# New project, a personal CRKT Pilar folder.



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

One of the problems with being a salesman and a polisher is that all the "good stuff" goes out the front door to clients and friends. If I need to cut something, I wind up taking a "factory second" out of the closet and fixing it. It works, but it seems a case of "the the cobbler's kids have no shoes."

Two cases in point. You know about that recent switchblade Tuxedo folder I bought. My wife saw it, and claimed it. The last time I saw it she was making confetti out of every unwanted cardboard box in the house. Let's face it, I lost that knife.

You guys also know that I admire Joyce. She sells off the good stuff and uses scrap knives to get her personal work done. I sent her some polished Barges, and sure enough, she uses them only for "work knives." I had a polished Pilar on the shelf and sent that to her. I told her it was "her knife," not for company use. LOL. It goes into her jeans because she deserves something nice. Again, I lost a nice knife.

I had polished a smaller Boker Kalashnikov 74 in copper just to carry in my jeans for _light work_, and for that it's great. But I did not have a strong, flawless folder for the heavy jobs. It dawned on me that I had four CRKT Pilars on the shelf, and I needed a tool like that. As you know, that model is three, thick slabs of a superior stainless steel.

Below is the start of that project. A wanton, selfish adventure into granting myself a superior cutting tool. I actually feel a tad guilty.

_Click on picture to enlarge_.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

While the glare of the camera flash makes the center of the bevel look a "bowed," I can assure you the edge came out perfect. Yes, I did use a shaping stone, but it wasn't really necessary. The left side had a slight over grind that easily came out with four light, lateral passes.

Funny thing, I think the Pilar works has a left handed grinder. The left bevel was a tad wider. You don't see that often.

_Click on picture to enlarge_.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Well, guys, the project is coming along so well that I made a decision. I have polished lots of knives to 3.2 million grit, but I can only count the number of knives on one hand that went all the way out to 5.4 million grit.

(BTW, Ken Schwartz openly admits that using his tools and emulsions will only take an edge to 5.4 million grit. Obviously that's a whole lot sharper than a real-deal Japanese katana made in the the late 1870s.)

This Pilar seems to be made from a very pure, finer grained stainless alloy--and I had my doubts. Then I noticed that just about any lateral stroke with any grit stone produced some sheen. Most tool steels have some carbide roughness, but not this knife.

In the final analysis, this is a personal project and success or failure is mine and mine alone. Personally, I think the alloy can easily handle 5.4 million grit.

I will also admit, the knives carried in my left front jeans pocket are there for defense. The knives in my right front pocket are "tools." I'm right handed, and people fix stuff more than they fight. But lately my wife and other housewives have exchanged stories about teenagers ringing their doorbells late at night. The women feel a bit anxious, believing their homes are being cased.

Two weeks ago I just answered the door since I was closer. I had a folded Boker Kalashnikov 74 simply because I was playing with it and listening to the radio. The kids immediately backed way off the steps over a folded switchblade.

Taught me a lesson. *The grandchildren of baby-boomers have never see automatic knives...*


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

This bevel *was not made* with glass or paper and emulsions!

This bevel was made with a garden variety 15K polishing stone! I have the 30K stone, three pieces of glass and lots of Schwartz emulsions to go before this folder really becomes dangerous.

I told my wife that this was a 400 dollar project. She scooped up her phone (which also has a calculator in it) and asked me how much I had invested already in time and materials. I was honest about it.

My wife smirked and said, "Honey, you're already way over 400 bucks..."

A very dangerous combination. I met my wife as a cutesy high school girl. Never would have believed a beautiful blonde could have an angelic stance and a mind for numbers. And she knew what Harleys cost, too...

_Click on picture to enlarge_.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I have never used this stone, not in five-plus years! The reason is simple, I never had the need to push an edge to the extreme factor.

That stone is so old that the ink is bleeding into the porosity of the rock. The initial "K.S.S." are almost unreadable. They are Ken S. Schwartz's initials, he made the rock!

I'm full of anticipation and a bit of tension...

_Click on picture to enlarge_.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Well, here's goes nothin'...

While I was re-setting the fixture and the stones, my wife asked me which items I was going to use. Her eyes got really wide when I mentioned "30K."

I had not touched the stone to anything at that point, but my wife wanted to know exactly which items--all of them--were required for me to polish a knife to a level I had not approached in +23 years. I rattled of the list.

Once again, her phone came out, and she hit several keys. It got very quiet.

Finally she said, "_At this point, adding the +400 bucks you blew this morning, you are at 760 dollars. Any glass work will push you over 1,000 dollars in time and materials..._"

And you thought "dragging a foot-peg" was exciting!

