Matt_S
Established Member
He made a box from cedar by cutting rebates leaving only a couple of mill. Then steamed and bent it to form the box. Interesting I thought.
Anyone see ray mears?
- Thread starter Matt_S
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Ironballs
Established Member
I did see that and it was most unusual, think they went down to the thickness of a single growth ring
Santos
Established Member
Yeah just saw that not long ago too. That knife used was rather interesting, really sharp and easy to use……or maybe it just appeared that way. I wonder how they maintain such a sharp cutting edge, grinder, honing stones? :duno:
Oryxdesign
Established Member
He has a kit in a leather pouch with a water stone in it, it's round so it might bbe a Grundfors one.
BigShot
Established Member
Most "bushcrafters" use a Japanese water stone and a leather strop.Santos":9bmsr3le said:
Most outdoor knives (and in my book, all ones worth having - possible exception made for the few situations that call for a fully serrated blade) have a "scandinavian" grind. From the sides of the blade being parallel they then angle towards the point with a flat slope and no further changes of direction.
This makes it incredibly easy to hold the knife on the stone with the perfect angle allowing a straight and frighteningly sharp cutting edge.
It's also possible to use the flesh of the Birch Polypore fungus to strop the edge of a knife, hence it's other name "Razor strop fungus".
It's possible that the round stone was a Gränsfors Bruks axe stone - since Ray uses their axes pretty much exclusively - I can't say for sure though.
Another popular one are the Fällkniven DC3 or DC4 water stones (actually a water/ceramic stone). (I say one, because they are just 2 sizes of the same grit)
Having worked wood a little bit with a properly sharped knife I can attest that a well sharpened knife, properly maintained, can make even fairly dry wood look almost like you're making a butter sculpture... a lot of that comes from just knowing the wood you're using and how best to place/angle the cuts you make to get the most for your effort... a skill I'm not yet in possession of, I might add.
Santos
Established Member
Sorry gents, I was talking about the maintenance and sharpening of the crook knife Ray was using to rebate that Cedar box. Seeing as it has a curve I was simple wondering as to how/ what the best technique of sharpening that would be. Although if no one knows that’s fine, just a passing curiosity. 
- Dan
- Dan
devonwoody
Established Member
I also saw the axe handle chopped out the previous week, worth getting on I-player and finding it before the time is up if you missed that one.
bugbear
Established Member
Santos":2c09muey said:Sorry gents, I was talking about the maintenance and sharpening of the crook knife Ray was using to rebate that Cedar box. Seeing as it has a curve I was simple wondering as to how/ what the best technique of sharpening that would be. Although if no one knows that’s fine, just a passing curiosity.
- Dan
These may not be the exact ones, but I suspect they're close-enough.
Note the country of origin.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... 43339&ap=1
I wouldn't like to sharpen them.
I don't think it looked easy to use either - Mears was making a right old mess. There was one HELL of an edit that suddenly moved to a finished lid!
BugBear
RogerS
Established Member
bugbear":1mg593c6 said:
That would be because they got Tommy Walsh in to finish it!
BigShot
Established Member
Santos - my apologies for describing the wrong knife I haven't seen the video in question...
...since you've mentioned the crook. If the ones bugbear linked to are te right kind of thing, I'll hazard a guess that he was using a Svante Djärv knife. I think if you look in the products section and click "spoon knives" at the top of that page you'll see the knife in question. Apologies again if I'm mistaken. There's another maker that takes a different approach (the tang of the blade is along one side of the handle rather than up the middle like Djärv's have... but I can't remember what they are called off hand and I'm not 100% if Mears uses them or not.
They are sharpened in a fairly simple way (not at all as difficult as one might imagine). If you can sharpen a "normal" knife or a chisel/plane you should have no great trouble with curved knives with a wee bit of practice.
In the "other products" section of the site you'll see a Japanese Slip Stone Which can be used inside the curve.
Another frequently used method is as simple as a 6" or so bit of thumb-thick dowel (or smaller if the knife needs it) with a scrap of wet and dry wrapped around the end.
When roughing out they do produce a very messy look, but once you get close to finish and slow down it's very much possible to get a very smooth finish with those knives - obviously they need to be sharp for that, just like a plane or chisel would.
