Knives and Sharps Boxes

[Weaver]

Couple of things about knives have come up lately that I want to share.

Swann Morton have changed the design of their retractable small blade handle, the 'Retractaway' to the 'Retractaway Premium'. I'm not sure what the design changes are, but I got one in the post today, and the whole thing feels much 'tighter', with the blade-carrier locking in place more positively and not moving from side-to-side so much. The new ones are blue with white buttons as opposed to the old silver/black /grey/black ones.




At the new job (nearly a year now, so time to drop the 'new' I think...) we use medical sharps boxes on the back of the benches to dispose of knife blades (Swann Morton too, as it happens, but the next size up). I've always struggled to find a way of safely and responsibly disposing of craft knife blades at home, so I decided to look into getting one of the boxes and found them to be surprisingly cheap on Ebay.

I've just received a 0.5 litre one today and it's great. Tall and thin, with a hanging tab, it now hangs on the end of the shelf behind my bench, taking up no room at all while making that little problem go away.  Price was £4.10 inc. delivery, dimensions 210x80x50mm. There are lots of other sizes and shapes, and there's also a version with a base plate so it stands up on a flat surface. I still don't know how you dispose of a full box, but frankly, at the rate I use blades at home, I may never have to find out. Even if I just buy a new one and put the old one away somewhere, at least I'm not leaving a nasty surprise for whoever gets to clear my house out after I'm gone.

[jcf]

Why dispose of them? They're easily honed back to top cutting shape in a matter of seconds.

[zenrat]

Do you offer a sharpening service Jon?




I suspect sharps boxes usually get disposed of as contaminated medical waste.

[Weaver]

Why dispose of them? They're easily honed back to top cutting shape in a matter of seconds.

Not when they're broken they're not. Mine rarely get a chance to go blunt, especially chisel blades.

[PR19_Kit]

Why dispose of them? They're easily honed back to top cutting shape in a matter of seconds.

Not when they're broken they're not. Mine rarely get a chance to go blunt, especially chisel blades.

Exactly.

By far the most common cause for needing to dispose of a Swann Morton scalpel blade in my experience is that they snap across the slot that engages in the handle. No way back from that kind of failure.

Yes, I know that '....stronger blades are available....' but I find they're just too thick and unwieldy for more accurate work.

[Steel Penguin]

I tend to use an old takeaway container ( well washed ) and as it fills then chuck in any old resin to "set it"  but I tend to be far less a heavy user of blades

[jcf]

Why dispose of them? They're easily honed back to top cutting shape in a matter of seconds.

Not when they're broken they're not. Mine rarely get a chance to go blunt, especially chisel blades.

Depends where it's broken, reshaping also works and you can make custom shapes for
specific uses.


If your chisel blades are breaking easily, you may want to re-examine your technique. 

[Hobbes]

I found the original Swann-Morton blades are stronger than the no-name compatible blades I'd been using...

[NARSES2]

Must admit I keep my old blades in a small sealable plastic container and when there are a few in there I take it down my doctors and she lets me drop them in one of their sharps boxes 

Mind you old blunt blades are handy for spreading putty etc

Why dispose of them? They're easily honed back to top cutting shape in a matter of seconds.

True if you have an oil stone, which I don't, and if you can remember how to do it, which I can't  I haven't sharpened/honed a blade of any kind for must be 30 years or so. Which when I think about it is a shame really. Another sign of the disposable society we live in 

[zenrat]

I have oilstones to sharpen my wood chisels and my various other knives. 
Sharpening my chisels after use is almost a ritual.  I like to keep them sharp and ready for use.  I get a bit precious with them as Mrs z found out when I caught her using one to open a tin of paint...
I could resharpen my exacto blades except that when I decide it's time for a new one it's usually because i'm in the middle of something and don't want to stop.
I keep the blunt ones in an old rattle can lid on my bench so i could resharpen them I suppose.

[NARSES2]

 
Sharpening my chisels after use is almost a ritual.  I like to keep them sharp and ready for use.  I get a bit precious with them as Mrs z found out when I caught her using one to open a tin of paint...

I only once miss-used one of my maternal granddad's tools, he was a shipwright, and I thought he was going to kill me, I was only 5 or 6 

[Weaver]

Clarification: when I'm talking about 'chisel blades', I'm talking about chisel-shaped craft knife blades, not actual woodworking chisels. I find that these notch and snap at the corners long before going blunt, and it would take an awful lot of resharpening to get the edge back.

You wouldn't believe the number of disposable scalpel blades (Swann Morton, but a size bigger than a scalpel) that we go through at work...

[jcf]

Clarification: when I'm talking about 'chisel blades', I'm talking about chisel-shaped craft knife blades, not actual woodworking chisels. I find that these notch and snap at the corners long before going blunt, and it would take an awful lot of resharpening to get the edge back.

You wouldn't believe the number of disposable scalpel blades (Swann Morton, but a size bigger than a scalpel) that we go through at work...

I got what you were talking about, for general/rougher/hogging out use I've found knocking
the very point of the corners off helps them last longer, and it's less likely to dig in and hang-up,
breaking off the corner. Keep another "fully intact" for gentler use, more precise paring use where
you actually need that square point.
I also have a cheap-set of all steel mini-chisels which are easy to keep sharp, and the shafts
are soft enough at the neck to allow changing the angle of the head to the shaft by gentle
bending.

https://www.micromark.com/Miniature-Chisels-Set-Of-7

As to honing, oil stones shudder, dual-sided diamond lap for the "grinding",
various Japanese water stones for the sharpening and honing stages (the only stones
my kitchen knives ever kiss), followed by Flexcut compound on a leather strop for that
mirror finish.


Or before you've made the edge as ragged as the Himalaya, a tri-grit sanding/polishing
stick makes a handy hone to keep the edge tip-top. Remember to hold the knife with
the edge towards you and move the blade smoothly away from you, keep the bevel
as flat to the abrasive as you can, a few licks on each grit and yer done. I give a new
blade a proper hone, and then use the sanding stick for a touchup prior to use each
time I use the knife.

[Weaver]

Yeah I've got a 2mm chisel that's a one-piece tool with a traditional chisel point (i.e. much thicker than a craft knife blade), but I must admit that I'd bought it and forgotten about it until a recent discussion about 'micro chisels' at a show.

At work we use these things to keep our scissors sharp (not that the company gives them to us mind you: we buy or 'find' them for ourselves) :

[Old Wombat]

I have an older version on one of them floating about in my shed, somewhere, probably right next to the complete set of sharpening & honing stones.