Can knives be too sharp ? or stupid is as stupid does

CRAIG1952

Well-Known Member
Well it's been several months since, I had made any knives:2:. The summer heat here in the deserts of California was just too much. My shop/man cave was hoovering around 100-110 degrees for weeks on end. even a fan didn't help:noway:. But it did eventually cool down! All this old man wanted to do was sit in the air conditioning and watch TV ! :eek: Also several family problems were keeping me away !
Well I started last week again, sure did feel good! I have made several Knife sheaths. One I was all most finished with when I decided to see how the knife fit the sheath :biggrin: I pushed in the blade several times checking the fit. Will I guess I should have measured twice and cut once ! I looked at the sheath and saw that the blade had sliced right threw the scabbard :mad: I went and made a different design of scabbard which worked great !:les:
Has anyone else did something this stupid ? Miscellaneous 025.jpg



Miscellaneous 022.jpg
 
Well it's been several months since, I had made any knives:2:. The summer heat here in the deserts of California was just too much. My shop/man cave was hoovering around 100-110 degrees for weeks on end. even a fan didn't help:noway:. But it did eventually cool down! All this old man wanted to do was sit in the air conditioning and watch TV ! :eek: Also several family problems were keeping me away !
Well I started last week again, sure did feel good! I have made several Knife sheaths. One I was all most finished with when I decided to see how the knife fit the sheath :biggrin: I pushed in the blade several times checking the fit. Will I guess I should have measured twice and cut once ! I looked at the sheath and saw that the blade had sliced right threw the scabbard :mad: I went and made a different design of scabbard which worked great !:les:
Has anyone else did something this stupid ? View attachment 36197



View attachment 36198


NO! :s12137:

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Can knives be too sharp.... NEVER :)

This has happened more than you might think. I can think of 4 times of this happening to makers I know, usually it's someone else that slices through the sheath though.

My 13 year old nephew did this with a knife and sheath I made him for christmas even though I had sheathed and unsheathed it at least 50 times without a hitch.

Leather is a great material but doesn't put up much of a fight with something sharp and pointy :)

-Josh
 
Craig, is there a welt between the layers on that sheath? If not, that's a dangerous set up. It might have contributed to your problem by not having a channel that the blade could slip into formed by an edge on piece of leather for the edge of the knife to ride up against.

Doug
 
Craig, is there a welt between the layers on that sheath? If not, that's a dangerous set up. It might have contributed to your problem by not having a channel that the blade could slip into formed by an edge on piece of leather for the edge of the knife to ride up against.

Doug
Doug, most of my sheath's have a welt . This one has a welt, but i just made the sheath too small for the blade. I made several knives using the same pattern I made for the first one. I assumed that all the blades were the same width. but I sure was wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Just checking, Craig. The picture made it look like the leather that formed the pouch was right up against each other. The next time you will know to check the blade against the pattern. Live and learn. I don't have that problem being a smith. I just automatically expect that each blade will be one off and need it's own pattern to make a sheath from.

Doug
 
I mentioned this at last night's 5160 Club meeting and the most useful response I got was:
"Your best protection is a wooden sheath lining"
... that said - the sheath geometry should match the blade geometry, you should put the blade in with the blade's spine contacting the back of the sheath as I bet Josh did those "50 times", and hey... cutting the sheath is a heck of a lot better than slicing your thumb to the bone. Just be glad you were holding the sheath carefully!!!
 
I had a guy tying to impress me once say that he was a black belt in the art of the samuri sword and that his sword was so sharp it had to be registered like one would a gun and get a permit. I then asked what happens when it is used and then starts to get dull? He was speachless. But according to him when a knife gets to sharp you have to register it and get a permit!
 
Done it on a knife my youngest son and I made together. We were moving pretty fast and forgot the welt thus ended up with a knife cutting right through the leather.
 
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