More On Curved Knives For Spoons

These two knives are used in animal husbandry, to clean and trim the hooves of sheep and goats of different types or breeds. They have stainless steel blades and both take a good edge. Of course they came from UK suppliers, but they are made for international markets and so are available in other countries too.

These three knives are knives I like having around. The top Lamb's foot knife is the third one I have worked through over the decades, the middle one is the stainless steel foot rot knife and the third is a fruit paring knife by Victornox that is excellent for inlay work. Personally, I carry a lamb’s foot penknife (top) in my pocket all the time and even though it may well be illegal for some, I have kept one there for 57 years to date. I use it alongside my usual Stanley folding knife and in my view these are about the best general woodworking work knife I’ve ever owned even though they have a plastic handle sandwiching the inner workings. It does make excellent knifewalls and cuts open packages like no other. I keep the whole blade surgically sharp the whole time and never let that slip. I grew up in an era when no man went to work without a penknife with a substantial blade. Of course, much to the shame of culture, some people do carry knives for the wrong reasons and not many need one for actually working with today.

In the US the general term for the same tool is of course a pocket knife whereas in the UK a penknife is the same basic tool sliding in and out of the pocket throughout the day. The penknife title originated from its function in cutting swan and goose quills for creating writing quills as dip pens in handwriting.  The originals were simply fixed with no folding mechanism to house the blade for pocket storage. The slip joint, the term used for the folding mechanism on pen and pocket knives enabled the safe storage in the pocket and thereby the added convenience of carrying one with you anywhere. As I said, all men at one time had pocketed in their trouser pants a functional and sharp penknife.

The curved blade that came on the knife shown wasn’t quite curved enough and so I gouged out a hollow and then used my Thorex to deepen the curve a little more. Had I needed a tighter curve I would have used a torch to bend it more and then retempered it but this was the shape I wanted and three strokes worked. The knife does come with the two sharpened edges but I didn’t want a push and pull blade in one so I ground the unused edge a little so `i could thumb-push on it as needed. This safer with children too.

I snapped off the top of the curved tip to access the blade better for sharpening with a pair of pliers and then commenced sharpening. If you have a diamond hone it will work well but in this case I wrapped an oval stick I shaped with various grits if abrasive wet and dry and then finally with a strop charged with buffing compound. The handle could be reshaped with a rasp but I actually found it comfortable.