Hard working knives deserve to be pampered every once in a while. That means.... Spa Day!
My three most hard working lambsfoot knives each got some TLC this afternoon. Each knife received essentially the same treatment. The order of operations differed a bit, but each luxuriated in:
Deep Cleaning
I used Goof Off to remove any residual gunk from slicing through plastic shipping tape. Then I oiled and flushed their joints. The rosewood one pictured above had a bunch of gunk come out of the joint. It had been getting really catchy while opening recently, so it was a relief to see that clear and then feel a nice smooth action after that on opening and closing.
Edge Touch Up
Each knife received a touch-up on the KME sharpening system followed by power stropping on the leather honing wheel of my Tormek.
The Hartshead had a nice edge that had been originally set with the KME, so I worked it through the 600 and 1500 grit stones before stropping on the Tormek to bring it back to the way I'd originally set it.
The other two had most recently had their bevels set on the Tormek, which gave them a slightly hollow grind. That made touching them up on the KME with the 600 grit stone super quick: there was very little contact between the steel and the stone.
After finishing up with the leather honing wheel they were all shaving sharp. Just the way I like them.
Conditioning
Their handles all were treated with homemade wood balm that contains beeswax and mineral oil. I've routinely use thing on the buffalo horn one and figured it'd help up the luster on the wood handles as well. I slathered it on, let it set, and then buffed it off with a cloth.
Relaxing
Here's the happy trio, basking in the afterglow of their spa day:
Tomorrow it'll be back to hard work.