A customer brought in this well-used, well-loved Cara Cara for sharpening today. He uses it as a rough-use chore knife, cutting bailing twine on hay bales etc. The clip kept coming lose, so I put some loctite in and re-installed the clip. The action was a bit slow, I cleaned out lint and some dried dirt and grime, and lubed it up. Flips open beautifully! Now to get it sharp...
Handling this knife, I can't help but pine for a Delica and Endura with choil. Handled a Byrd Raven the other day for the first time in a while also, both designs are so good!
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.
Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
That thing would be absolutely beautiful with a mirror polished edge. Pics after sharpening?
Unfortunately, I didn't get to snap any pics after sharpening. We usually only finish knives to about 1200 grit on a ceramic hone, and while the edges are quite effective, it's nothing compared to what some people accomplish on these forums.
Chris_H wrote:Very cool! Thanks for continuing to share some of the things you get to see at your job, kennethsime.
Anytime! Unfortunately I'm moving on soon, but I'll never stop being a knife nut, lol.
I'm happiest with Micarta and Tool Steel.
Top four in rotation: K390 + GCM PM2, ZCarta Shaman, Crucarta PM2, K390 + GCM Straight Spine Stretch.
There is nothing like a well used knife. I find a certain amount of beauty in a beat up tool that is still perfectly functional. It makes me wanna go out and use the crap out of every knife I own. They really take on a personality once they get worn in.
araneae wrote:I do enjoy seeing a real user. We see too many polished edge, unblemished knives around here.
ginsuwarrior wrote:I agree. All these impressive steels hardly getting used. Yet here we have the lowly 8cr13mov making hay!!
I want to see some sprint PM2's with this kind of use! Send me one and I'll use it hard.
Well, even my hardest used knives will almost always have a polished edge. There's nothing better than the contrast between a beat up knife and a mirrored bevel. As for beat up Para 2 sprints, my 20CP is hardly beat up, but gets used thoroughly. I don't go around opening soup cans with it though so the blade isn't covered with scratches.
I love that picture, I look at it at least once a day. If I'd had a knife like that as a kid on our farm, it would probably look really bad! This one just looks well used, and eager for more.
I wonder, do they use the same blade coating as the DLC Spydercos? I wonder how a true DLC blade would look after the same amount of use? You really have to start cutting abusive stuff to get the DLC scratched off that bad. I put my DLC Para 2 through months of cardboard cutting everyday and it never developed a single scratch from it.
