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Froe Woes
I have been reading posts lately, but not contributing much, as I have been busy assaulting Mother Nature in my yard (I'm not winning). However, recently I did hit my local flea, and acquired a fair number of tools. One of which was a large meat cleaver, marked "Underhill, Boston." The handle which looks original has a repairable crack, and it looks like some knuckle dragger once used it as a froe, while building several hundred chairs, and someone forgot to tell said slow head, that you never hit a froe (or meat cleaver you're using as a froe) with a metal hammer. Now, I remember folks here on the list mentioning that carbon steel kitchen knives could be sharpened sharper than the SST kitchen knives which most folks use today. So I was curious if this applied to old meat cleavers which were once employed as froes. So I started in on the nicked up blade with my large Nicholson file, then progressed to a finer Nicholson file, and then to my Carburundum sharpening stone (looks like 1940-1950's vintage), coarse one side, fine the other, new in the box, which I got at the same flea for $1. Well, the blade sharpened nicely, easily surpassing the crappy SST knives in my kitchen (which were however bought me by SWMBO, so there they will remain). Since the blade on the Underhill Boston meat cleaver (once used as a froe) turned out so sharp, I decided to file away the Neanderthal induced mushrooming on the back edge. Now, I have to stop at this point, to mention that in the off chance that you ever find yourself needing to file off the mushrooming on the back of a meat cleaver once used as a froe, you should do so before you sharpen the blade such that it can pare end grain yellow pine molecules in the wet season. Or in the very least, you should file from the back side, not file toward the gleamingly bright edge. Fortunately, my right index finger acted as a depth stop, and kept the blade from burying itself fully into my hand. I should also mention here, that if you ever find yourself loosing blood at horrendous rates, obviously caused by some fool miss-using a meat cleaver as a froe long ago, it's wise to have a First Aid kit nearby, and a wife in the kitchen who is a Registered Nurse, with Emergency room and Trauma floor experience, even if she does buy you SST knives (which should never be used as froes, or hit with metal hammers). Oh, I forgot to mention, that I also brought home a nice Underhill Nashua broad axe, which looks to never have been used as a froe, with what looks like a very serviceable short original handle. But SWMBO decided I should sharpen that tool at some later date. SWMBO also asked why I was sharpening that old junky, and obviously once used as a froe meat cleaver, 'cause the nice SST knife set she bought me, and which resides next to the stove, contains a nice new meat cleaver which never has been used as a froe. Al Perreault |
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