Cleaver Project

Kevin Zito

Kevin Zito

KNIFE MAKER
This was an old (35 yrs) Chicago cutlery cleaver that my dad and uncle have been using to clean catfish. They wanted me to "throw" some ugly handles on it, but I wanted to play around a bit. So I reground the blade (changed from scandi to convex, and put some Paduak scales on it. Then, in true KD style, I sanded it for about 4,000 hours. It looks okay at best, it I'm ready to get better at sanding. Question: since I reground blade, can I put my name on it? I would guess no. How does that work?

Before:

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After:
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dang! that looks great!

You can put your name on it since it's for family. They'll get a kick out of that. Normally you wouldn't do that if it was for sale since you don't want to misrepresent it as something you made from scratch.


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John Wilson said:
dang! that looks great!

You can put your name on it since it's for family. They'll get a kick out of that. Normally you wouldn't do that if it was for sale since you don't want to misrepresent it as something you made from scratch.


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Thanks! Yeah I didn't think so. I seriously doubt I'll ever get good enough to actually sell one, but I sure am having fun. I guess it would be good to put my name on the ones I make from scratch even if I just give them away.


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Kwzito said:
Thanks! Yeah I didn't think so. I seriously doubt I'll ever get good enough to actually sell one, but I sure am having fun. I guess it would be good to put my name on the ones I make from scratch even if I just give them away.


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What?! The knife you just made is good enough to sell. Look man- if a knife has to look like Bruce Bump made it before you can sell it then we're all doomed.

Put your work out there. I promise you- knives sell. That is the awesome thing about this hobby... it really can pay for itself. Once your friends know you make knives they will want one. At least charge enough to buy the materials for two more.


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John Wilson said:
What?! The knife you just made is good enough to sell. Look man- if a knife has to look like Bruce Bump made it before you can sell it then we're all doomed.

Put your work out there. I promise you- knives sell. That is the awesome thing about this hobby... it really can pay for itself. Once your friends know you make knives they will want one. At least charge enough to buy the materials for two more.


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Thanks, man! You guys are too kind. It still has lots of mistakes... both knives do. It's so hard to get the darn scratches out lol. I need to practice more because the lines I leave in the blade (even with the new setup) are not straight enough. I am however seeing improvement which is all I really care about. I find myself growing more and more addicted to seeing all the scratches disappear... it's truly fascinating to me. Thanks for the kind words and I tell you what... when I can make a knife half as good as John Wilson, I'll make a website to try to sell a few... much less Bump... that tomb raider needs to be in the Smithsonian.


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"Look man- if a knife has to look like Bruce Bump made it before you can sell it then we're all doomed."


HAHAHAHAHA!!! Absolutely!


That cleaver turned out real nice!
 
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Working mens knives probably have a larger market that the fancy art pieces that many of the talented makers on here show. The cleaver has been a nice rescue.
 
Von Gruff said:
Working mens knives probably have a larger market that the fancy art pieces that many of the talented makers on here show. The cleaver has been a nice rescue.
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DeMo said:
Nice cleaver. Freddie Krueger would be interested!

DeMo
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Thanks for the nice comments, guys! My wife said, "hmm... it looks like it would good for murdering." Keep in mind, here, that she's the type who catches spiders in the house and releases them in the yard unharmed.





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I got a lot of the scratches out, but still a long ways from a truly good quality buff. They're picking it up tomorrow evening... I'll be up until daylight sanding and polishing a free cleaver lol.... sweating a deadline haha. I know that's silly but, it's really just an excuse for me just wanting to do it.

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John Wilson said:
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I'm sure this question is just about impossible to answer... but what grit would you guess I should start with to get the scratches out? I know that I'm supposed to start with the grit that comfortably scratches out/though the existing scratches. But I have no idea what that's supposed to feel/look like. So where would you guys guess?
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Kwzito said:
I'm sure this question is just about impossible to answer... but what grit would you guess I should start with to get the scratches out? I know that I'm supposed to start with the grit that comfortably scratches out/though the existing scratches. But I have no idea what that's supposed to feel/look like. So where would you guys guess?
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Looks good!

As far as the grit goes, I'm no expert, but what I do is start out as low of a grit as I think possibly might get them out and then after I sand a little, if I'm getting nowhere, then I'll go up to a slightly coarser grit. Then continue on if I need to until I find the grit that really gets them out and then work my way back down. However, I never do mirror finishes. I make my knives to be used and if they are mirror finishes, people will not use them for fear that they will scratch them! Mirror finishes are made to be put up in a case, that's not what I make knives for!
 
CJKnives said:
Looks good!

As far as the grit goes, I'm no expert, but what I do is start out as low of a grit as I think possibly might get them out and then after I sand a little, if I'm getting nowhere, then I'll go up to a slightly coarser grit. Then continue on if I need to until I find the grit that really gets them out and then work my way back down. However, I never do mirror finishes. I make my knives to be used and if they are mirror finishes, people will not use them for fear that they will scratch them! Mirror finishes are made to be put up in a case, that's not what I make knives for!
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Thanks! I absolutely agree... mirror finishes are not too practical. But I'm still in the playing phase. Lol. I just want to make that sucker shine. I even set a goal on this one. I want to make it so nice that my uncle says , "that's going in my house not the camp". But, yes this is a pain just to cut catfish. I like satin for my hunting knives.


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Kwzito said:
Thanks! I absolutely agree... mirror finishes are not too practical. But I'm still in the playing phase. Lol. I just want to make that sucker shine. I even set a goal on this one. I want to make it so nice that my uncle says , "that's going in my house not the camp". But, yes this is a pain just to cut catfish. I like satin for my hunting knives.


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I agree a mirror finish sure does look pretty! Can't blame you for wanting to do it just once! Good luck!
 
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The trick to sanding is to start with a fairly coarse grit - 320.... or even 220 if it's heavy scratches. Doesn't matter, once you've got ALL scratches to the 320 grit level, next step is 400 or 500 grit, won't take but a few strokes to bring all the 320 to 500 level. Then 800 grit. By spending most of time at 320 level to make sure ALL heavy scratches are out, doesn't take much sanding at each step of finer grit to get the previous grit scratches out.

Good luck - that cleaver is looking good.
 
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