Somehow or other I managed to lose my favorite chicken-butchering tool, a teensy Victorinox paring knife. The fatal combination of some money in my pocket and a love of good knives caused me to do something a little rash at the kitchen supply store in the big town about 50 miles away, and that left me with a problem; an expensive knife with a scalpel-like edge, the responsibility for which terrified me.
So – having inherited some Kydex-shaping stuff from Former Neighbor J, I did something I’d always meant to get around to: I made the beginnings of a very simple sheath.
I’m not going to take it a lot further than this, just cutting off the excess and doing some basic shaping. It’s only intended to protect the edge (and protect other things from the edge) in the implement drawer, it’s already got enough retention for that, and I probably won’t even bother with rivets.
It being a cloudy day I’m unlikely to be lured into wasting lots of time on the ‘pooter, so I’ll probably either finish it or completely screw it up later today. If it’s that first thing I’ll show you.
Simple? Extremely simple indeed really, but I did manage to ruin the first attempt. There are approximately six brazillion Youtube videos on how to shape Kydex, and of those I watched exactly zero mentioned things it would have been nice to know. For example, heated Kydex shrinks. Also, when you wrap a knife in hot Kydex and apply pressure to it in the shaping clamp, unless you’re careful it’s likely to squirt right out of the layers. And you won’t notice till ten minutes later after the plastic has cooled.
That would have been nice to know, is all I’m saying. Fortunately Former Neighbor J’s interest in the hobby was brief, and he abandoned plenty of material to soak up my learning efforts.
I just bought a set of ceramic kitchen knives and I’m so glad they fit into the wood butcher block. Those suckers are SHARP! Got tired of trying to keep my steel knives sharp. Don’t know why some folks are so enamored of “carbon steel.” Maybe for non kitchen use, but every time I used the darn thing I had it would rust before I ever got done and needed sharpening more than any of the rest of my knives.
The ceramic are supposed to keep sharp for a long, long time. They are much more fragile than steel, and would break if treated rough, but I am not hard on such things in the kitchen. So far, a good trade off. Wouldn’t carry these outdoors, so steel is still the choice for everything out of the kitchen.
That knife looks really wicked, Joel. 🙂
I was tempted by a ceramic knife, ML. I’ve never owned one. But for this purpose sometimes you need a sharp point, and that’s something ceramic blades seem to avoid. Also I’ll be taking this one outdoors and I tend to break breakable things. So in the end I went with steel.
Absolutely, Joel. The first ceramic knife I got is a small paring knife and it does have a sharp point. The next ones I got included a chef’s knife and one a serrated bread knife, which are not the kind that come with much of a point, even in steel. The other two are different sized paring knives and the lack of a nice point was a disappointment. But I have plenty of knives with points still, so it’s no real problem.
I’m going to have to look at how one actually can sharpen the ceramic knives. Can’t imagine they’ll stay sharp forever.
The lady at the kitchen supply – who tried to sell me an assortment of ceramic knives – said most people send them to the factory for re-sharpening every few years. It’s a strange, strange world we live in.
The cost of shipping and the service would seriously exceed what I paid for the knives, I’m sure. I looked at that machine again, and I might get one because it would supposedly do a better job on the steel knives as well. I’ve got honing stones, and manual pull sharpeners, in addition to diamond files, but none of those seem to do a good job. The machine would, at least, be much easier and faster. I have the greatest trouble holding the blade at the right angle when using the stones. Self defeating, really.
@ML: The only thing I’d ever heard of was sending them back to the factory or a service company. Curiosity got me, and did a web search – first result:
Boker knife sharpeners. Not sure if by “machine” you mean a small belt sander intended for sharpening, but I note that Boker lists diamond belts, which are specifically for ceramic blades. And a diamond “stone” or other diamond devices are the only thing I can think of for ceramics. My guess is that anything other than power tools will be tedious and time consuming, but I have no specific experience. Certainly, if your knives are getting dull, there’s little to be lost by attempting it with a diamond stone.
Among knife nuts, carbon steel can be preferred for its superior edge-holding capability, but there are some stainless alloys that are also very good in this regard.
I have all sorts of sharpening methods, and right now, the one I use the most is the Smith’s pocket pal. And that surprised me. Very easy to keep my Swiss Army knife touched up. And I always finish off with a few passes on a strop.
Sharpening service: harpening for CERAMIC blades to 6″ Only $9.95 Shipping $6.95. That doesn’t seem all that bad to me. But only if you’re talking about high-end knives. I just looked at Amazon, and I hadn’t known that ceramic knives had come down in price that low. I might have to look into getting some.
“I just looked at Amazon, and I hadn’t known that ceramic knives had come down in price that low.”
Yeah, that’s the point. The sharpening machine for the ceramic blades start at about $30. The set of four ceramic knives I just bought cost $24. with free shipping. I expect to get years of use out of these blades before they’d need sharpening, so won’t need a machine for them for a long time. But the machine does sharpen steel knives as well, and all of mine are soon dull as a spoon, no matter what I do with the oilstones and so forth. I might just get a machine… or more ceramic knives. LOL