Volunteered at Guadalupe Gardens in San Jose

Thinking that it was time to do a bit if volunteer work -- I decided to sharpen the garden tools at Guadalupe Gardens.

Guadalupe Gardens is a park, demonstration gardens, community gardens along with trails and more.

Guadalupe Gardens Tool Shed

I was led to the tool shed, and when I was shown a five gallon pail practically overflowing with pruners I kind of gulped and maybe thought I bit off more that I could chew! The pail had 60 pruners. There was another pail containing 11 loppers.

Guadalupe Gardens Garden Tool Sharpening

I got to it. The pruners are just used for dead-heading roses so they were not so worn. I examined, sharpened, oiled and adjusted them.

The loppers were the ones that took all the work as they were quite worn. Again, the same thing — sharpen and oil. They did not require any adjustments as they all were Coronas with nylon locknuts. The pruners, with all the screws, brackets, springs and tabs were the ones with loose parts falling off.

Guadalupe Gardens Tools

An old friend said once "You eat an elephant one bite at a time, " and that is what I did. Did not take too long, and I was just about on time for my next appointment that day!

A Job Well Done!

Here is all the tools all finished! 

Two New Kershaw Folding Knives

Today's blog post is about two Kershaw knives that I received a few days ago. One is the Scallion, and the second is the Zing. The Zing is a replacement for one that I had a bit ago which sold — this is it's replacement.

Kershaw Scallion Folding Knife, Purple Anodized Aluminum

Picture above is the Kershaw Scallion, shown partially open (on my laptop). This Scallion has a 2 1/4" straight blade, and purple anodized aluminum handle scales. This picture shows the pocket clip, the thumb stud, a lanyard hole and the tip lock. This quality knife is made in America. Available it several colors.

The Scallion is an assisted opening folding knife. What that means is, when the blade is closed, you hold the knife so that the blade is not covered, you push on the thumb stud, and once you push the blade open a bit an internal spring pushes on the blade and snaps it fully open. Nice, fast fun way to open a pocket knife! The knife has a locking liner to hold the blade open, the tip lock locks the blade closed.

Kershaw Scallion, Closed

Above is the Kershaw pictured closed. Just visible on top of the knife is the flipper, either the flipper or the thumb stud can be used to open the blade — your choice.

Kershaw Zing

The picture above is the Kershaw Zing. Stainless steel, 3" blade. The Zing is an assisted opening knife, with a flipper and a thumb stud. This view shows the blade, the clip and the frame lock, and lanyard hole, and the clip mounting holes. With these mounting holes, the pocket clip can be moved so that the knife is held in your pocket the way you prefer.

Kershaw Zing Folding Knife, Closed

This picture shows the Zing closed. You can see the thumb stud, the flipper, and pocket clip mounting holes.

Keeping Your Sharp Knife Sharp

Everyone asks how long their just sharpened knives will stay sharp. My answer is "It depends on you."

Yes, a knife is made of steel (usually) and steel, of course, is very strong. That is why steel is the usual choice when a knife maker decides to make a knife. What a knife user needs to understand is that the cutting edge of the knife — when it is sharp — is very, very thin. It needs to be thin to cut well and be considered sharp.

Knife Edge Cross-Section Graphic

The graphic above represents the cross-section a knife, showing the sharp cutting edge of a knife. This is the edge that, because it is so thin, needs to be protected so that the knife will stay sharp as long as possible. We don't want the edge to be worn off quickly, to be bent over (called rolling), or to be chipped.

Everything wears, and a knife, even cutting soft material will slowly lose the sharp edge. 

Your job is to keep your sharp knife as sharp as possible as long as possible!

Simply put, don't let the the sharp edge of the knife touch anything but what you are cutting, the cutting board (wood or plastic), the wooden storage block. Simple as that — case closed.

When a knife is put into a sink the edge can be damaged by the hard sink, or by hitting another knife, plate or utensil. Not to mention that that is bad for fingers that might reach into a sink of water not seeing the knife. Remember, a sharpened knife is sharp. Placed in a dishwasher the knife may be rattled by the water spray and bang against other metal items.

I feel that a knife should be properly handled while using it, used with a wood cutting board, and then simply rinsed, wiped dry and put away. Soap and water can be used if you think necessary, then dry and put away. Anything less than these procedures will cause the knife to lose sharpness faster than necessary.

Some people treat their knifes with no respect. I will sharpen sewing scissors, and the owner will say "Nobody touches these, they are just used for sewing." I imagine this same person will carelessly throw a knife in the sink. Drives me nuts!

Working on Old Knives

In between the Wusthofs, the Henckels and the Old Chicagos brought to me for sharpening I get a little gem or two...

Old Camp Knife

This was brought to me a few weeks ago, handed down to the owner from his father. It was in good shape really, all it needed was to be sharpened.

I see knives like this, maybe some handmade knives, like one made from a railroad spike the other day, and big old carbon butcher knives. I'm interested in knives and like to see these different knives.

Looking at the picture I see the relief put into the side of the blade of the knife. While some refer to this as a 'blood groove' it is really just a way to remove some of the weight of the knife.

Yes, I Sharpen Serrated Knives, Cutco Knives and Shun Knives

A question I am asked pretty much every day is "Do you sharpen X?" with X being either serrated knives or a particular brand of knife.

The answer is a resounding "YES!"

Asking about serrated knives is probably the most asked question, and yes, I do sharpen serrated knives.

Tormek Grinder and Hand Tools

The picture above shows a Tormek machine and a tool box filled with an assortment of tools. Many serrated knives have the serrations on one side of the knife, and a straight bevel on the other side, the bevel being the angled section of the knife that becomes the cutting edge. 

