That’s a pity but thanks for the warning.
Spyderco Stretch with Japanese "SuperBlue" steel.
Mine too. I’ve been carrying the 763 for the past few weeks but I was hankering for something different today.
I have the EL-01 in rosewood coming soon. I am not being very patient about it.
Great knife, I have one new in box and one a slightly greasy cheese, bread and butter knife - cotton buds get the left-overs out of the liners. :bigsmile: They, the EL-01s, are a real classic linerlock.
Hmm. Ive had Veff for years with no breakage at all.
[quote=adnj]
The shape reminds me of the Razel. I have the CRKT versions and those are really handy blades.
[quote=8steve88]
What is the name CRKT is using I have seen the Razel and know how much the customs are going for. not sure I want to buy a custom but a CRKT collaboration might be a good way to get an interesting knife with good steel and not get a knock off.
Condor Stratos
CRKT used the Razel name. CRKT Fixed Razels
Then there are the Folding and Folding Stubby Razel
[quote=strayz]
[quote=adnj]
The shape reminds me of the Razel. I have the CRKT versions and those are really handy blades.
Okay guys. I'm trying for the perfect treatment of a new strop. I've never been real happy with my old one.
I know im getting off topic, but all the knife people seem to be hanging out in this thread.
I bought the mounted leather from sharpeningsupplies.com, and was surprised that the leather was soft, with a nice even nap. A lot of times strop leather is hard and the nap is tatty.
I've only just started, but this is how I'm treating it. Green compound is hard to apply evenly, and ends up as a hard film on the surface. It needs a good base.
For that, I that I used red compound, (jewelers rouge) which is waxier. first I lifted the nap with a knife blade. Then I melted the red compound with some olive oil in a metal crucible in boiling water. The mixture was poured onto the leather and spread like heated peanut butter with the back of a knife. The excess was scraped off. Then I heated the leather several times with my reflow blower, (you can use a hair dryer) and rubbed it in with a cloth soaked in olive oil. I'm going to let it sit a few days to really permeate the leather. I may repeat the heat/olive oil treatment again. Then I'll scrape it again to lift up the nap, and move to the green compound.
If any one is interested, I'll post again with my final results when it's completed.
Strop with primary rouge treatment.
Probably the best strop on the market is from knivesplus.com. It comes with soft chap leather that is pretreated and preloaded. Unfortunately, the don't ship outside the USA.
I’m interested in your strop adventures, Ouchyfoot. I’ve been meaning to make the one I saw on a youtube video a couple years ago. This guy took some denim from a pair of old, well worn blue jeans, stapled it to a piece of 2x4 and put some stropping compound on it. Has anyone here used a denim strop before? Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing how yours plays out. I probably own enough knives to where I should learn how to sharpen them by now. I’m decent with a whetstone and the coffee cup/bowl method, but I’m lacking a strop to really make my blades scary-sharp, or should I say scary-sharp for a decent period of time. Ceramic cups give my blades a more brittle edge than I would get with finishing them up with a strop.
If you are leaving whiskers on your edge, as can happen with coarser abrasives, the whiskers will break off when used to cut anything and damage the fine edge when they do. Developing whiskers is a good thing in that they show that you have actually sharpened to the edge, but they need to be removed before using the blade. A polished steel, glass rod or any convenient glass surface or strop will polish the edge and remove the whiskers.
Super fine water stones or ceramic do the same work, but are an expensive way to go.
Once the edge is reasonably refined you can strop with many essentially free compatible materials…a sheet of white copy paper, or strips cut from corrugated boxes glued together about 2” thick, the unfinished side of a leather belt…just plain denim or denim with compound. Finished leather is the smoothest and the most refined. Some nano diamond spray on polished leather is the ultimate.
The strop leaves the edge with a micro polish, and will be the most durable edge possible for a fine edge. One should ask himself whether a razor edge is necessary, or even desirable considering the weakness of a fine edge in uses other than for actual shaving. This is where better steel comes into play, as the stronger alloys give more support to the thin edges. Lesser steels won’t hold a really sharp edge for more than a few cuts, and benefit from a shallower bevel.
The secret of knife sharpening lies in selecting the angle of the final bevel for the actual intended use of the blade.
Any of these methods work if you do it right.
The quickest and best way to learn how to sharpen is to invest a few dollars in a Jeweler’s Loupe so that you can examine the edge and actually see what your sharpening methods are doing to the cutting edge…you can waste a lot of time guessing.
After letting the strop cure for a bit with the rouge base, I scraped the strop with a sharp knife. The excess came off the blade like a viscous paste. I'd wipe the blade and scrape back in the other direction. I did this 30-50 times. The nap of the leather seems totally impregnated with the rouge base.
Next, I heated the leather and green compound. I rubbed the strop until it was paved with a solid layer of green, and scraped with the edge of the blade back and forth, forcing the compound into the nap. After each scrape, I wped the excess off. I reloaded the leather with compound and heat about a dozen times, scraping it all off the surface, forcing it to bond into every fiber without leaving a surface layer.
After applying the last thick coating of compound, I just rubbed it in with a dry rag. I'm really liking the surface texture of this strop.
I spent hours treating and retreating the leather with green compound. Notice how there is no crusty surface layer of compound, but a soft tectured nap in which each separate filament is permeated with compound.
(That poor CRKT was brand new and razor sharp when I began. Now it couldn't even cut butter)
Here it is beside a used strop in which the compound was rubbed into the leather dry. It tends to flatten down into a hard uneven smooth surface.
This strop is not meant for hard sharpening to hone an edge. This is for after I take the blade through four stones, the final being an ultra fine ceramic. This strop is for the final caress...to take the edge to the next level.
And that next level is an awesome place!
I needed to cut a piece of foam to put in a box for protection of an aspheric lens and used my Sage 2. It actually push cut the foam like a laser or something! Never had it work quite like that.
I liken a superb sharp blade to having a zip-lock in anything you want sliced, zip……
I took the edge down on that poor little CRKT I ruined scraping the strop on my stones, and finished it up with my new strop. It is now hair splitting sharp.
That is gorgeous isti. I’m safe on this one though, seller - Can not deliverto United Kingdom so screw them. 
You should try to contact the seller. Most of them are quite flexible about shipping.
I might just do that, lovely knife and I’m looking for a present for myself out of next months pay.
I’ve done that before when I want something from ebay.com, ebay.co.uk won’t list knives and if you try to order from the .com site it kicks you at the shipping address, Amazon is the same but China based sellers will ship without problem and I can log in with my uk account details.
Something that's not too common. A full Scandi grind folding knife.
Enzo Birke 75. Finland.
Unbelievabley well made, and sharp as the devil. This knife should cost a lot more than its selling for. I think I'll get another in case that happens. If you want to try a scandi grind, but don't really want a fixed blade, this is the one to get.
