Popular Woodworking 2005-04 № 147, страница 36

Arts & Mysteries

4) Preventing breakout: Having a knife mark all around your stock also helps prevent tear-out when using a crosscut saw. This is especially helpful if your stock has already been surface planed.

Having both ends on a single tool is handy when both types of marks are required for a job. Marking a tenon comes to mind. I use a marking gauge to lay out the cheeks, but the

The striking knife is easy to overlook. This has no doubt led to its near extinction.

awl end marks across the end grain. Obviously the knife end defines the shoulders.

Beyond marking (I told you this was my favorite tool) I find my striking knife helpful for pencil sharpening, dovetail paring, slicing drips of gelled hide glue and clearing shavings from my planes' throats.

Characteristics of a Good Knife

Old striking knives aren't common. It would be easy to overlook one. There's little wonder you don't see them in tool shops, or even in period inventories of tools. They are among those once-ubiquitous items such as pencils or chalked string lines that would have been accounted for under the catch-all heading: "smalle things forgotten." The famous Benjamin Seaton tool chest includes a striking knife under the heading "marking awl."

The old knives look far less like X-acto knives than modern marking knives do. The blade end has dramatically less skew, maybe 15° or 20° off square. While this forces you to hold the knife nearly vertical, I find this a distinct advantage. When marking the near corner, you must roll the knife down toward your body. If you held the knife as you would a pencil (laying back against your hand), that

last roll can be a wrist breaker.

For right-hand use, the left-hand side should be flat. For southpaws, the right side should be flat. I've used but don't love the V-shaped knives, which are supposed to work either handed. The problem I have with them is that the angle at the point is either too steep or exactly double what I would prefer it to be. I've never sharpened one, but it seems like it would be a touch more work to hone. Still, a bad knife is better than no knife.

A striking knife would make a great addition to any shop. I love mine, but maybe not solely for the reasons I've stated thus far. You see, the striking knife, like this article, offers the attentive craftsman the chance to learn important lessons about woodworking quickly and efficiently with hand tools. For if you think this article is about how to use a striking knife, you're only half-right. Read it again, but this time forget about learning how to use a striking knife and concentrate instead on learning the lessons it wants to teach you. Consider the ramifications of its use. Only then will you understand my first lesson to working quickly and efficiently with hand tools ... and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the striking knife. PW

FINDING A STRIKING KNIFE - OR SOMEONE WHO WILL MAKE ONE FOR YOU

It's possible but rare to find striking knives "in the wild." Most folks don't know what they are. Knowledgeable tool dealers or tool-collecting organizations may be helpful. British tool dealers seem to be more familiar with the tool and may actually have one or two to sell from time to time.

Failing that, I recommend seeking a blacksmith accustomed to making tools or knives. The striking knife can be forged from high-carbon steel; its hardness should be that of a chisel. An old file would be a good place to start. The dimensions in fig. A are for my knife. The dimensions in fig. B are for a knife owned by Executive Editor Christopher Schwarz.

—AC

Old striking knives have incorporated decades of practical experience. Their form is a reasonable starting place for craftsmen unwilling to reinvent every wheel. Surely improvements can be made, but why not start where our forefathers left off?

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Popular Woodworking April 2005