Wet Dottle
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2008
- Messages
- 1,154
- Reaction score
- 5
...well, new to me. Some time ago I came across this:
http://www.finepipes.com/view_item.php?pipeID=1548&refer=/accessories_center.php?
It is a clam knife that was transformed into a reamer. It seemed an interesting idea so I got one. I actually got mine from the local Williams Sonoma (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cu077/index.cfm?pkey=ccutchs&ckey=cutchs).
For 8 bucks you get a solidly built knife that was designed for kicking around. The finish is unrefined, but you really can't complain for such a cheap artifact. Taking the example from the folks at Fine Pipes, I tried to polish the handle in my modest home buffer, but there was no improvement--I should just have left it alone, I don't know anything about knives. After living with it for a couple of months, here is my commentary.
The good: the blade is long and works easily in all my pipes and the handle is large and confortable, better than any other reamer that I've used. The tip is rounded to prevent damage to the bottom of the bowl (well, not by design, it's a clam knife, but you know what I mean...) and can be equally used in conical and in straight bowls. This tool has potential...
The bad: The blade is too wide and too sharp. It's easy to damage the pipe, specially in smaller bowls. It's width is unwieldy and does not leave much room to jiggle the thing around the bowl. I dulled the blade with sand paper and that made things a little better, but I end up reaming mostly with the back of the blade (the unsharp edge where the thumb usually goes). But the blade is still too wide. If I had any skills, I would grind it up by perhaps a third of its width. Then it would become a great reamer. That, plus the dulling of the sharp edge of the blade.
Bottom line: I still use it regularly, but only for evening out the cake as it builds. It's very good for that. But the PipNet is still the tool to use for serious industrial reaming.
Did anyone else use one of these knifes for reaming? Perhaps another model? I certainly would like suggestions to make it more usable. Maybe I need to look for a knifemaker to implement some changes...
http://www.finepipes.com/view_item.php?pipeID=1548&refer=/accessories_center.php?
It is a clam knife that was transformed into a reamer. It seemed an interesting idea so I got one. I actually got mine from the local Williams Sonoma (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cu077/index.cfm?pkey=ccutchs&ckey=cutchs).
For 8 bucks you get a solidly built knife that was designed for kicking around. The finish is unrefined, but you really can't complain for such a cheap artifact. Taking the example from the folks at Fine Pipes, I tried to polish the handle in my modest home buffer, but there was no improvement--I should just have left it alone, I don't know anything about knives. After living with it for a couple of months, here is my commentary.
The good: the blade is long and works easily in all my pipes and the handle is large and confortable, better than any other reamer that I've used. The tip is rounded to prevent damage to the bottom of the bowl (well, not by design, it's a clam knife, but you know what I mean...) and can be equally used in conical and in straight bowls. This tool has potential...
The bad: The blade is too wide and too sharp. It's easy to damage the pipe, specially in smaller bowls. It's width is unwieldy and does not leave much room to jiggle the thing around the bowl. I dulled the blade with sand paper and that made things a little better, but I end up reaming mostly with the back of the blade (the unsharp edge where the thumb usually goes). But the blade is still too wide. If I had any skills, I would grind it up by perhaps a third of its width. Then it would become a great reamer. That, plus the dulling of the sharp edge of the blade.
Bottom line: I still use it regularly, but only for evening out the cake as it builds. It's very good for that. But the PipNet is still the tool to use for serious industrial reaming.
Did anyone else use one of these knifes for reaming? Perhaps another model? I certainly would like suggestions to make it more usable. Maybe I need to look for a knifemaker to implement some changes...