A ROUND KNIFE WIP - UPDATED INFO

What a spectacular idea for a WIP thread. Great thinking TK.

I'll be very interested in how this ends up

Happy New Years all

Corey " synthesist " Gimbel

Appreciate that Corey - good hearing from you. I should have my new maker's mark template later this week. I'll show the finished product then. Happy New Years to you. :)
 
I'm plying around with some AEB-L right now, I may just throw one in with the others for heat treating. One question is are they beveled on both sides?
 
Yes sir! It was Ben's. Ya know Ben Franklin. He used it a lot in his work. He got it from Paul, not Paul Long the leathersmith, Paul Revere, the silversmith. Seriously, try finding someone that can read it! Paul Mason is gonna help me learn to make folders. He said I had to get some digital ones.... geez.
I can’t stand digital. Dial calipers for me. That’s what i was taught when i was in school for Machine tool technology anyway. They are really not that difficult to read and more accurate in my opinion.
 
Sorry it took so long fellas, but the BOMBO GENESIS Nor'easter delayed the delivery of my stencil....we got 16 inches of snow here. All four are .040" AEB-L stock, 120 grit surfaced to .035" after heat treat, flat ground about 1/4" from the edge until almost sharp, convex edged to zero, buffed with green chrome and stropped at the edge. Paul, pick one out - you get first choice my friend. The rest are for sale. All four are full tang, have stabilized wood, and stainless furniture. I couldn't taper the tangs on these - at .040" there just isn't much to taper! I did not solder the bolsters - since the solder melts at 450 degrees, it would mess up the 200 degree temper of the AEB-L to Rc 62-63. A - spalted maple, B - Koa, C - spalted maple, D - spalted hackberry. C and D follow the pattern the closest to the pattern that Paul designed.

One of the advantages of using the round knife over an exacto knife is that while pushing the round knife, your cut line is always visible.....on the pull stroke it is hidden. Load up a chunk of leather with rouge anD you can keep this knife deadly sharp with an occasional strop.

I hope this was helpful to you makers - as Dave said, be very careful when grinding and sharpening these until you get familiar with making this configuration. There are new points and edges that differ from making a knife and it can bite you deep.......C has some of my blood on it.

V/R,

TK




ROUND-KNIVES.jpg
 
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Those are excellent examples for me to try and imitate "Ha Ha". I'm just kidding, I won't attempt one right now but maybe in the future when I get more time from replacing diesel turbos I will try and tackle the job.
 
Hey Tim, they all look great, but "B" keeps calling my name and saying "take me", "take me". The differences are very subtle between B,C, and D, but for me that slight angled blade along with the slight angle handle made the choice easy. The A knife is just like my old, trusty Osborne that Danny Marlin. modified for me and I use it some every day! It's a great all round knife, but it's my go to for trimming linings.

This has been fun, and I hope everyone enjoyed the process along with me.

Thanks Tim, You da man!

Paul
 
Hey Tim, they all look great, but "B" keeps calling my name and saying "take me", "take me". The differences are very subtle between B,C, and D, but for me that slight angled blade along with the slight angle handle made the choice easy. The A knife is just like my old, trusty Osborne that Danny Marlin. modified for me and I use it some every day! It's a great all round knife, but it's my go to for trimming linings.

This has been fun, and I hope everyone enjoyed the process along with me.

Thanks Tim, You da man!

Paul

Very good Paul - I'll ship you B - don't cut yourself now! :)
 
Very cool Tim. Looks like they all came out great. Yep those things will get caught by the belt and jump right out of your hands. I've done a few hoof knives with that little curved pigtail at the end. They want to jump off and bite ya too.

Ya mentioned it but the secret to keeping these guys working good is to strop often. As soon as you start to feel it dragging while cutting, strop. Not only does it make your work easier, its safer and ya avoid some costly mistakes. Over the years I've actually learned to turn my left hand around and have its fingers out of the way while cutting, take a look at that pic again that Paul posted on pg one of this thread of me using a roundknife. Keep that off hand out of the way. Right before Christmas I was whipping out my last few Christmas orders. Was working on cutting out a rifle scabbard. Could feel the roundknife starting to drag, just one more little curve and slip. Off my cutting line and right across the center of the scabbard. No fixing that, started over, but at least my left hand was out of the way. Strop when they start to drag.
 
These are awesome TK, great thread! Maybe someday I'll actually try and make one!
 
