Sharpfingers

I love the Shrade Sharpfinger. The first time I saw one was in my grandparent’s kitchen drawer and I instantly knew I had to have one. The distinctive silhouette, the revolver style pistol grip, and a cool leather sheath had me hooked. When I bought one for myself, I noticed a few differences between mine and the one I saw at my grandparents. The one I bought was made in China, and frankly it did not feel as good in my hand as the one I remembered. I did use that knife for a few years, but eventually I put it in the drawer. Recently I bought an old made in USA sharpfinger on ebay. Turns out I wasn’t wrong. The USA sharpfingers are made from carbon steel, and the handle area is significantly rounder and more comfortable to hold. Actually, everything on the USA shrade is kind of rounded off. Both knives have delrin handles held on with cutlery rivets, but the USA one feels much smoother and ergonomic.

There is also a significant difference in the grind. The Chinese Shrades are a hollow ground. The USA shrades are a convex grind, and there is almost no plunge line where the grind starts. It just gently tapers to full thickness. It is an interesting design and it makes me wonder if they ground them on a round wheel at the factory or if there was some kind of automatic grinding machines set up.

In honor of these knives I am making my own batch of sharpfingers based closely on the USA shrade I bought from ebay. I plan to mimic the convex smooth grind and comfortably rounded handle. They will be 1084 high carbon steel with richlite handles and brass or copper peened pins. I plan to finish them with an acid etch to emulate the patina on the shrades.

Hand Sanding

I made a hand sanding machine. It really is a game changer. It doesn’t completely automate the whole sanding process but my finish is so much more even! Goodbye J hooks! Inevitably I end up having to hand sand some spots that are awkward to reach but that is ok. Hand sanding machine + rhyno wet + waterfall platten = good surface finishes.

Morseth Knives

I think about knives a lot. A family friend gave me his father’s Morseth knife for Christmas and it has sparked many new knife thoughts. I recently read the Keen Edge of Perfection book on the history of Morseth Knives and it provided some interesting insights. I mainly want to organize my own observations in this post. I would also love to try and make a Morseth style knife for myself just to learn.

Handles

I think the handles on the Morseth Knives made by Harry and Steve are one of the strongest points of those knives. The shape and visual appeal are really incredible. The handles are comfortable and ensure a good grip. When Dozier started making Morseth knives he made the handles different. There is nothing wrong with that, but they really look like Dozier handles. I guess part of the reason for the difference in shape is that Dozier used a 2x72 like we are used to today, but Harry and Steve used a rounded grinding stone to shape the space between the guard and handle. They mostly used Sanbar Stag antler and vulcanized spacers with brass or nickel silver guards. The end of the hidden tang is threaded and a brass pommel fastener holds the whole thing together. Apparently Harry also made a broaching machine to cut the slots in the handles and dies to cut out spacer material.

Blades:

One thing that really stands out is the Morseth Blades. They were premade in Norway then shipped to the US. They used a laminated steel with a high carbon piece in the middle and two mild pieces on the outside. Harry asked them to be tempered so the inside steel was 62 HRC! The laminated steel lets you have a really hard blade in the middle, but the mild outside allows the blade to flex without chipping. There are picture from an old Morseth ad where one of the knives is bent 90 degrees in a vice. The blanks were cut out with a giant die cutting machine and some of them were pre ground in Norway.

I also think that all the original knife shapes that Harry and Steve used look great. They are very classic and timeless designs.

Grind

Most of the knives have a hollow grind. Harry and Steve used water cooled grinding stones to cut the bevels. I guess they used home made wooden wheels with glued on abrasive grit to polish the hollows. To modern senses I think the grinding looks a little rough. There are still some big gouge marks from the wheel in the hollows. At the same time they are still completely functional knives so who cares I guess.

Sheath

The Morseth sheaths were ahead of their time. They shaped a piece of vuclanized fiber to retain the knife like a modern kydex sheath, but the outside looks like a more traditional sheath design. I guess they were a pain to make and took almost as much money and time to produce as the knives. I love that sheath design though!

I guess I feel weirdly connected Morseth Knives as a Washington Native who now makes knives. The history and knives themselves are inspiring me right now.