_Click on the picture to enlarge_.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

If anyone was thinking about buying this knife from The Tourist, forget about it. I already called dibs. :tango_face_grin:


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Denton said:


> If anyone was thinking about buying this knife from The Tourist, forget about it. I already called dibs. :tango_face_grin:


...and my wife is already counting your 1,000 bucks...


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

The Tourist said:


> ...and my wife is already counting your 1,000 bucks...


Holy Smokes! I want a polished knife that fits in the pocket, not a sword! :vs_laugh:


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Well, let's call it a day for now. The stone work is all done, and I have easily four to five hours of "glass work" ahead of me tomorrow.

Oh, and my wife is fit to be tied! She asked what I had to eat today. I told her honestly, several teaspoons of salted cashews and a pudding cup. Then she asked about the gym. I told her the truth, two hours, heavy lifting and hard aerobics. Now, you might find that a foolish confession, but I've learned to make the truth ugly but over as fast as I can get it done!

She's making my dinner now--cod and dark green broccoli. Now, that's usually all I eat, and the fact that my wife is still mad at me and making me a healthy dinner shows you what really happens to a togishi and his stones.

Oh, and there are millionaires everywhere, I'm hoping one is a member here. I might need that 1,000 bucks for staying at a motel...

G'night preppers!


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## KUSA (Apr 21, 2016)

I want a Tourist special. I’ve never had a knife so finely polished. Awesome.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

KUSA said:


> I want a Tourist special. I've never had a knife so finely polished. Awesome.


Well, I won't get to the paste, glass and emulsions until tomorrow--and I just looked at the clock and it already is "tomorrow."

I did call Ken Schwartz and told him I was doing my first 5.4 million grit edge. He confirmed that I was doing it right, but added that this 5.4 level was all his tools and emulsions could provide. Once you've used all his rocks, papers and liquids, you've topped out the whole industry.

I should finish the knife when the sun rises. I'll clean up the tape smears and sanitize everything really good. Then the world's most perfect folder will get stuffed into a biker's jeans and probably cut sandwiches, cheese sticks and stupid muggers...


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I got up around 5:30AM, did my Daily Devotional, had a few sips of ice coffee, and picked up some very expensive emulsion and a piece of crystalline thick glass. Ken had warned me that the shine from here on out was more a concept and of feel (and the mount does slide like it's on ice) because at this grit level the human eye--even if aided by bright light and a loupe--can no longer discern the 'scratch pattern.'

Ken tried to explain angst width, the size of a halved hemoglobin sample, etc. All I saw and felt this morning with that piece of glass was a perfect, slippery mirror.

Edit: BTW, I also have a piece of pink paper mounted on some of that thick glass. Call it a "back up plan." It's hard to see minor scratches when the bevel is covered with dark slurry--yes, at that level it is a dark, gun-metal gray. Pink is my finest paper applied to all of those expensive thick glass mounts I horded. If a minor scuff mark appears, I have a dry, pink extremely fine "putty knife" to fix the errant mark. Then it gets slurried again until all the marks are out.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Guys, this is the best picture I could get of my first 5.4 million grit edge.

I even have the nanodiamond slurry bottle which designates the polish as 0.003μ

Trust me, even doctor and surgeon Christiaan Neethling Barnard doesn't have a cadre' of 1905, nickel-silver scalpels that are as polished and sharp as have been created by the twisted mind of Ken S. Schwartz.

I chose to place the knife differently on The Queen for this shot. Her costume has some narrow and brilliant colors, and any flaw in a polished edge shows up. Here's the tally:

To get to 5.4 million grit you will need, five high end bottles of Schwartz emulsions--two of them comprised of nanodiamonds.
You will need an Atoma 140 shaping stone, a 600 white, a 2000 blue speckled, a 4K polishing stone, a 6K polishing stone, a 15K polishing stone, and a 30K polishing stone. I have also ordered a 1K titanium stone to remove the early scratch patterns.
You will also need five strips of thick and flawless mounting glass, three for white paper, two for the pink.
And while not required (but suggested) you will need Schwartz's nano-cloth on a thick glass mount.
Allow at least 15 hours of labor. At the present 45dollar/hour rate, that comes to 675 dollars. At this point, we just gave up, and figured the materials came to about the same amount.

*That's 1,350 dollars to enhance a 22 dollar knife*. It costs about 4,000 dollars to repair and polish a typical Samurai katana. Personally when compared to this little folder, that's a steal...

_Click on picture to enlarge_.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Nobody has an idea how excited I am to receive this knife. 
I can't wait to give a review with pics. Without pics, the knife isn't real.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I'll get most of the shaping done when I return from the gym. Tomorrow I get my eyes checked and (yet another) possible chance to stretch out on a gurney for a surgeon. They have great meds, I slept through the last one.

I will also be touching base with Joyce. Her polished Pilar was sent to her last week, and she certainly knows cutlery. I'm hoping for some insight and feed back.


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