Knife Material and Blade Sharpening

You can if you like, but it's a linguistically and practically problematica.
Some surgical instruments are diamond or ceramic..
The problem is the word 'Im' assuming you mean 'I' it's still a problem as it depends on your facilities and skill.

I'd say a better assumption is that the harder the material the better it will maintain it's sharpness.
The trade off for sharpness is gererally brittleness.

Sorry I'm being verbose and pedantic, but I'm bored
Del

Get a job...

Typing mistake...sorry.

No prob...I was just being an ass.
What is the knife for?
I'm thinking of buying or making a knife, but I want it specifically for digging arrows out of the timber surrounding the target when I miss so it needs to be more like a narrow chisel than a knife, gotta be able to cut out timber and exert some leverage. (the targets are foam sheeting in frames made of old wooden pallets)
I might just buy a chisel and modify it???
maybe I should just stop missing?
Del

Del, sounds like you want a boot knife, or possibly a small game knife.

The boot knife has a double-edged blade and a sharply tapered tip, and is a somewhat compact size, made to be carried in a sheath that can be concealed in a soldier's boot, yet large enough for quick defense.

The small game knife has a tip that is more blunt than the boot knife, made for digging bullet fragments out of rabbits and (don't tell Kris!) squirrels.

I have a Camillus #2 Lockback that sounds like what you're looking for. They might be hard to find since the company went under several years ago.

Cheers,
The small game knife looks good. I'm keen to avoid anything which looks like a wepon (in case I accidently have it on my person in public....)

I'll see what I can find on the web, or maybe make something... I have some EN8, also got a big old hacksaw blade which might grind down.
Del

The big old hacksaw blade makes a good knife from an edge point of view, but if you are putting a lot of bending moment on it when digging out these wayward arrows be careful, they can be quite brittle.

This is one of the largest online sources, to give you days of browsing pleasure

Maybe you can finally find a use for that blade on the pen knife which is meant for taking stones out of horses hooves.

I am sure Kris won`t mind, as if he's been shot, he will want someone to dig the bullet out!!!

A good quality glaziers knife would save you some grinding

Several knife supply houses have been selling military bayonets that are extremly tough and they would make ideal knives for digging out embedded arrowheads. I have quite a few and I would recomend the Swiss Army bayonet, it is tough, can be sharpened to a wicked edge, and made out of a rust resistance steel that looks quite nice. One can be obtained for around $15.00. Hope this helps.

Cheers, I shall have a look on the web, although a bayonet may be a bit too vicious.
With the upsurge of knife crime in the UK, I'm keen to keep a low profile, although most field archers carry big sheath knives...It would be just my luck to walk into Sainsburies with one on my belt and then get pounced on by security guards/police/MI6, AlQueada etc...

You might look into wood carving chisels. They come in many sizes and profiles, can be sharpened to cut wood like butter and no one will mistake one for a weapon.

Ah...

a band clamp

a split yoke

a collet

a slide hammer

no sharpening required

Just a general question I had.

I thought that the harder the material, the more compact the grain size\smaller the grain size thus the "smaller" you can get the cutting edge thus the sharper it will be.

I prefer the 500 series stainless material because at full Brinell hardness (harder than woodpecker lips) it is not the least bit brittle. In fact at 3/16th" thickness and full hardness, place in vise and you an three other men bend 90° one way then back again then use for a life time.

Depending on what you want it for would determine your hardness. Generally for chefs they would use a slightly softer blade to assist in the sharpening and the ability to get a sharp edge quickly and easily. With just a few licks down a sharpening rod and you could slice a nice clean, even piece of meat, tomatoe, or whatever. As Del mentioned above, the harder the steel makes it more brittle but retains it's edge longer. I prefer to get a clean sharp edge quickly. However if your using it for other reasons you must decide whether you want durability or ease of sharpening,

Nice A (that's answer not ass)
Flaked flint is a superb edge for cutting meat, sharp and serrated...but of course brittle.
Del

To directly answer your question, no. As other posters have indicated (but not necessarily came right out and said), neither hardness, nor grain size has any effect at all on how sharp the blade can be made, only how long the blade will stay sharp, how long it takes to get it sharp, and how ductile the blade will be in use. Those are important aspects of a knife blade, but not the one you asked about.

