Ideal Paper Cutting Blade?

G

ghost squire

Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Messages
360
Allright, I realize this may sound like an odd request... but I'm looking for a carbon steel, relatively thin to very thin knife with a knife edge, not a sledgehammer edge. I'm going to be using it for slicing paper (newspaper, cheap abrasive printer paper, and cigarette paper). Preferably it will be over 60 RC. I'm going to use it to practice until perfect the fine art of waterstone sharpening...

To give you an idea of the kind of knife I'm looking for, I was thinking of something along the lines of:
Kellam Wolf Pack series
Hella Fjellman
Sentou Shi Do
Brusletto Haugtussa
Brusletto Troll

And the Burchtree line of knives, though I can't find his website to look at specs.

Also it really would be very nice if it was in the 0-150 dollar range...

Please help!
 
I had the same thought as dniice87 - an opinel might be a good bet -- so cheap you can afford to sharpen two or three of them into nonexistance without feeling poor.
 
I do have an Opinel, and it's a nice knife, but its simply too soft for my purposes. I want to get used to sharpening really hard knives...

Now if some knifemaker out there heat treated them to like 66 RC...
 
get a zdp-189 delica from spyderco when they do their sprint run. I believe they will be 66-68 RC. I could be wrong, but the caly jr. was a san mai with the zdp-189 in the middle @ 67 RC
 
You might want to check out the Spyderco Cricket. It's VG10 -- not cabon, but about as good as stainless gets. The hardness is a tick under what you want (59-60). But as a paper cutter, this thing flat out rocks, which is why I mention it. Very precise. I can cut out a newspaper article without cutting through the layer below it. Very thin. Underrated. $40-plus.
 
How about a fallkniven U2? It's 62HRC, relatively affordable, and once you do get a great edge on there, it makes a nice EDC to compliment something that's big and beefy.
 
I'm thinking you're going to have to go custom to get that 64+ hardness or maybe one of Japanese carbon knives.

Come to think of it, the Japanese carbon might be the way to go. I recall seeing that they run them real hard, but am admittedly ignorant.
 
"Upgraded version of the "Bessen Series" with Shirogami Hagane carbon steel in Rockwell HR 63 to 66 and with genuine Buffalo Horn bolster on the wooden handle"-www.japanesechefsknife.com/MASAHIROSAIJYOUSeries.html

'Wabocho' as it is extremely hard (62-63 HRC) and very finely ground.-www.knivesandtools.com/en/ct/wabocho-knives.htm


"Hitachi 100% Pure Blue high carbon steel (Ao-Ko) or White high carbon steel (Shiro-Ko) with highly mirror hand polishing or satin finish. Each blade is carefully heat treated and water tempered by hand to Rockwell RC 63-65. "

I've seen some affordable (well, less than $100) knives of the Blue and White steels, just can't find 'em at the moment.
 
Look up japanese kiridashi. Carbon steel, really hard and chisel grind. Excellent for paper cutting
 
Phry said:
How about a Japanese Carpenter's Knife?http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=51165&cat=1,51222&ap=1

Rc 60 according to the website, and pretty cheap. I've got no complaints about mine. :thumbup:
Click to expand...


I have that knife as well and I think that it would work well for your purposes. Plus as you are using waterstones it would be more traditional as it is a Japanese knife (I especially like the fact that it pays homage to Myomoti Musashi- please excuse the spelling if it is wrong)
 
Since the Japanese have a knife to suit every occasion,
why not go directly for the paper knife (kamikiri)?
Can be had for about a hundred bucks.
best of luck,
t.
 
Just make your own out of a piece of power hacksaw blade. Get them from a machine shop, the type that has a frame to hold the blade and seesaws into the steel being cut. They are usuall made out of m2 or high speed steel. I have used them to open wheat flour bags, usually grinded into a hawkbill with flat bezels like the scandi grind. Still am using them in the factory floor.
 
I hope this isn't considered too off tangent - it probably will not fulfill your requirement for sharpening practice - but if the cutting is shallow - then perhaps one of those folding utility knives with replaceable blades might be just the job.......

Please take a look at this discussion - with a few illustrated reviews incorporated in the thread -

SuperKnife and pricing.....

I understand one can actually get very hard replaceable utility blades - and although not ideal, one may be able to practice sharpening on these "disposable" blades.

--
Vincent
http://UnknownVT2006.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT2005.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
 
I've decided to just make my own soon. Until then I will practice with the 01 full hard utility knife Mr. Stamp offered to lend me.

Thanks everyone for your input!
 
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