Tell me about your swivel knife/blades.

O

Omega Leather Works

Joined
Jun 13, 2007
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So I'm looking at my swivel knife and I'm fairly unimpressed. Which knife do you guys use? Which blade do you use on the handle?

My blade has a super obtuse grind. Without measuring, I'd say it's well over 40° (inclusive). The bevels are nearly mirror polished yet the apex is dull. Coming from sharpening knives, this won't do at all.

I'd like to reprofile the bevels, but don't know what the best angle is. I assume it's a multipurpose blade, about a half inch wide, dual bevels, straight edge... nothing odd. The blade is mounted in a basic Tandy swivel knife handle. The yoke comes off the stem pretty easily. It's a pretty cheesy design really. I have the stones, sandpaper and Edge Pro and strops to reprofile, so I'm not too worried about doing the job, just need advice on angles.
 
Swivel knife blades are supposed to be rather obtuse, they are not so much cutting edges as they are incisors. You want a cut that is not closed, after the knife passes it leaves a V shaped cut that depending on the pressure is very light or heavy in width.

According to Stohlman's book "Leather Craft Tools, how to use them, how to sharpen them" Highly suggested reading by the way. Its a fantastic resource on how to use and sharpen all those funky shaped tools we use. He uses the adjustable "Keen Edge" sharpening tool to bring up a 30 degree angle between the tool and the stone. IMHO, that tool is worth its weight, keeps the consistent angle you need for smooth cut.

The book is relatively cheap for all the info you get from the "Grand Poobah" of leather craft.

After the sharpening and polishing of that edge you will be surprised how smooth that thing cuts and glides. I very lightly soaped water spray on the surface of the leather helps a lot as well. Even better there is a product called "Pro Carve" I think thats it, that I got at the suggestion of Dave Cole, its amazing how much it helps. Nothing worse than that "chatter" on cased leather that wants to grab your swivel knife.
 
I think Leatherman hit it on the head. I'm not real good with geometry but the angles he mention sound abut right. A swivel knife should leave a v shaped cut that stays open. I have two Barry King swivel knives. One with a 1/2" blade and the other with a 3/8" blade. Both blades are hollow ground and came very sharp. I've kept them that way through religious stropping throughout every use. I have never had to touch them to a stone. I too am a huge believer in Pro Carv. It is in my water all the time whenever I am dampening leather for whatever reason
 
Right, Pro Carve, that sounds familiar. ;)

Alright, sounds like the angles are correct. I guess it just seems odd to someone that has nothing, bladed, more obtuse than 30°, including axes.

I haven't done any carving with this tool in years. I seem to remember it mushing the damp leather unless I used the very corner.

It handily fails any sharpness test that I'm used to. Will yours catch on your thumbnail, or is it supposed to skate? I can also rub my finger across the edge as hard as I'd like without fear. Normal? I guess the best test is just to start carving on scrap. I'll give it a go and see what I come up with.
 
I went and checked after you asked. It will skate on a thumbnail, it will shave arm hair but not binder paper. Pressing the thumb against the edge it felt sharp enough that running a thumb across it seemed like a bad idea. So I didn't.
 
I've got an older high carbon steel filigree blade that is my sharpest and yep, the above explains it very well. Though, I dont want to try to shave hair with it, the darn thing just begs to dig in. :p

Strigamort, you want that blade polished nice and shiny, if it grabs your fingernail its not polished enough yet. You know how an over polished knife edge will skate over a hard surface instead of digging in? Yea, that's about it! :)

You mentioned using just the corner of the blade, that is exactly the way you need to use it, I dont have my book but Stohlman has a graphic in it that explains the angle. I'll check that later today.
 
I have used just about every swivel knife blade there is. And the best ever is the old one that use's a ruby for the cutting edge! I inherted it long ago and its my go to blade. Seek one out and you will love it!
 
I dont think I have ever heard of that one, I'm off to do some research as it sounds fascinating. :)
 
Yep I remember those. I have also used the ceramic ones. They were one of those deals that were better in theory than in practice. While staying sharp forever they just did't cut as nice nor did they yield as "nice" a cut. Never got a chance to use a ruby one but I do remember them for sale.
 