BTW, on my Buck knives I use a diamond hone, and even then it takes a while to get a decent edge on the blade. I probably need to get a coarser hone for initial shaping.

Went around this stuff many times, as I needed a good fish gutting knife, as well as fillet knife, as well as a baiting cutting knife, as well as a boning knife, as well as a roast carving knife, as well as a rope cutting knife, as well as a whittling knife----man!!! what to do???---What I found out was the most useful information existed in the various Survival Forums , on the net---ex-military, Knife makers, hunters, bowhunters, survivalists, knife sharpening people etc---The amount of information is staggering---just link to the use of the tool, and they will guide you in the right direction---No agenda---they just enjoy sharing what they have learned over their lives, and to share their experiences... give it a shot---you may be surprised!!---C-MAC

This is your assumption. In the world which iwe live for a good knife we need following

1. High materials hardness

2. Small grain size

3. High young modulus of material

4. No grain deformation underload

This is basic need at higher level development you also need brittle glassy grain boudry phase which has ability to have self lubrication and ease of mrain removal for sharpning if needed

People have made good knife using yettria stablized zirconium oxide which may need sharpning after few generation of use

Try this at home. Take a tomato and try slicing it with a knife that isn't quite razor sharp. If you saw back and forth with the knife, using a light downward pressure, you won't cut through the tomato. Than try slicing the tomato with a quick light stroke and even a dull knife will cut through. The point is, it's the technique used, not the sharpness of the knife. A sharp knife is a plus.

I'm sure you have seen the informercial on TV of the guy sawing through a nail and then cutting a tomato cleanly afterwards. It is done by the technique described above.

I have attended a show and was amazed how people play with people with less knolwdge and actual fact digestive background. You are 100% correct and my mistake I pointed out this to the guy during his show in one of mall in San Diego few years back

what about the Damascus or folded steel blades.

I heard if you really wanted a good blade that the only way to get it real sharp was with folded forged steel.

Folded steel blades were created for flexability along with toughness, a good quality steel will take a sharp edge in the form it was shaped in. I have over 20 years experience in sharpening ASTM cutting dies and have yet to see one constructed out of folded steel (I do have several Japanese swords that are). My dies can slice through a sheet of paper held on edge with one swipe of the die. The real secret to sharp blades is the sharpener type and the oil used in the process, and the skill of the operator.

Interesting discussion.

My father was a Meat Cutter his entire life and I recall him making his own knifes from large metal files. He would custom shape the blades to match his cutting style and then sharpen them so that if you held the blade sharp side up and dropped a piece of paper the paper would be sliced on its way down. He would also test by seeing if the blade would would shave the hair off his arm.

If I remember correctly, his sharpening rod was always at hand and he would run his blade across it about three times (up/down) before starting any large cutting job. In his day a cutting job started with a side or quarter of beef... not the precut sections of labeled meat one gets in the stores these days.

He also used his butcher knifes as protection as he worked in a not so great part of town... his knives were balanced and he could throw one 30-40 feet and hit his target - usually boxes or wood. The tips never broke...

Not sure what those files were made of - but they made great knives. I still have two of them and use them all the time.

Great blades can be grounded from either metal files, (old-school - flatbed) car and tractors wheel springs, but the best, toughest metal I know of for this, is from those big industrial horizontal saws:

The cutting blades on these metal cutting saws, are big enough to create swords. These are 4 by 20 inch blades, 1/8 inch thick, made of shock-proof tempered, high-carbon steel called "Blue-Marked Hi-speed" - designed to cut tough metals.

These, occasionally break, and discarded by metal shops or sold for cheap. You can only grind them to shape. The metal is so tough, you cannot punch, drill, cut or shear it of course.

