Looking for a Round Knife?

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Del, by all means post a picture or send it to me in a pm. I'd enjoy seeing what it looks like.

I did get an Osborne round knife from one of the supply houses and it arrived today (no name mentioned because they held up their end of the deal). I'm not impressed by Osborne's quality. This one is slightly askew but it can be re-shaped in a few hours. I was hoping to not have to make one but I may send this one back and just make one out of a saw blade.

[Dalton Masterson]

Del, now that you mention finding them in the kitchen wares, I did the same thing with one of mine. It was stuffed in a little container with other odd kitchen instruments of torture. It has a few pits in it, and 1 nasty one right at the edge. If I take off 1/8" then it will be even bigger. I may have to just take it to the grinder, and reshape to get to good steel, then start all over again. Its an oldie, for sure.

PS. I will be in Lincoln March 5th, so beware.....

DM

[Marshal Will Wingam]

OK, I sent it back. No problem there. Now I have to hit up all the thrift stores or something.

[Delmonico]

OK, I got some last night, like I said, I was gonna rehab it into a noodle cutter, till I realized it was hand made.  If I want one that bad I'll make one.

One side





Other side:





And the side of the handle:




I looked it over real good last night, I'm not sure what it was made out of, but I'd guess a saw blade.  It appears to have been cut out hot with a chistle, then straightened with a hammer by a very skilled blacksmith.  You can feel a lot of hammer marks in it, but can't really see but a few.  From the scale on it, I'd guess it was heat treated when done.

BTW the riviet is lead.

Also I have seen these called harness knives.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That's really cool, Del. Someone definitely put a little effort in on that one. You can not only cut noodles any width but you can thin them out. Thanks for the pics. That's a keeper.

[Slowhand Bob]

Well I can tell you one thing about them, aint nobody ever made a better thumb skiver.  I have taken my pore ole left thumb to the bone morn once, dad always said I wuz slow, afore I gave them up.  Of all the tools you will ever handle, this is the one that you best spend the most time learning to sharpen properly and then keeping up the practice religiously.  All them old sayings about a dull tool being a dangerous tool goes double fer the round knife.  I used them for several years before going back to the disposable blade cutting knives and have not cared to look back since!  One good trip to the hospital will even buy a new clicker machine now days!  I know, I know, you just feel that the round knife IS THE TOOL OF THE OLD PROS but just remember, I told you so.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Today I started making one. I don't have any handle material on hand so I had to stop. I got the shape and the initial rough angle on the blade. For obvious reasons, I don't want to finish sharpening it until it has a decent handle to hold onto. Here's a pic of it so far.

[cowboy316]

Marshal
    Wow lookin  good there bud you would almost think youve made one like this before cant wait to see what it looks like with the handle and to hear how it cuts
      great job

       Cowboy316

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

  Howdy Will

      Boy this is really good work, very professional, have you done this before, it looks perfect, what did you use for material, too many question I know, but I'm really impressed, can't wait to hear how she cuts when finished.

                                          tEN wOLVES 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks, pards. I made it from an old circular sawblade. I haven't made one of these before but I traced the ones I got with the crooked handles, straightened the tracing out and faired in the irregularities on the cutting edge into an even curve, identical on both sides. I transferred that to the sawblade with a Sharpie marker. To cut it out, I rough shaped it with a peanut grinder with a very thin cutoff blade in it. I made a lot of quick cuts in different places to keep from heating the material beyond the temper, leaving about a quarter inch all the way around, especially on the blade area. Next, I used an electric die-grinder to make the inside curves where the handle and blade meet. To finish shape it, I used a sanding blade in the hand grinder. For the initial edge, I used an old slow-running table belt sander. All the time, I kept it cool enough to hold with my bare hands. I then used some 600 grit emery paper to lightly take the sharp edges off where it had been ground and shaped along the back edges of the blade and along the handle area.  When I was done, I went over the whole thing with a Scotchbrite-type wheel in my die-grinder to remove surface corrosion and such. When I sharpen it, I'll probably stone the edge into a convex curve like the knives I use now (all made from a power hacksaw blade almost 40 years ago).

