Never lend a knife! Help needed

[Mosnan]

Hi,

I recently took charge of a Stewart Marsh RWL/34 woodlore clone, lent it to my friend who sliced through a piece of maple with such force it went straight into our metal balcony railing

The result was quiet a nasty chunk taken out the middle of the blade, as you can see in the photo. (link below)

Having little experience sharpening a single bevelled blade, orginally I was going to purchase a 1000/6000 japanese water stone as recommended by Stewart.

Would this be effective grinding out this nick?
With experience of only using a steel to sharpen my wushtof's would I be capable of doing a good enough job or would I be best sending it away? if so any recommendations? back to Stewart maybe?

Hope someone can help!

A very distressed,

Nicolas

http://www.imagehosting.com/show.php/1751948_rsz1week107.jpg.html

 

[Bernie Garland]

I'm afraid its back to Stewart for a regrind,Rwl 34 rockwells at 61/62 and would take an age to take out with stones,

Bernie

 

[fishy1]

I have ground out larger lumps than that with waterstones, but then again using 1000 I think you'd take ages. If it was me, and it was a knife of mine, which I use hard, I'd just file it a bit, but then again it's a really good knife you have so not such a good idea unless you are good.

 

[aarya]

Ouch! That`s a big chip! (of the ol' block.)
I`m not experienced with RWL-steel at all, but from my experience with the 3G steel that i have a couple of knives in, which is also supposed to be around the same hardness, it should be possible to fix it. Doubt it`s fixable with a 1000 grit stone though. Unless you plan on having a project to hand down to your grandchildren.
I used my dmt diamond hones to grind the 3G-steel knives i have to a profile more to my liking, coarse and fine. So if i were to tackle such a chip, i`d go with the coarse one first, since we`re talking quite alot of material to remove.
And seeing as you`ve said yourself that you`re not too experienced with sharpening, i`d suggest that you sent it back to Stewart for a regrind.

Hope everything turns out ok for you. (Makes my eyes water to see a knife with a chip in it like that.)

Oh! And don`t lend the knife to anyone, ever!
(Get a cheap knife for lending to people.)

 

[Graham_S]

If it was mine, I'd use DMT hones to clean it up, But I'm quite experienced at sharpening stuff.
If you're fairly inexperienced, I'd send it back to Stuart, let him fix the damage.

 

[Bushcraft4life]

Send it back to Stuart mate, best thing for it.

 

[brancho]

I am surprised theres no blood on it:swordfigh

Send it back is my advice too thats a big chunk

 

[robin wood]

Good advice there, except the file mentioned which would skip off a blade tempered to R61. Ideally it needs a wetstone grinder like a Tormek or a linisher with plenty of water dunking to remove that much metal without heating and loosing the temper, it could be done with a coarse diamond stone with skill and a couple of hours or a coarse waterstone. In your position I would definitely send it back to Stewart and I would show the bill to your friend ans see if they offer to contribute. It is not a big job for someone with the right kit so should not be too expensive.

 

[hedgepig]

Ouch! You must have been gutted to see that. Hope you are still friends!

 

[-Switch-]

Oooohhh.... That's nasty

Like Bernie said, a blade with a R61/62 temper will be a mission to grind on a stone, especially if you have little experiance. And Japanese water-stones aren't especially tough so it will wear the stone down quite a bit too.

Personally I'd send it back to Stewart explaining what happened and ask if he would be kind enough to re-grind it for you.

Then I'd send the bill to your mate and never, ever lend a knife again.

 

[Shinken]

Stuart is a top-top bloke, contact him and he will do his best to help out i am sure

 

[marshall4771]

Stuarts !!!!!!!

 

[sxmolloy]

Then I'd send the bill to your mate and never, ever lend a knife again.

Seconded !

 

[pothunter]

This was a friend you lent it to? no doubt he has offered to make reparation!
As suggested back to Stewart Marsh.

I guess lesson learnt

Pothunter.

 

[Mosnan]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I've contacted Stewart who was very helpful and i have posted it back to him today.
Lesson learnt here - it was just new and was showing it off a bit by letting him have a play!
If anyone asks to borrow your knife in the future and they get upset just point them to this post - i got the old 'i'm not going to break it' speech before I handed it over.

Nicolas

 

[spamel]

Unfortunately, you learnt that lesson the hard way. Many of us have too. I would certainly show your mate the bill if Stuart does bill you to make it right, if anything it will stop him ever asking you to borrow a knife again to save him being embarresed when you tell him why not!

 

[Jus_like_that]

Hi, would any1 be able to let me know where i can find Stewart Marsh, e-mail or web site wise? Thinking of packing up smoking, and i can't think of anywhere else to spend the money saved! lol! Seen some of his stuff on Ebay, looks lovely.

Thanks

Adam

 

[Mosnan]

PM sent adam