I forgot about the use of files---The old shipbuilders that I was lucky to work with in my youth would always be on the lookout for old worn files, which they would grind down into the sharpest chisels I have ever seen---The trick was in the grinding (tempering with water, and not getting them too hot, and the blade angle (which determined the type of work it was being used for)--Thanks for reminding me! C-MAC

One observation:

Fixed blades are easier for DIY'ers to make. You can use a single piece of steel for the blade and handle. Then all that's left is to make a pair of grips and pin them on.

I point this out because a fixed blade is more likely to be seen as a weapon. Del, you said you wanted to avoid that. However, if anyone could make themselves a folding blade knife, it's you.

GA.

Indeed many good points.

I mentioned a particular stainless in the surgical group but without brittleness. We were amazed at the characteristics this steel provided.

I can't beat stainless for surgical instruments, especially since they have to be autoclaved. I have made more than a few instruments for doctors, and have always used 440C. You mentioned a 500 series? I'll have to see if I can acquire some of that and try it, because the 400 series tends to be to the brittle side. Sounds downright intriquing!!

At full Brinell hardness the about .180" blade was tested by clamping and using hydraulic ram to bend 90 degrees to the right then back then 90 degrees to the left and return to straight condition with no loss of integrity.

"Traditional" stainless is mainly steel with some chrome added, which (because of reformed lattice structure) adds brittleness. However, the new generation of "hi-tech" stainless used by tool manufacturers, adds other metals (vanadium, manganese, nickel, molybdenum and other metals), and exotic tempering methods to achieve all kinds of high-end properties.

Much of today's hi-end sophisticated metallurgy, is based on advanced practical knowledge, which traveled west from the former Soviet Union since the mid-nineties.

Today's metal design includes some exotic alloys with deformation "memory", and smart alloys able to stiffen locally, in response to incoming pressure. Such properties are applied for the fabrication of artificial limbs and armoring

Hmm, I wonder if the Chome moybdenum steel they use for spanners and the like would take an edge, it would certainly be tough...waste of a good spanner.
But maybe a combination spanner, leave the ring end like a nice sort of pomel, and sharpen the other end as a short chisel, knife point, could be just what I need?
Or is that just mad?
Del

Del, look up bird and trout knife, it is almost what you describe. Many had a ring on the end, presumably so you could tie it or put your pinky finger through it just so it won't be lost. Find a old spanner, one that has been trashed, and experement with it. Let's see some photos here of your results. Since you are into bows, check out flint striker knives, most often made from recycled files and used to start fires with. They often doubled as patch knives for the black powder long gun boys.

Cheers,
Oooh, so many projects, so little time.
BTW.Bit of a plug... My latest bow (Asiatic Recurv)e is being blogged on Tuesday.
If I make something decent I'll be sure to show it.
Del

Hi, I just chopped the end off a cheap old plastic handled 5mm wood chisel and ground it down to avery short stubby triangular section, more of an axe angle on it for strength, then I ground a tiny chisel tip on it.
It looks ugly as sin as I've only got an angle grinder and one of those tiny 2" 'stick it in your electric drill' wheels .
It has tons of leverage .. I'll post a pic if you promise not to mock it...
Del

Ya' cud braze a small bearing race about 1" or so diameter x1/2" to a vise grip plier or just modify a "cats paw" into a beefed up potato eye remover

GA

At last, some reason over hype

Some common blade alloy types (a quote from a prominent knife maker's site):

CPM-M4: Special purpose, high-speed steel with a combination of high Carbon, Moly, Vanadium and Tungsten for excellent wear resistance and toughness; A powder-metal, non stainless steel.

154CM: An American made premium grade stainless steel originally developed for tough industrial applications. Known for its best all-around qualities, it offers great corrosion resistance with good toughness and edge quality.

S30V: An American made and developed premium grade stainless steel created especially for knives. It is a powder made steel with a uniform carbide distribution and clean steel properties. As a blade material it offers excellent corrosion resistance and superb edge qualities.

D2: An air-hardened tool steel, which offers good corrosion resistance and excellent mileage in wear resistance. A good choice for hard use applications.