Both are still for sale I believe. I know I saw a current price for the "ruby" blade somewhere.

I was interested in the ceramic blade, it does sound like a great idea. On the other hand, I have a couple of ceramic kitchen knives and I kinda hate them. There's nothing really wrong with them (other than the nails on chalkboard thought of an edge chipping into my food), but they take forever to abrade on my diamond plates.

Hmm that doesn't seem like a good enough reason to dislike them. I dunno, there's just something intangibly wrong with what to me feels like a glass blade. Even on a swivel knife. Maybe I'm nuts. :)
 
Ruby San Mai, kind of an interesting concept. How you feel about the kitchen knives is how you would feel about the swivel blade. Kind of intangible like you said. Good way of saying what I was trying to convey when I put the quotes around nice above.
 
Interesting. I just pulled out my swivel knife again to practice a little. The blunt edge was just killing it for me, so I decided to get really aggressive with the diamonds. The apex reflected light before I started. Decided to try the old circular style of sharpening. It's never really worked well for me on knife blades (I'm sure it's my technique), but figured that this blade is about as small and simple as they come. I was surprised how quickly I got a burr. That may speak to the softness (or otherwise crap) steel, but it let go of the burr pretty easily. No tenacious wire edge. Anyway, I now have a crisp apex that just needs stropped. It may dull really quickly, who knows, but at least it's worthy of a little caution. :)
 
Looked up the ruby edge, and yes, its nice. Something I'd try if I found one at a good price. :)

But, I love my high carbon blade more than any other one I own. So much so that I want to get a few more in different sizes.

Not so much with my standard blades, the silvery ones like I think yours is. They are really soft and super easy to goof up when sharpening. Too aggressive with a loose hand and you will have a wonky blade.

The ceramic, like said before seems more gimmicky than useful. I have a ceramic bladed leather knife and it goes dull a lot quicker than I'd thought it should and I am under the constant fear of dropping the silly thing.
 
There's a product that Tandy sells called the Keen Edge Sharpener. It holds the swivel knife blade at the proper angle. I use a Barry King swivel knife and his blades don't fit in this sharpener.

I've heard of the ruby blades, but I don't think anyone makes them any more. I've heard that Ceramic blades are good, but can crack easily if dropped. Since we do most of our leather carving on a marble surface, I've never tried one.

I agree with leatherman in regard to high carbon blades.


http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/product/craftool-keen-edge-sharpener-88118-00.aspx
 
The blade on mine is black aside from the bevels. I believe Tandy used SS on their premium models, but I'm under no illusion that I have anything but whatever they deemed least expensive in Taiwan. It IS adjustable at least, but falls apart when shaken.

I've watched videos where they use the guide to sharpen the blades. Mine is straight forward enough to easily do without a guide, but I could see maybe with something else, or if I wasn't so used to sharpening in general. Honestly, the only thing I don't like about it is having to remove the blade from the knife to use, but you shouldn't have to do that very often anyway I guess.

Barry King makes blades for my knife too. I might go that way if I can figure out a way to keep the yoke from falling off the stem. :(
 
C'mon buddy, bite the bullet. Ya can get the whole shooting match (and they swivel oh so much better) from Barry, blade included.
 
Just visited the Tandy site to see what they have and it appears they have closed out quite a few of their swivel knives and blades. I dont see any high carbon blades at all, and they used to offer ceramic as well. Even the hollow ground blades are on close out. Sheesh.

Looks like if I want more high carbon blades I'll be looking elsewhere.
 
leatherman said:
Just visited the Tandy site to see what they have and it appears they have closed out quite a few of their swivel knives and blades. I dont see any high carbon blades at all, and they used to offer ceramic as well. Even the hollow ground blades are on close out. Sheesh.

Looks like if I want more high carbon blades I'll be looking elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I believe the carbon blades from BK for the Tandy knives are pretty reasonable.
 
$45 bucks. Just stop 2xs less at Starbucks a week for a month and there ya go! My balance isn't as good as it use to be. Still, ain't been bucked off in some years now....
 
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