A bit of nail polish, a container of salt water, a 9V battery, a Q-tip, and some alligator leads. That’s pretty much it. Easy, inexpensive process from Instructables user lasersage appears to give impressive results.
I am normally immune to high-design tomfoolery, but if I lived in a universe where I could justify spending hundreds of dollars on a set of nesting kitchen knives, I would snap these up in a second.
Check out this cool street side knife sharpener setup. I’ve been told this used to be a common occurrence back in the first half of the twentieth century.
Knifemaker Scott Roush (aka Makers Market seller Big Rock Forge) first put me on to the work of Arizona bladesmith Tai Goo. Forging a knife out of a railroad spike is an old blacksmith trick, and lots of folks will sell you lower quality “tourist grade” RR spike knives as souvenirs, but Tai Goo is widely regarded as the master of the form. Besides his evident skill, Tai Goo is a minimalist. He practices an art called “neo-tribal knifemaking” that involves using as few power tools as possible. [Thanks, Scott!]