440C: A high-chromium stainless steel with a terrific balance of good hardness and corrosion resistance. 440C takes a nice edge and is fairly easy to resharpen. An excellent value priced steel for its performance.

N690: An Austrian made stainless steel, which is comparable to 440C in performance and value. Keen edge qualities with great corrosion resistance.

9Cr13CoMoV: A Chinese made high-carbon stainless steel with increased levels of cobalt added for greater edge retention. Offers a higher level of corrosion resistance at a great value.

AUS-8: A Japanese made medium-carbon, high chromium stainless steel, which offers a good balance of toughness, edge sharpness and corrosion resistance.

8Cr14MoV: A Chinese steel with similar performance characteristics to AUS-8. An excellent value priced steel for its performance.

X15 T.N: This French steel was developed for the aircraft industry for jet ball bearings, as well as the medical industry for scalpels. It has the ability to resist rust in the worst of conditions while maintaining ample edge retention. The capability behind this steel is in the way it is manufactured, resulting in the finest steel for use in harsh environments such as salt water. The edge on an X15 T.N blade is easier to maintain.

DAMASCUS: A specially forged, layered steel made up of a variety of steels, It offers remarkable toughness and edge quality. For finishing, the surface layers or lines are exposed through an acid etch, which creates a very unique visual effect. Used in special applications due to its inherent high cost and artistic nature.

The problem that you run into with martensitic stainless knife alloys is that chromium LOVES carbon. It will suck the carbon right out of the steel matrix and tie it up as Chromium Carbide. Chromium Carbide does nothing for hardness OR corrosion resistance. So every hardenable matrensitic stainless steel is a balancing act. Add enough carbon to overcome Chrome's effect and leave some for hardening purposes and you tie up all the Chromium, add enough chromium to make the steel very corrosion resistant and you tie up all the carbon. That is why many of the truly high performance corrosion resistant alloys are age hardening instead of martensitic. Alloys like 17-4PH and 17-7PH.

I will add a note of clarification concerning my statement about swordmakers use of 1085 steel. The swordmakers in question are the ones shooting for authenticity. People who are trying to duplicate the properties of Katana's with modern steels for instance.

Authentic Katana's are made by forge welding two different steels. relatively low carbon steel is forged into a U-shape around a core of higher carbon steel making a tough resilient spine and then the assembly is forge welded into one solid forging. Then the sword is normalized and tempered. The edge, which is higher carbon, is coated with a refractory slurry then the blade is heated back up to hardening temp and then quenched in one swift swing into a water tank cutting edge first. The refractory slows the heat transfer enough that it doesn't crack. The spine of the blade shrinks more than the blade creating the arc.

So, according to this, the Katana blade is not really homogenised in terms of lattice geometry. It must have dedicated properties distributed to-effect, and the core (or spine) acts as some sort of shock-damper, to receive kinetic energy absorbed by the rim, right ?

As a result it must have a wide range of resonant frequencies, and not at all a "ringing" or "clanging" sound. I'm only guessing. I never held one in my hands

I read somewhere that it's typical arched curve is formed naturally by the difference in inner tension between the back and the cutting edge

Here's a chunk of a 1hr documentary. That tail end shows how the blade is stressed to give the curved shape.

Bah Dump! "Thank you very much! I'll be here all week... Try the Veal!"

Actually, on the same track as Andy started down, since modern broadboints screw onto the shaft, could you not unscrew the shaft, screw a pulling attachment onto the point and then use a cam type assembly to pull it out, sort of like a lever type corkscrew?

GA - Good idea. U2 Andy.

These aren't broadheads (illegal in UK) they are filed piles (points), glued onto 11/32" cedar shafts.
Pliers sometimes get 'em out, but mine go in quite a way, as I'm shooting a 75lb Yew longbow.
Del

If so, maybe it'll be easier to push them further, all the way through to the other side...

GROAN! You Brits and your stupid weapons laws! Next thing you know you'll be outlawing gardening implements and sewing scissors!

