Tale of a paring knife

[grepper]

I ran out of blades for testing so I went to my local Salvation Army store and picked up this bunch of  knives for $6.83 tax included. 

   

See that little paring knife?  I picked it up for $0.99.  Here it is on Overstock.com  for $32.99.
https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Wu...oduct.html

Here is the actual knife.  It was obvious why its previous owners gave up on it.  It butter knife dull, measuring 840g sharpness when I got it.  You couldn't cut yourself with it if you tried.  They probably tired of needing to get out a small hammer every time they needed to cleave a carrot and figured that when a knife gets dull it's time for a new knife! 

   

So, I set the Kally for 18° and threw on a 180 grit ceramic belt.  I did 4 passes on one side which produced a fine, even burr all along the edge that was easy to see under the light.  Then I did the same on the other side.  Then, for nothing other than grins I guess, I did one more pass on each side.  Here is the fine burr.

   

Then about 1 minute on the Kally with a leather belt and a very small amount to 1-3 micron Tormek compound on it that was left over from some previous sharpening.  It did a fine job of cleaning up the burr.

   

I threw it on the PT50B and took 5 tests.  The first was 105g (yes 105), the rest were 125g - 130g.

It only took a few minutes, not quite the 1 minute that Mr. Rupert can achieve, but it really didn't take very long.

Now that beautiful little paring knife will be back in use, living in my kitchen.   Not bad for $0.99.

[Ken S]

I always tear up when the story has a happy ending. Seriously, Grepper, nice job!

Ken

[Bubby]

I'm a little misted up myself. Happy Memorial Weekend! That's really a great job Grepper. I think Mike is supposed to be here this coming week and bringing his new Kalamazoo. We'll be taking a poke at your record I'm certain.

[grepper]

Thanks Mr. Bubby.

When you see Mr. Mike, please feel free to tell him that I don't think he can come anywhere close to that record!

[pjwoolw]

I once found a brand new $40.00 Messermeister paring knife for $2.00 or less at a thrift store. Still have it in the spare knife box.

[grepper]

Nice find Mr. Pete! Whenever I walk into one of those places I get all giddy and feel like a kid on a treasure hunt. Thrift stores, as Martha Stewart would say, are a good thing!