Serrated knives that have the smooth bevel would have that smooth bevel ground. After the smooth bevel is ground, and on knives without the straight bevel — I choose the appropriate hand tool to sharpen the actual serrations. I select from a variety of round and round tapered files, coarse to fine grits — selecting the best tool for that particular knife.

Freshly Sharpened Cutco Knives

The next question that I want to answer is do you sharpen Cutco knives, or Shun knives or Wusthof knives, or Henckel Knives, or... well you get the picture.

The answer is yes I do. Whatever brand of knives you bring me, I will sharpen them while you wait or shop, I will sharpen them properly, quickly and nicely! 

Some knives are sharpened to a different bevel angle, Shun and Global are two good examples, and that is no problem. I sharpen Global and Shun to the recommended bevel angle. 

By request I can pretty much put any angle on any knife.

Sharpened Hedge Clippers, Loppers and Pruners

The above picture shows some garden tools that I have sharpened. In this tray is a hedge clipper, a grass clipper, a large lopper and a hand pruner. I sharpen all common garden tools, including chain saws and rotary lawn mowers.

I do have to say no I don't sharpen to some requests. I don't sharpen reel lawn mowers, and toothed hand saws.

I am a mobile business, stops in Northern California cities of San Jose, Campbell, San Bruno and Pleasanton. Visit my web site for more information here.

Carbon Steel Kitchen Knives

I sell a line of American made kitchen knives Old Hickory.

Old Hickory knives, made by Ontario Knife, are carbon steel with walnut handles. The blades are stamped, the handles are riveted onto the blade with two brass rivets. The larger knives are full tang construction.

Available knives are paring, utility, slicer, butcher and cleaver.

Carbon steel is type of steel that all knives were made of in the 'old days.' Many feel carbon steel makes a superior knife, the slight advantage stainless steel has over carbon steel is less upkeep. A carbon steel knife needs to be dried after using.

Compared to most stainless steels, carbon steel is easier to sharpen to a sharp edge, and carbon steel will hold this sharp edge longer than many stainless steels.

Old Hickory knives run $7 for a paring knife up to $24 for a cleaver.

RAT-3 Knife by Ontario Knife

I operate a mobile knife sharpening service in the San Francisco Bay Area, and along with the knife sharpening I also offer a selection of new and used knives. Here are several Ontario RAT-3 knives offered on my table.

Ontario RAT-3 Knife

The RAT-3 is a camp or utility knife. It is a strong, tough little knife. Carbon steel, full tang, micarta handles, snap in sheath.

RAT-3 Knives and Sheaths

The above picture shows two RAT-3 knives, one knife in a sheath, one knife outside of the sheath. The sheath is available in two colors (as shown) and has a clip. Included is a MOLLE mount, the clip is removed and the clip is attached if desired.

The RAT-3 knife snaps into the sheath, and holding the knife and pushing above the knife handle onto the sheath snaps the knife out.

RAT-3 Knives and Sheaths

Here are two RAT-3 knives, other side of the knives, and outside the sheaths. The knive is 7.8 inches long, the blade is 3.5 inches. The tang thickness is .125 inches, the steel is carbon steel, and the blade has black epoxy coating.

RAT-3 Knife Tang

This photograph shows the full tang construction of the RAT-3 knife. 

These are nice knives that anyone would love. Look me up my schedule here or call 408/806-1352

Arno Benard Wild Dog with Giraffe Scales Fixed Blade Knife

The last of the three Bernard knives is the Wild Dog, the Wild Dog is bigger than the Dassie and the Meerkat, with a overall length of 7 1/4" and the blade is 3 3/8" of that length.

Arno Benard Wild Dog Fixed Blade Knife

This Wild Dog has giraffe scales. The size of this knife, in my opinion, is just about the prefect size to fit the hand. A beautiful knife that would be a pleasure to own!

Arno Benard Dassie, Meerkat, Wild Dog Knives

Here is a picture of the three knives photographed together, along with the sheaths. The top is the Dassie with giraffe, the the Wild Dog with giraffe, on the bottom is Meerkat with warthog ivory scales.

The price of the Wild Dog with giraffe scales is $229.

Meerkat Fixed Blade Knife

The Meerkat is a fixed blade knife, five inches long, blade is 2 1/8".

Arno Benard Meerkat Fixed Blade Knife

This Meerkat is sporting the optional warthog ivory scales. Warthog ivory is the only legal exportable ivory from South Africa.

This knife is similar to the Dassie, pretty much the same size, just the style is different. This Meerkat has the warthog ivory scales, which are an upgrade handle material.

This knife — and all Arno Bernard knives — comes with the cape buffalo leather sheath. While this particular knife has the warthog ivory scales, it can be made with other materials.

Meerkat with Warthog Ivory Scales $149.

Mobileknife.BIZ 408/806-1352

Arno Bernard Dassie Knife with Giraffe Scales

I just received three new Bernard knives. Arno Bernard is a small family run shop located in South Africa.

Arno Bernard Dassie Knife, Giraffe Scales

The picture above is the Dassie, (shown on a business card so the viewer can get a good sense of size) with giraffe bone scales. The Dassie is a beautiful little knife, exotic materials, and excellent craftsmanship.

The total length of the Dassie is five inches, the blade is 2 3/8". High carbon stainless steel, giraffe bone scales (scales being the term used for the handle sides of knives). The Dassie is what would now — after all the Super-Size and Rambo coulture — be considered a small knife, but is really plenty of knife for any normal needs!

Cape Buffalo Leather Sheath

This knife comes with a fitted sheath. The sheath is made of cape buffalo leather, sewn and riveted, and has an attached belt loop.

The Dassie is named after a small guinea pig shaped mammal.

The Dassie is priced at $129. Call if you are interested! My cell, which you can call most anytime is 408/806-1352