# Price means nothing.



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I needed a knife to do odd jobs around the plantation, and I just didn't want to toss money away on some name-brand toy. I just needed a tool.

Over the past few days, I have been corresponding with a moderator here on the topic of polishing. He/she would like to start refining their own knives, and further teach the spouse.

To that, I had called my supplier Joyce and asked her to send me an inexpensive folder. When it came it was poorly sharpened, crooked, the pivot was loose and the action incredibly gritty. I'm sure many people would have returned that type of tool to the factory. But simple skills can overcome that.

Below is the finished work I did on that low-ball folder. It is now tight, polished, and the mechanism oiled and refined. It is now capable of giving back years of service. Think about sweat equity, you'll end up with a superior tool.

I'm going to walk the moderator through the grind. I hope the two of us can post pictures in transition.

Edit: I had to cut my own choil.

Here's my cheap knife:


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## 0rocky (Jan 7, 2018)

Nice work. Would it be to complex an answer to explain how one would go about repairing the pivot?


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

0rocky said:


> Nice work. Would it be to complex an answer to explain how one would go about repairing the pivot?


Believe it or not, the first step is to drench the pivot in light oil. It will ooze out gray or brown. Do it again--and again, if need be.

When the oil presents "clear," you can start taking it apart or tightening it to your personal preference.

The reason you "flush" the pivot is that dirt or tiny chips of metal might be caught under the bolt. I even use a powerful hand held blower used to dry motorcycles. In the worst cast, I use that.

The second step is to use the correct tool for disassembly. And these little tools can be some real oddballs:


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## KUSA (Apr 21, 2016)

That should have been a straight slot instead of four dimples.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Sharpening knives is relaxing. Polishing them would be something Wifey and I could do, together. It'd beat the crap out of watching cooking shows on the idiot box.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Denton, buy some really cheap knives first. Over yesterday and into the wee hours of the morning I had to fix, polish, sharpen and decoratively polish a collector's knife well over the age of the little girls I used to date. The only thing about heirlooms is that you do not get to glue metal back onto the valuable item.

In all seriousness, I think _you should come to Wisconsin_, and I'm inviting you. And bring your own freakin' blue painters tape, because you're going to use it by the ton!

BTW, meet my next victim--it's a before picture.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Ain't that shiny? Never mind my worn-out hand. Wifey loves it. The knife and my hand.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Denton, I stock six of those Pilars, and I should keep a lot more. Sometimes a client needs a knife, but cannot envision what it should be. The little Pilar is 22 dollars worth of solid stainless steel. Put a toothy edge on it and it will slice open every cardboard box in the warehouse. Polish it to a scalpel and you can easily trim tallow off the neck steaks of a deer as the blade just glides through your work.

Today I'll be carrying a Prequel and a Homefront. But if I was just kicking cans down the road I'd be carrying a Jim Wagner switchblade and that 5.4 million grit Pilar.


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