Ever cut yourself on the spine of a blade?

T

tambrico

Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
65
Yep, I just managed to do that somehow. There was some gunk on the spine of my new Ontario RAT-1, presumably from the oiling I gave it yesterday. So I was wiping it off with my thumb and then...it cut my thumb. Anyone else do this? Furthermore, is there a way in which I can make the edges of the spine...not sharp?
 
Never happened, but a 90 degree angle can get sharp. It does have its advantages when it comes to scraping wood and such. To dull it, just run a sharpening stone on the edge at about 45 degree angle. Do it lightly and it will take the bite off.
 
Kitchen knives are especially prone to that . Sharp 90* spine and much more dangerous is the thin, very sharp 90* heel. Stone a chamfer or round off the spine and stone a generous chamfer on the heal !
 
I have a 2007 Buck 110 that has a sharp enough swedge that I almost cut myself on. My older models are no where near as sharp as this one.
 
I have done it once before, now I check the 90 degree edges when I get a new knife and run a ceramic rod over them lightly to round them a bit if they are sharp or have a bur that could cut me.
 
I noticed that on my Rat 1 folder, and rounded the spine with a mounted stone in a Dremel, followed by refinement with diamond paddles and finally a felt buff charged with CrO2, again in the Dremel. It is much friendlier in pocket and use, and I prefer the look also.

Even a light pass with a medium grit will pull the dangerously sharp edge that comes on those knives, but I went for comfort and classy looks, which took all of 30 minutes to do.

Bill
 
Never done it myself, but when the Umnumzaan was still in pre production, one of the guys at Plaza Cutlery managed to cut himself on the protruding sharpened swedge when holding it closed.
 
tambrico,

I have, very much the way you did. I cut my thumb rubbing gunk of the spine of a Cold Steel Master Hunter.
 
I have never cut myself on my rat 1 but i will look and see how sharp it is...i usually dont run my thumb down either side of the blade...

I have gotten a cut from a spydie hole though, it was on my pacific salt...and my salt 1 had a fairly rough hole as well. fixed it with a round diamond file...

my personal favorite cuts from random objects are clam shell packs...i love those sharp plastic edges :P
 
mete said:
Kitchen knives are especially prone to that . Sharp 90* spine and much more dangerous is the thin, very sharp 90* heel. Stone a chamfer or round off the spine and stone a generous chamfer on the heal !
Click to expand...

The spine of a knife isn't supposed to have sharp edges. If it does, unsharpen them with a file or some sandpaper.

And no, I've never cut myself on the spine.
 
Never have....

The spine isn't supposed to cut you, that's were you put your thumb or palm to do certain tasks.

If it is sharp call the manufacturer and tell them they need to fix your knife for free as it's poor quality control.
 
This is one of my pet peeves. I think most manufacturers do this because rounding surfaces takes extra time and effort, and so, increases production time and cost. IMHO the only parts of a knife that should form sharp surfaces are the point and the cutting surface of the blade. Everything else should have a "melted" soft curve that makes the knife comfortable to handle even when working hard, hand pressed against guard or choil, with thumb on spine, in ice cold weather. My favorite custom maker, Karl Schroen, makes all of his knives this way, and they are a joy to use. Every surface the user touches flows naturally into his or her hand and feels perfect.

I round the spine and, when possible, other surfaces by taking a strip of duct tape, pasting sand paper on the sticky side (abrasive surface out, of course) bending the abrasive side against the squared edges of the spine (or whatever) and pulling the duct tape-sand paper back and forth perpendicular to the length of the square edge until I have a pleasant, symmetrical, soft curve where the edge used to be. Easy to do, and makes the knife hand friendly, like a good tool should be. Doing it by hand instead of a powered grinding wheel prevents heat build-up, which could temper the steel. I don't have a belt sander, but I have heard they are good too if you use an abrasive belt with enough slack to form a curve and run it at low speed to prevent heating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top