Oh, yeah, I set fire to my coveralls with all the initial grinding. Now I have a hole that needs to be patched on 'em.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

    Thanks for the information Will, good job of explaining the process, it takes more than just a little bit of time to make one of these, but at least you know what kind of steel you have, this knife should hold an edge real well because of the way you handled it during the process with not getting it too hot and messing up the temper, I think you will have a real dandy blade here.


                                                    tEN wOLVES 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks, 10W. It actually doesn't take as much time as you would think. What you see represents about 2 hours today. I expect another 2 in it to completion, most of that time spend shaping the cutting edge. The handle will most likely be two pieces of synthetic shoe sole glued on each side and sanded to shape on that old (OLD) sanding table.

Now that I think about it, I could put a couple pieces of wood on it with JB weld and have a really nice handle.

[RollingThunder]

Shoot, Marshall ... (no, don't shoot, put that iron back in the leather). If you're gonna JB weld it, why not go the extra mile, drill a couple holes and rivet it, then seal it out nice and smooth?

You've put that much time and effort into it, why not make it just as artistically attractive as the leather it's going to cut, considering what that will turn out like when you're finished with it?

[Dalton Masterson]

Wow. So when does Wingam Cutlery open up?
Looks great so far, Will.
How about shaping a thick piece of leather for the handle. I had a pistol with leather grips, and they were very hard and comfortable.
DM

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

 

   Howdy Will

      This is getting fun, What I do when putting a handle on a knife, is get your self some 1/2" or 3/8" thick hard wood to your liking, cut it to fit the shape of your handle but make it over sized, then you can get some brass rod at a hobby shop, get the size you want and then drill as many holes as you would like pins in the handle in the tang of the knife, after that place one side of the handle ( or scale ) clamp it to the blade and then drill through the holes you just made in the tang of the knife, after you do one side, do the other side the same way , make sure you keep the scales lined up, you want to shape and sand the ends of the scales on the blade side, now burnish the ends of the handle closest to the blade, because once it is fixed to the blade it is hard to work with, after that epoxy both sides of the scales or handles, and the tang of the knife, and the brass pins, make sure you cut the pins long , you can go back after everything is dry and cut them off, line up the handles and push the pins through, when they're all in use small pressure clamps and tighten it all up. when dry, cut the pins off flush to the handle, and then start shaping your handle, make sure you cover the blade with tape heavily so you don't cut yourself while shaping the handle, when you have the handle the way you want it , burnish it with jewelers rouge to a high shine and your done. I hope this helps, this is real easy to do it just sounds hard, but you have the tools to do this which would make it easy.

                                                tEN wOLVES 

                                       

[RollingThunder]

Yeah! What TW said.

Thank goodness I'm not into knifesmithing! LOL.

[Dr. Bob]

Marshal Will,

If you do much of this, you need to make yourself a leather apron like the blacksmiths used.     

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks for the input, pards. My first thought was the thick leather. I may do that but I may also do some wood. I'm not sure if I have a burr that will cut a hole in this tempered steel. That idea is still up in the air. I thought about de-tempering where the holes would go but I really don't want to soften that area so it'll bend. As to polishing the blade, the steel has some fine pits from years of no use. That means that the handles will outshine (pun) the rest of it. I talked to a friend of mine who is a master woodworker. He suggested putting wood on it with Gorilla glue. That is probably the way I'll go if I use wood. Maybe I'll have to go the other way and consult with Chuck Burrows and make it a real classic with a wrapped leather grip or something. Heck, I really just want a knife. I think I'll keep it simple. Simple doesn't need to be unattractive. We'll see where this goes......

Yeah, a blacksmith's apron would work fine, Dr Bob.

[cowboywc]

Howdy MW
You can make me a knife anytime. Great job.
WC

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

                  Marshal Will, I think what ever you use for a grip your going to have a dandy knife, that epoxy will stick what ever you have in mind to the steel tang real well.


                                                           tEN wOLVES