Already done. Not even rubber knives and soap guns. NADA.

Yuval, you guys got it right. Every able bodied person of draft age has a fully automatic weapon (government supplied no less!) in their closet and are trained how to use it. I bet home invasion robberies in your country are virtually unheard of.

The fact that every boy and girl have combat training, doesn't mean that every adult in Israel can carry an automatic weapon, and you cannot get into a store and buy one off the shelf.

Licensing to carry a weapon in Israel requires to convince the authorities that you must have it - as a professional, or for self protection.

You may kill or injure some burglar breaking into your property, and they are fully entitled to sue your ass in court for damages - regardless of their alleged crime.

There was a judicial precedent some two years ago, when a burglar was killed in the boundaries of someone's property and the killer was acquitted, so the nature of things may change in the future, to favour owners trying to protect their property.

It's much more liberal in that respect in the U.S.

Besides, the law-book in Israel, is based on the British and Ottoman law.

Well, maybe you guys have a ways to go on that. Thankfully here in Texas we have the castle doctrine that is very lenient (I would not say liberal. Most liberals in the US are against gun ownership and use by mere civilians. They only want the government to possess guns. I seem to recall a certain German leader that gave your future countrymen quite a bit of trouble that felt much the same way. Made things much easier for him when he decided he wasn't real happy with your countrymen's continued existence.) in authorizing the use of deadly force. You break into someone's home or business at your own risk.

"I seem to recall a certain German leader that gave your future countrymen quite a bit of trouble that felt much the same way. Made things much easier for him when he decided he wasn't real happy with your countrymen's continued existence"

If you're suggesting that public gun ownership would have stopped Nazi Genocide, it sounds like a load of crap. Sorry if I didn't read you right, but if I did, can you explain more ?

Would it have stopped it Kris? Eh probably not, but it certainly would have slowed it down to some unknown degree, and in these sorts of things, every little bit helps. Restrictions on gun ownership are a hallmark of totalitarian dictatorships all over the world and that is a fact. But of course now if you are not 100% in step with the Obama Administration you must be a right wing radical bent on overthrowing the government.

I feel so... so... radical now!

What I write here is statistically correct, but may not sit well with many people in the USA. There is nothing I can do to change the facts.

For me, the UK, with no requirement (nor possibility at this time) of a citizens ID card, is still a free country in many more aspects than most, but it is one of the last countries like this.....but has very strict gun laws.....DUUUHHHH!

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I tend to disagree strongly with with your "throwaway" statement which was:-

Restrictions on gun ownership are a hallmark of totalitarian dictatorships all over the world and that is a fact.

In Germany where I live and the UK, both have very strict gun controls. Both countries have also far fewer murders......and far fewer gun homicides too than the USA, neither are Totalitarian countries to my mind......

The opposite side of the coin could be the "Free to murder at will countries"?

If you go and look at the following website, you can find a lot of detail about Crimes "per Capita"....

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita

Murder (all murders, not just with Firearms) for example, the USA sits in position #24 of the "Hit list"...whereas Germany occupies position #49 and the UK position #46. Quite a difference don't you think? By the way, the lower the number, the more murders per capita!!!! Or the higher you are in the table.....

The USA had position #8 in the world, for murder using firearms, funnily enough, totally in the middle of some of the totalitarian regimes you mentioned!! In fact, higher in the table than many of them.......WOW!! What did guns do for you US Citizens????

Germany takes position #21 in this table and the UK's position is lower than #32, which is the last position, probably because hand guns are TOTALLY BANNED IN THE UK!!!! Statistically almost Zero Homicides using guns of ANY sort.....the good side of Totalitarianism?

Now THAT is a statistic to be proud of!!!! Even though it makes things tough for our UK Olympic Pistol teams......

Basically, gun control has NOTHING to do with Totalitarian Governments......but it does have a lot to do with common sense.....

So may I suggest that using NRA political comments on CR4 will not get you far. before someone shows you the real facts....

Remember, the NRA has its own axe to grind, don't be taken in by their falsified statistics, many people are though!!!

