

Grab a piece of scrap glass and try it yourself.  Anyone can do it 100% 
of the time.
Fast easy zip zip zip
  Because its random!! Its completely random, in scrap, and its carefree.

Its also the way you test your cutter for sharpness. Since its a 
carefree exercise the only thing you have to think about is the cut 
itself as you go.
Does it feel smooth in use? Is it easy to make the cut?
If anything is wrong you ditch the cutter and try another on scrap 
before committing to your more precious glass.

  Guiding a cutter smoothly along a straightedge, or intentionally 
following curves?
That is a whole different ballgame altogether.
The real skill of cutting glass lies is in following a line!  ;)

  Steel glass cutter wheels don't last as long as carbide wheels.
But carbide will never be as sharp as a good steel wheel in the first 
place.
   A plain Fletcher gold, or cheap Red Devil steel wheel glass cutter is 
the easiest to use glass cutter you can buy.  When they are new from the 
box you hardly have to push at all!
   It feels and sounds like the thinnest tissue paper tearing.
   Eventually they dull and get "spotty" in the cut, and you toss them.
But until then, they really are the best.

  Carbide, even the best ones, you have to push so much harder right out 
of the gate.
  But if you push too hard it makes tiny ragged chips as you go,
and its much harder and more perilous to snap the glass, especially thin 
strips at the edge.
       yours scott

*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
267634 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2019‑01‑12 Re: KNives
Sorry to follow up on my own post but
PS I forgot to say

  Do not start a cut or finish a cut by dragging the cutter "over the 
edge" of the glass.
You want to start barely inside and finish barely inside the very edge.
  Dragging a cutter over the "corner" will dull any cutter.
They just can't handle that
       yours scott
>
> *******************************
>    Scott Grandstaff
>    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
>    scottg@s...
>    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
>    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
>


-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
267661 Matthew Groves <grovesthegrey@g...> 2019‑01‑14 Re: KNives
This is one of many golden nuggets and worth much more than the price of
admission. Thanks!
267662 Brent Kinsey <brentpmed@c...> 2019‑01‑14 Re: KNives
What Matthew said!

>> On Jan 12, 2019, at 1:08 PM, scott grandstaff  wrote:

Regarding using a glass cutter:
>> 
>> You want to start barely inside and finish barely inside the very edge.
>> Dragging a cutter over the "corner" will dull any cutter.
>> They just can't handle that

Scott this is just one tiny example of why you and The Porch are on my list of
favorite mentors!

This explains why I struggled so hard starting and stopping a cut on glass!
Thanks man!

Sent from my iPhone
Brent Kinsey

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