Question about Marking knife
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I watched a video where Paul mentioned that the marking knife he was using was a Stanley knife with a replaceable blade That he just kept sharpening. Is it an ordinary utility knife? My question is, I have a load of small pocket type knives I’ve managed to collect over the years. One belonged to my grandfather and I’d like to use this as a marking knife. Any suggestions? How sharp should this be? Thickness of blade considerations? I like to re-purpose things, especially if I have an emotional attachment to them so I rather not purchase one if I don’t have to.
Thank you in advance.
I replied to the above thread with a pic of the different Stanley knives and a small pocket knife I have used. The blade on the latter I flattened on one side. It worked quite well for marking and making Paul’s knife walls. I see me reason why you could not repurpose your knife. The only reason I like tha Stanley over it is the larger handle is a tad more comfortable.
Get it sharp and give it a try. It should be fine, just be aware of how the double bevel and blade thickness affect the knife line. See the attached sketch. Lean the knife, and you’ll put a line just where you want it. The knife Paul suggests is nice partly because the blade is thin and comes sharp, so you start off with good lines and it’s one less thing for a person on his or her own having to guess about being right. I find I still need to lean the blade a bit compared to a “real” marking knife with a flat side and single bevel, but it’s not a disadvantage as far as I can tell.
How sharp? It should cut the fibers with little or no pressure on your first pass. It should make a nick on the corner of soft material like pine without crushing the fibers and it should then easily fall into the nick when you drag the blade horizontally across the edge. I tried my chip carving knife once and found it was _too_ sharp, actually. That surprised me.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.20 March 2016 at 8:54 pm #135791I use a single-bevelled knife in the workshop and a stanley knife for site work, and prefer the single bevel for accurate work. I find I can produce good results with both, but the single bevel makes it so much easier – no need to lean, and the ramping effect of the bevel holds the knife tight up to whatever you’re running it against without any need for twisting or pressure.
The upshot being that, in your situation, I would choose to adapt whatever knife most readily lent itself to single-bevel sharpening.
Matt
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