# Rounding the Spine



## feldspar (Aug 9, 2012)

I'm quoting BDL from the foodie forums below. Here's a pic of me following his directions with my 6" Sabatier Nogent and a strip of 120 grit sand paper. I followed up this with 800 grit to polish.

Rounding is a bit of a misnomer in my case as I really just took the sharp edge off until it felt comfortable in my pinch grip.

Padded with the knife in the cardboard sleeve it came in, wrapped in an old shirt sleeve, then between two pieces of box cardboard.

Took about 10 minutes.

BDL
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To shoeshine:

1. Pad your table vise.

2. Tape your knife where it will be held by the vise.

3. Lock the knife in the vise, spine up, such that at least 1-1/2" of spine from the handle forward are clear of the vise.

4. Fold a piece of coarse sandpaper to about 1" wide (or, you may use a piece of sanding belt).

5. Use the sandpaper in a shoeshine motion on the spine, holding the ends of the sandpaper so they're at about a 30* from each side.

6. Keep working the paper until you have a rounded area as long and as rounded as you want.

7. Repeat with a medium grit paper so the spine feels very smooth to the touch.

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rounding_the_spine.jpg




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feldspar


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Aug 27, 2012


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Thumbs up!

BDL


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I rounded the spin on my Tojiro petty.  I used a file then 400, 600 and 800 papers.  I worked the choil as well and it's well worth the effort.


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## mostadonte2 (Jun 11, 2013)

I am not a fan of "necromacery", but I just wanted to say Thanks for the explanation that can be very handy for me in near future.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

Feldspar said:


> I'm quoting BDL from the foodie forums below. Here's a pic of me following his directions with my 6" Sabatier Nogent and a strip of 120 grit sand paper. I followed up this with 800 grit to polish.


 I assume that the sandpaper is the wet-or-dry variety aka carbide?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Yes, it would be that kind of sand paper. This is called a crowned spine. Very comfortable to work with but a pain to create.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

phatch said:


> Yes, it would be that kind of sand paper. This is called a crowned spine. Very comfortable to work with but a pain to create.


I need to round the choil of my Henckels purchased in '76. *************** is it ever sharpely cornered. When slicing I tend to wrap my index finger and thumb around the choil and Sabatiers feel really nice and natural but the German Henckels, it hurt after slicing a slab of bacon skin-on.

Edited by kokopuffs - Today at 3:52 pm


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

You can do it the same way. Put the knife in a vice and use a strip of abrasive and a "shoe-shine" motion to ease the finger-guard's edges. Just be careful not to cut yourself when you're working around the edge. Alternatively, you can use a Dremel or other small grinder. It will be safer but the results won't look as nice. If you do use a grinder, grind some of the bottom off the finger-guard to create a "cheek" for the blade (i.e., expose the back of the "heel"). It will make sharpening easier.

_Stupid Terminology Tricks:_

If you're talking about a Henckels, which like most Henckels, has a full finger-guard integrated into the bolster -- then you want to ease the edges on the finger-guard not the choil. The choil is the area on the blade just in front of the finger-guard and doesn't have any edges.

A lot of guys use "choil" to refer to the back of a blade which doesn't have a finger guard. It gets used that way often enough that even though it isn't what was traditionally meant, common usage always trumps and that makes it legitimate.

BDL


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

To rough the shape in I woud have started with a smooth-tooth file and holding the knife at table edge, tip taped down to prevent it from dancing, just being careful around the radiused area at the what, choil do they call it at spines root?  Move the file along the edge at the same time you stroke through so you don't gouge.

Reminds me, I'd been many years out of the machine shop, but I had this design job where it was just going to be fatser all around for me to build most of the machine in-house myself.  The one in-house machininst they had looked at me "daintilly" cleaning up an edge with a file and holding the piece in-hand and remarked, "You file like a little girl, hold it on the edge of the bench and put some force into it for Christ sakes."  Well it had been a long time.

Rick


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

That's a good idea Ben, but the conversation has moved beyond the spine to talking about crowning the back of the knife; i.e., the so called "choil."  

BDL


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

boar_d_laze said:


> That's a good idea Ben, but the conversation has moved beyond the spine to talking about crowning the back of the knife; i.e., the so called "choil."
> 
> BDL


Ahaha, no choil's not what you call it I see now, I was refering to taking care not to mar with file around the radiused area just in front of the handle at the top of the blade as seen on Feldspar's knife, technically part of the guard I guess. Though, but of course, choils can be rounded also, if you have one.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

The last post asking how to crown -- Koko's -- referred to the choil, so I thought that was where we were still at. My bad.

You can start the crowning process by easing the edges of the spine where it meets the handle (technically called "the spine where it meets the handle") with a coarse stone, a file, a belt sander, a wheel, a Dremel or whatever... but it's not going to save you much time if the desired end result is a nicely rounded crown.

On the other hand, if all you want are edges eased to 45*, go with what's fastest. From experience, a Dremel with an aluminum oxide stone attachment works really well and sets up in no time.





  








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boar_d_laze


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Jul 24, 2013








Another nice thing is that the tool is the right shape and the Dremel easy enough to control that you can get the tool to the back of blade (the so-called "choil") without screwing up the handle (but tape it off anyway). Ordinary bench stones, for instance, aren't that easy to control.

It's fast but it ain't pretty.

BDL


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

boar_d_laze said:


> The last post asking how to crown -- Koko's -- referred to the choil, so I thought that was where we were still at. My bad.
> 
> You can start the crowning process by easing the edges of the spine where it meets the handle (technically called "the spine where it meets the handle") with a coarse stone, a file, a belt sander, a wheel, a Dremel or whatever... but it's not going to save you much time if the desired end result is a nicely rounded crown.
> 
> ...


I'll have to respectfully disagree here on a point, a good file, "in a good hand," will work about as fast as the dremel, and do it with enough control and finish quality that only a light sanding/stoning will be needed for the perfect finish. Though the operative term here is, "in a good hand," and of course this applies to so many things. It all comes down to, "If the skill will come in handy take the time to learn it, otherwise go with the expediant."

Rick


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

Rick Alan said:


> I'll have to respectfully disagree here on a point, a good file, "in a good hand," will work about as fast as the dremel, and do it with enough control and finish quality that only a light sanding/stoning will be needed for the perfect finish. Though the operative term here is, "in a good hand," and of course this applies to so many things. It all comes down to, "If the skill will come in handy take the time to learn it, otherwise go with the expediant."
> 
> Rick


The file you need for this operation is called a Swiss Pillar File, they're about 6 inches in length and very finely toothed and used for gunsmithing operations where little metal is to be removed. You can find them at Brownells Gunsmithing Supply and perhaps other places as well.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

kokopuffs said:


> The file you need for this operation is called a Swiss Pillar File, they're about 6 inches in length and very finely toothed and used for gunsmithing operations where little metal is to be removed. You can find them at Brownells Gunsmithing Supply and perhaps other places as well.


Yes now I recall, you can get an 8" from Mcmaster-Carr, just bought one for our depleted tool chest at work.

Rick


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