Thread: Another newbie

Some scales in the works... cocobolo with beeswax rub.


They create quite the mess on the sander. Is the sawdust a permanent dye?

Not sure what you mean by "a permanent dye" but I've found that the coloring either wears off the belt or is covered over possibly. Either way it doesn't seem to affect subsequent sanding on the belt.

Great thread! Thanks for posting it here - looks like at some point I may have to try this out. I'm already looking at extra cutlery of various shapes that I may be able to transform. But using a blank seems to be the best.

Not quite what I meant... It's true that the belt was caked with cocobolo dust/oil, but I was more concerned about the covering of such dust all over my clothes and garage. Also, I keep such a messy shop that it's hard to vacuum up!

Omg, apparently I needed one of these. This is becoming a rather wide-ranging acquisition disorder...

haha, acquiring tools/materials is an endless process... trust me, I just attended a knife show this weekend, i nearly spent all my sales in buy new stuff for more razors... welcome to the club

Originally Posted by Atchbo

Not quite what I meant... It's true that the belt was caked with cocobolo dust/oil, but I was more concerned about the covering of such dust all over my clothes and garage. Also, I keep such a messy shop that it's hard to vacuum up!

Can't help you there bro - I'm in the same boat! ...though since I retired and been working in my garage/workshop a LOT more, I tend to put a pair of overalls over my clothes as I head in. Seems to help a little with the mess on the clothes at least. Still haven't figured out how to address the mess in the garage.

Finally got some time in the shop this week. First, I always wondered why we don't see more mention of cocobolo for scales, as it's dense, hard, oily and beautiful. Well, it's hard. So it's unwilling to bend (maybe that's why I like it so much). I suspect I will have trouble with pinning; it's already been more difficult than I anticipated. [I can't seem to get the pictures to upload... will try to edit later.] In retrospect, my pivot hole seems too far in, which forced me to make a very small wedge. I wanted a brass lined walnut wedge, so I crazy glued the parts together and tried to drill the holes as a unit. You can probably guess that it didn't hold together. This was also my first time peening, so I think I left the pins too long, and they bounced around a lot while peening and some of the domes cracked. I may file them off and try again, peening what's left after the dome has been filed away.

I think I've learned something about honing too as I grind away this near wedge. As it started off, there was little hone wear and a nice gentle smile, but I wasn't convinced I was getting even contact across the bevel, so I kept going until it laid flat. The thing I learned is that straight strokes back and forth across the stone seems to make parallel lines on the honed surfaces (which makes sense, I guess), but doesn't necessarily work for a small smile. As a result, I think I have honed more than needed, and more in the centre of the blade than desired.

I'll see if I can post the pics so you can see what I mean.

I also learned that the toe is a tricky thing. Any 'fading' away from the line of the cutting edge (smiling that is more pronounced just at the toe) just seems to lead to a stretch of the bevel that doesn't meet at a sharp edge.

There are a ton of good videos and threads about honing in here. Take a look around for them. Gssixgun has some really good ones that address smiling blades that helped me out with a few that I was ready to grind away.

I've decided that each part of this is an art unto itself! Designing and making scales, peening, forge and grinding work, honing, and even the shave itself are self contained arts - and each has it's own expense. This stuff ain't cheap! - in money, time, learning, or frustration. Good work by the way! Your blades are certainly looking as though they can hold their own so far.

Having trouble with the images... Here's a try.

Can't seem to post files from Safari or Tapatalk... It's slow and flaky from my iPhone. Not sure why.