Sorry it took so long fellas, but the BOMBO GENESIS Nor'easter delayed the delivery of my stencil....we got 16 inches of snow here. All four are .040" AEB-L stock, 120 grit surfaced to .035" after heat treat, flat ground about 1/4" from the edge until almost sharp, convex edged to zero, buffed with green chrome and stropped at the edge. Paul, pick one out - you get first choice my friend. The rest are for sale. All four are full tang, have stabilized wood, and stainless furniture. I couldn't taper the tangs on these - at .040" there just isn't much to taper! I did not solder the bolsters - since the solder melts at 450 degrees, it would mess up the 200 degree temper of the AEB-L to Rc 62-63. A - spalted maple, B - Koa, C - spalted maple, D - spalted hackberry. C and D follow the pattern the closest to the pattern that Paul designed.

One of the advantages of using the round knife over an exacto knife is that while pushing the round knife, your cut line is always visible.....on the pull stroke it is hidden. Load up a chunk of leather with rouge anD you can keep this knife deadly sharp with an occasional strop.

I hope this was helpful to you makers - as Dave said, be very careful when grinding and sharpening these until you get familiar with making this configuration. There are new points and edges that differ from making a knife and it can bite you deep.......C has some of my blood on it.

V/R,

TK




View attachment 826634


Those look great, and based on geometry, are well designed tools!
 
Why no cryo? Look at the chart. "Cryo" for this stuff is dry ice in the cooler they gave you with the ice. ;)
Here's the pair, cutout and ready for heat treatment. I am going to put a lanyard tube in these so you can hang it on a nail - there will be stainless bolsters/corby rivets. Not enough material to taper the tang on these guys! One is for Paul, one is for me. I'll austenitize for 15 minutes at 1940, plate quench and temper twice at 150 F. I should get around Rc 60-62 out of this heat treatment without cryo according to the heat treatment instructions provided by Alpha Knife Supply.

View attachment 819435 View attachment 819140
 
"A" is super cool!
 
"I've managed to eliminate a lot of drama in my life by not discussing religion, politics, or heat treatment philosophies. :D"

That cracked me up. Amen sir.

Those 4 knives look really good too. I have a Knip or I might be tempted.

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
I wanted to mention something else for folks too. Years ago when I first changed to my own roundknife I had trouble with cutting boards I'd been using, the white poly butcher type cutting boards. What the problem was I'd get the knife stuck as I was cutting. Paul uses the white poly and so it might work for you. But it didn't for me. I also tried those roller knife mats and while they are a great surface for the leather bench and I use the one inch grids all the time, I can't cut with a roundknife on them I'd get stuck in them too. I tried a bamboo cutting board and while that worked it wore out very fast. Finally came across a material called Hydroma. That's the red block to the left of me that my coffee cup is on.

jShHlbO.jpg


Its designed for industrial clicking/die cutting machines. However it works very well for me as a cutting board. I like the roundknife to slice through the leather and kind of skate across the top of the cutting board and my knives do this with the hydroma. Might give er a try if you are getting stuck in regular cutting board surfaces. Just Google hydroma and you can get it in custom sizes to suit you. A little spendy but has worked great for me.

That pic was yesterday. I cut out 35 sheaths with my roundknife what did ya do? Tooling one of em there in the pic.
 
I wanted to mention something else for folks too. Years ago when I first changed to my own roundknife I had trouble with cutting boards I'd been using, the white poly butcher type cutting boards. What the problem was I'd get the knife stuck as I was cutting. Paul uses the white poly and so it might work for you. But it didn't for me. I also tried those roller knife mats and while they are a great surface for the leather bench and I use the one inch grids all the time, I can't cut with a roundknife on them I'd get stuck in them too. I tried a bamboo cutting board and while that worked it wore out very fast. Finally came across a material called Hydroma. That's the red block to the left of me that my coffee cup is on.

jShHlbO.jpg


Its designed for industrial clicking/die cutting machines. However it works very well for me as a cutting board. I like the roundknife to slice through the leather and kind of skate across the top of the cutting board and my knives do this with the hydroma. Might give er a try if you are getting stuck in regular cutting board surfaces. Just Google hydroma and you can get it in custom sizes to suit you. A little spendy but has worked great for me.

That pic was yesterday. I cut out 35 sheaths with my roundknife what did ya do? Tooling one of em there in the pic.

Dave: I appreciate the input - I too have been disappointed with the poly cutting boards. It seems counter productive to have a round knife sharp as hell, only to have it drag on the poly cutting board. I'm going to buy a hydlroma board and charge it to your account. Appreciate the gift Dave :D
 
To all:

I just ordered a hydroma cutting board from Induscousa.com - you'll have to phone it in 800-347-4472. They sell the red-brown hydroma cutting board that Dave recommended in 1/2" and 1" thicknesses. The 1/2" thickness is 11 cents/sf while the 1" thickness is 21 cents/sf. I ordered a 1/2" thick board, 15" x 20" and it cost me $32 plus shipping. The Tandy Leather version is 12" x 12" x 1" and retails for $59.99 - the same size/thickness board from Induscousa.com is $30.24!!
 
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