Is there somewhere I can have a look at the clip in question? I could be a little less uncertain then.
...since you've mentioned the crook. If the ones bugbear linked to are te right kind of thing, I'll hazard a guess that he was using a Svante Djärv knife. I think if you look in the products section and click "spoon knives" at the top of that page you'll see the knife in question. Apologies again if I'm mistaken. There's another maker that takes a different approach (the tang of the blade is along one side of the handle rather than up the middle like Djärv's have... but I can't remember what they are called off hand and I'm not 100% if Mears uses them or not.
They are sharpened in a fairly simple way (not at all as difficult as one might imagine). If you can sharpen a "normal" knife or a chisel/plane you should have no great trouble with curved knives with a wee bit of practice.
In the "other products" section of the site you'll see a Japanese Slip Stone Which can be used inside the curve.
Another frequently used method is as simple as a 6" or so bit of thumb-thick dowel (or smaller if the knife needs it) with a scrap of wet and dry wrapped around the end.
When roughing out they do produce a very messy look, but once you get close to finish and slow down it's very much possible to get a very smooth finish with those knives - obviously they need to be sharp for that, just like a plane or chisel would.
Is there somewhere I can have a look at the clip in question? I could be a little less uncertain then.
devonwoody
Established Member
BigShot
Established Member
Thanks for the link, DW.
I'd forgotten he'd made this series so didn't even realise it was on at the moment.
Definitely not a Djärv knife. It looks more like the one I can't remember the name of.
Blade E on bugbear's lee valley link looks about right, but I think there were about 3 knives in the clip so you could also include Blade B and also a small straight blade to mark with too I think. The curved ones were double edged by the look of it, unlike most spoon knives which tend to be single edged allowing the use of a thumb on the spine for a variety of cutting positions.
Sharpening done as described in my earlier post. Very difficult at first glance when compared to the way we tend to sharpen irons and chisels, but very straightforwards and intuitive once you get a start at it.
I'd forgotten he'd made this series so didn't even realise it was on at the moment.
Definitely not a Djärv knife. It looks more like the one I can't remember the name of.
Blade E on bugbear's lee valley link looks about right, but I think there were about 3 knives in the clip so you could also include Blade B and also a small straight blade to mark with too I think. The curved ones were double edged by the look of it, unlike most spoon knives which tend to be single edged allowing the use of a thumb on the spine for a variety of cutting positions.
Sharpening done as described in my earlier post. Very difficult at first glance when compared to the way we tend to sharpen irons and chisels, but very straightforwards and intuitive once you get a start at it.
Santos
Established Member
Sorry BigShot, I’m to blame as my preliminary post didn’t give any hints as to what I was talking about. But thanks for the run down on that, very interesting tool. I think my curiosity may have been sparked from watching/ reading too much on sharpening turning tools- been having a bit of trouble with that aspect of woodturning as I’ve never done it before.
BigShot
Established Member
Haha - no worries!
As you can see, it's not exactly a subject I don't like talking about!
To be honest I find sorting out irons and chisels a bit tricky too (particularly done by hand, jigged isn't so bad).
With his normal knife (designed by him and individually made by Alan Wood), which you saw him use to strip the bark of the tree and making that cooking pot/bailer from bark too, the bevel angle makes it a lot easier to sharpen I find.
Where you need to place and hold your chisel or iron at the right angle, the single bevel on knives like his are much longer (around 8mm or ⅓") make it trivial to set the angle on the sharpening medium with all the accuracy you'd need.
As you can see, it's not exactly a subject I don't like talking about!
To be honest I find sorting out irons and chisels a bit tricky too (particularly done by hand, jigged isn't so bad).
With his normal knife (designed by him and individually made by Alan Wood), which you saw him use to strip the bark of the tree and making that cooking pot/bailer from bark too, the bevel angle makes it a lot easier to sharpen I find.
Where you need to place and hold your chisel or iron at the right angle, the single bevel on knives like his are much longer (around 8mm or ⅓") make it trivial to set the angle on the sharpening medium with all the accuracy you'd need.