Funnily enough, in countries without National Service, taking away guns seemingly reduces gun crimes, UK for example (seems reasonable to me!) and in fact reduces ALL murder crimes of any sort again the UK for example (also nice I feel!).

In many countries where National Service is still actual, even in spite of many households having guns, gun crimes are often statistically lower......why, because they have been properly educated in their proper care and usage..........

Switzerland has the most guns per capita (after the USA and the Yemen) and an almost non existent firearm murder rate!!! But they have national Service too.......

See:-

http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/gun-rights-security-issues/38021-highest-firearms-per-capita-switzerland-crime-rate-nearly-non-existent.html

The Swiss also did not "score" in the highest 32 countries for Homicide with Firearms.....WOW!!! This means Less than 0.0249 persons per 100,000 people.....the same as the UK.

If you look here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries_by_gun_ownership

You will find this table, I find that it makes VERY interesting reading.......

I personally believe that hand guns are simply not needed except by Armed Forces and police forces.....not for private usage, though there are many here in Germany, they must be in a special cabinet and you must be in a gun club and fully trained......its not a perfect answer by any means.....

Sorry that I am the bearer of such bad news about guns and murder rates......

Country	Guns per 100 residents	Year	Comment
United States	90.0	2007
Yemen	61.0	2007
Switzerland	46.0	2007
Iraq	39.0	2007
Serbia	37.5	2007
France	32.0	2007
Finland[5]	32.0	2008
Canada	31.5	2007
Sweden	31.5	2007
Austria	31.0	2007
Germany	30.0	2007
New Zealand[2]	26.8	1993
Saudi Arabia	26.3	2007
Greece	23.0	2007
Angola	20.5	2007
Thailand	16.0	2007
Australia	15.5	2007
Mexico	15.0	2007
South Africa	13.1	2007
Turkey	13.0	2007
Argentina	12.6	2007
Italy	12.1	2007
Pakistan	12.0	2007
Spain	11.0	2007
Russia	9.0	2007
Ukraine	9.0	2007
Brazil	8.8	2007
Colombia	7.2	2007
United Kingdom	5.6	2007
Iran	5.3	2007
Philippines	4.7	2007
India	4.0	2007
China	3.5	2007
Nigeria	1.0	2007

It's very hard to sharpen a decent edge onto a gun

I don't see why its difficult to keep it REALLY sharp????

See it in action here:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uVTPRhWdfc

You just need a good whet stone........

This one is "prettier" I feel:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Vk8BN4BWw&feature=related

Switzerland was definitely a surprise.

So was Australia - You'd expect more of them to own firearms

Funny how that ban didn't prevent the school shooting a while back. Or the courtroom shooting either.

Maybe they learnt by seeing the US TV news? Where such happenings are FAR more prevalent.......

That really is "the pot calling the kettle black!".......numbers wise, even comparing "per Capita", the USA has a commanding Lead Position on that score!!!

Remember the statistics I showed you were "Per Capita", comparing apples with apples....

The ACTUAL number of murders in the USA is probably higher than anywhere else in this world.....this is a country that calls itself civilized, but has the US Constitution (Second Amendment) that allows most everyone to bear arms (and to use them!), for several hundred years and never changed it!!!

Have a great day, but do not try to change the facts......or whitewash them....or put up a smoke screen.....on CR4, as that NEVER works, it just brings out the Best (worst?) in us all!!

"Would it have stopped it Kris? Eh probably not, but it certainly would have slowed it down to some unknown degree"

"certainly" ? Nope - it doesn't follow that gun-toting Jews might have stopped the Holocaust. Bit different now, but then we're not talking guns.

I still say freely available guns don't stop genocide. Gun control may be political in origin, but it's application is in protecting all from the lunatic fringe. Much as I'd like to argue with the NRA on this, it's a bit too off-topic here.

In the UK ;

"Offence: It is an offence for any person, without lawful authority or good reason, to have with him in a public place, any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed except for a folding pocket-knife which has a cutting edge to its blade not exceeding 3 inches."

