Knife Modification

[joepaulbutler]

yep, each time they do one of those toughness tests I cringe and think only someone who doesn't use a knife on a regular basis would do something like that.

It doesn't take a big setup to forge knives for whittling, hers's an image of my setup IU use a hairdryer for the blower

[Tom Ellis]

Is the car exhaust really that hot Joe??? Nice set up.

[joepaulbutler]

Never tried it, . anyway, that shows how small the forge is, made from a small oval tube some of that fireplace mortar & a 1" pipe w/holes.

Thanks for looking, Tom

[Eddy-Smiles]

While I was a Navy Officer, I spent a couple of years as a deck officer, working with the Boatswain's Mates. Both ships I was on in the deck force had a rule that all crewmen in the deck divisions would carry a knife. Because they worked around lots of ropes, line, etc., they had a need to be able to cut something quickly. Many carried something on their belt such as the first photo: A folding locking bladed knife, and a separate marlinspike (useful in making splices in lines and wire ropes). Other's carried a knife similar to the second photo which had both a built-in marlinspike and a sharp blade.

Eddy-Smiles can correct me, but I think most of the Signalmen also carried knives because of all the rigging, running the flags up and down, etc.

Claude

DSC00355.jpg DSC00353.jpg
Claude.....You're absolutely correct! I still have the Case Hunter that my wife bought me when I first went aboard my first sweep. I didn't need a marlinspike until way later in my career ( I guess the Bosun' didn't trust any boots with splicing duties). Back in our day (and perhaps even now) a knife was critical if you worked around lines and hawsers. The last thing you wanted to was to get tangled up in some rig being lifted or thrown over the side. I carried that knife in a sheath that I made while on deck force for my entire 8-1/2 year career. A sailor without a knife was akin to a cripple without a crutch! After I made 3rd class and started installing fancy work on my bridge and working with the signalmen on the theirs I was given a homemade marlinspike by a 2nd class Bosun and I still have it also. It's actually one of the old valves off of one of the YFU-39 Grey Marine Engines. Every time the snipes would do an engine overhaul he'd save the intake and exhaust valves and grind them down for the troops.

[Claude]

For the non-sailors in the group: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fid

Claude

[yolli]

Looking forged in fire also. I like them, making knives and handles but if I think of the tests... if someone would do this, to something I made... donot know my reaction , but that is part of the show ...

Think I will buy another Opinel