Some thoughts on knife making
For three of the four days last week (it was a short week due to Columbus day... gotta love fake holidays!) Jeff Peachey was in the bindery to teach us how to make our own bookbinding knives. In the days leading up to the workshop, Jeff (Altepeter) and the second years warned the first years that it would be a LONG three days. It would be hard. There literally would be blood, sweat and tears, they all said (all but the latter truthfully happened).
Here's the thing: I actually really enjoyed these three days. They were certainly exhausting, and I definitely dreaded the first time I would have to use a power tool to alter a freaking METAL OBJECT, but it was such a fantastic opportunity to learn an valuable and rarely taught skill that I couldn't imagine doing anything but diving in full-force. And, of course, I took each success and failure with a heaping grain of salt (and as a result successfully avoided any tears!).
I liked that the process required the same (and maybe an even greater) attention to detail and taste for repetition that bookbinding does. To make the knives, we started with hacksaw blades of various sizes, ground off the paint and serrated edge with a buffer, split the blade in half, and then used a sanding belt to grind each piece down to a 13° point. Figuring out how to place the blade flush with the belt, so that the point would be ground down evenly, was hard. Until our hands became used to the process, we all found ourselves struggling with uneven and jagged blades.
After the 13° point was successfully achieved, we then took the blades to a sharpening system which Jeff Peachey helped us make. A more cost-effective alternative to water or oil stones, the system uses two aluminum blocks to which we can attach adhesive sheets of 80, 40, 15, and 5 micron grits. After taking the knives through each stage, we finish on a strop covered in a buffing compound. I found the sharpening process to be extremely satisfying. As I developed my eye, I could see (and feel) the knife becoming sharper through each stage. And there's nothing quite like the satisfaction of sliding your very own handmade knife through a piece of leather as if it were butter!
Even though my hands are still recovering from last week (but I do still have all ten digits!), I am so thankful for the experience. I came away with 5 sharp knives of various types, and, maybe more importantly, the ability to keep them sharp! Jeff (Altepeter) told us at the end of the workshop that handmade knives are special because the movements you make while taking the metal through each stage of the process means that, in the end, you have a tool that really only responds perfectly to your own unique way of using your hands. Pretty neat!
L to R: English style paring knife, two round Powell style lifting knives, another English style paring knife, and a rounded Swiss or French style knife.
Here is a great piece on Jeff Peachey's blog on knife sharpening.