I must away to sharpen my brolly. If needs be, there's more than (sorry, Del ) one way to skin a cat.

But kris, it does not protect you from the lunatic fringe. That is my point. The only way to protect you from the lunatic fringe is to gather up all the lunatics. But then you run into the problem of defining "lunatic" and things go downhill from there. Banning knives merely removes a tool that the fringe may use to commit an act that is already illegal. But there are any number of alternate tools readily at hand at any given moment. that glass beer bottle, the chair, the brick, the spitoon, the dart, the steak knife on the table. Where do you draw the line?

As to genocide, I expect Hitler would have not been able to throw nearly as many troops into Russia or Poland and elsewhere if he was busy fighting in the streets of Hamburg and Berlin against an armed and organized Jewish resistance fighting for it's life. He also wouldn't have been so popular at home either I'd wager.

But kris, it does not protect you from the lunatic fringe

OK, what about numbers massacred by lone gunmen. US stats versus UK ?

Nothing protects you from the lunatic fringe, but you can try limit how many they kill at once. I agree, anything can be used as a deadly weapon - knitting needle, frozen carrot, even a mouthful of expanding foam filler. The difference is that guns and knives are sexed up tools, Rambo style.

The Swiss keep guns locked up at home because that's the way their defence operates. It's also why they have a low rate of gun crime. If there's a collective need to defend, they can all get the gun out the locker and do so in an organized way. Perhaps that's how the 'right to bear arms' was intended to work. DC V Heller was only last year - maybe it's just shuttiing the door after the horse has bolted.

Hitler Stalin Pol Pot and others killed millions of their own people, regardless of them being Jews or not.

Some megalomaniacs love killing, if only for the self-asserstion of their percieved power, over other people's lives

The above is not to say that it's rare to see armed people in Israel, on the contrary, many are strapped.

I'm not even sure that in percentages, a lesser part of the population is strapped, compared to the U.S.

It's just that the Law is never lenient about licensing a gun or the circumstance of killing or injuring (mainly because it's based on British law - Israel was once a British colony called Palestine, you know), but as I mentioned, it is in a process of future change, mainly because of the rise in armed crime and terrorism in the last ten years.

Seeing American movies one might get the impression, that the law in the U.S is more lenient about a citizen killing another, than when a policemen is killing a citizen - internal affairs grilling his ass and all that - in that sense, in Israel, every citizen killing or injuring another citizen is being grilled back and forth - like that poor American cop.

Maybe it's because we cannot spare citizens in hordes - the whole of Israel is just seven million people...

How about a miniature version of a fence post puller? How far are the tips being imbedded, and what type of tree? Maybe if you used really fresh bolts or arrows you can leave them in, let them graft and grow and you can claim you are doing your part for the greening of the world. Can you write that off on taxes as a donation?

With regard to sharpening of say kitchen knives, I have found that the best method is one of those special "plastic things" that have two pieces of Tungsten steel at angles to each other, to "plane" off a small amount of metal from each side of the blade.

(I can make a photo or two if needed, I have no idea what they are called.....they are also quite cheap too)

The resulting, slightly rough, keen edge, cuts through meat and tomato skins like the proverbial "hot knife through Butter!"

Its not as sharp in the same ways as a razor blade is or the like, but its quickly done, needs little skill (which using a steel really does as used badly you can cut yourself or completely ruin the knife's edge....) AND, if you have a really good hard steel knife, it still sharpens it, whereas the knife in question may just ruin a good steel.....(been there and got the T-Shirt! I nearly threw the knife away.....)

If I wanted to cut say balsa wood accurately for a model, this is not the right tool to use to sharpen your knife, an oil stone would be far better. But for everyday kitchen meat & vegetable preparation, its really, really good.

My apologies to you all in the fact that I do not know the correct name for such a sharpener in either language that I have.....!!! If it has a "proper" name....

It also sharpens scissors quite well too!!! Though a purist may be shocked!!!

How about the Shark: