3/27/2008
5:57:25 PM 

Some installers that have worked in this industry for a great many years will know about hook knives and how to sharpen them.

Back when I started in Tampa Florida, our supplier carried only Roberts products and the Roberts method of installation was the only method of installation allowed in the ONLY top end store in Tampa at that time and that was, Miami Rug Co.

It's funny, not one other company I installed for in Tampa even said one word to installers about their method of installation.

Now about the hook knives, the supply house offered 3 different ones. One was super heavy duty and the handle was very fat,--much like older roofers used.

The next one had a light brown handle and was made of German steel. It was very hard to put an edge on it, but if you managed too, it would stay sharper--longer. However, that blade wasn't liked by any of the installers at Miami Rug co., not that that would make much difference to other people or other installers, it was just because of how we sharpened our knives.

The next hook knife was a smaller hook knife, made of a softer steel and it had an orange handle--hence the name we gave it,--the orange knife. Since the steel was softer, a man good at sharpening these blades could put a seam cutting edge on a dull knife in about a minute. The thing was, an installer had to keep dressing the knife often, like once every 3 feet or so. As it sharpened quickly, it dulled quickly, but once sharp, as it dulled a little, it would take about 15 seconds to resharpen the knife back to seam cutting quickly.

Now from the way we sharpened knives, we would bevel the blade up pretty high on one side and pretty low on the other, as this was the quickest way for us.

Now here is a question for those of you that might know. Once the blade was pretty sharp, what did an installer need to do, to make the knife as sharp as possible?

Another question?--How did we sharpen these blades--exactly--know that I have told you, that we beveled one side high and one side low?