All cherry letter opener

[Ernie Nyvall]

My brothers birthday next weekend and just found out I will be in his area. It doesn't have a fancy gold blade, but I believe the cherry will hold for a while if he's careful. Hope you like it. Thanks for looking.

Hey, that carnauba wax you guys told me about for buffing is wonderful stuff.

Ernie

[Mike Ramsey]

Hey Ernie that is really a beautiful piece. Great job!

[Charlie Stein]

Ernie,
Sure looks nice, I would be oroud to get it. Real nice.
Just Charlie

[Dominic Greco]

Ernie,
Just wanted to say how nice I thought that letter opener looked. Nice proportions and an even nicer finish. It really caught my eye. I'm sure your brother will appreciate it.

I'm really glad you posted this. This is exactly the kind of project that could use up some of those hardwood scraps I have hanging around. Heck,if I was smart, I'd turn a matching pen and sell them as a set.

How about some basic dimensions?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Ernie,

That really looks great! How did you make the blade?

[Kurt Aebi]

Ernie,

Great Job!

Could you post a quick detail of how to do the blade? It is probably easier than it looks, but I am sure you could talk us through it and get us comfortable with the design.

Thanks,

Kurt

[Ernie Nyvall]

Thanks all for your kind words.

Jeff and Kurt, I did the taper on the lathe I'm sure you know. I marked it to leave a 1/4" thick blade and went to the disc sander. Sanded it to the marks and tapered the edges to about 1/64" wide. Then to the drum sander to round the flat sides up to the handle. I mounted a palm sander upside down and went through the grades rounding the tapers and sharpening the edges. I've made a few and found that it is better not to sharpen the edges until I get to 320. Otherwise you can eat too much of the blade and have a toothpic on a handle in the end.

Ernie

[John Hart]

Oh...that is beautiful Ernie! I was thinking about letter openers last week to go with a journal box I'm making for my daughters graduation. I was wondering about a wooden blade. I think you pushed me over the edge.

[Glenn Hodges]

A beautiful job on a well designed useful object. I am sure it will be treasured for a long time

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Beautiful work, Ernie. I'm sure he'll love it.

Bruce

[Ernie Nyvall]

John, I made several openers last year out of flat stock and all are still in good shape. They were gifts though so I'm not sure I would get a complaint. Tight grained woods like maple and cherry work best for the sharp edge, but I'm not familiar with very many woods, so there may be some better than those two. The different oaks I've tried became ragged when they got that sharp. Too much thicker than 1/4" in the center and it doesn't slide through he envelope very well, but too much thinner and the end becomes flimsy. The carnauba wax did make a big difference in how this one slides through an envelope.

Ernie

[John Hart]

Well Ernie...I have bigger problems!!! I have no taste in design. I just went down to the shop to try one out with some burly pear. What a hack job. I didn't bother to put any time into the blade because I was unhappy with the handle

The wood sure is pretty but it's not going to work because of what you're saying about blade strength. But I have a pile of cherry out in the driveway, so I'll give that a try.

I threw a couple of pictures in here so you can see the wood, but I am not at all happy with the style. I put some BLO on it to bring out the colors. You certainly got me inspired...we'll see

[John Hart]

Hey...I just had a thought! Ernie, have you tried to make the blade out of different wood and insert it into the handle? I was just thinking about an Ebony blade.

[Ernie Nyvall]

John, no I haven't tried that, but that sounds nice if you can get the blade far enough up in the handle. You could always glue a 1/4" strip of ebony between 2 thicker strips of that pear, cherry, or even maple for a real contrasting center.

Hey, that pear though. I haven't worked with it, but I thought fruit woods were fairly dense and so would work for a blade. I like the shape of your blade.

I've made several sized handles and some longer like yours, but the short fat one in the picture fits nicely in the palm of the hand of someone with arthritis, who can't completely wrap their fingers around something.

Ernie

[John Hart]

John, no I haven't tried that, but that sounds nice if you can get the blade far enough up in the handle. You could always glue a 1/4" strip of ebony between 2 thicker strips of that pear, cherry, or even maple for a real contrasting center.

Hey, that pear though. I haven't worked with it, but I thought fruit woods were fairly dense and so would work for a blade. I like the shape of your blade.

I've made several sized handles and some longer like yours, but the short fat one in the picture fits nicely in the palm of the hand of someone with arthritis, who can't completely wrap their fingers around something.

Ernie

I ought to send you some of this wood so you can try it out. It seems soft, although it is very tight grained so it finishes nice.

As far as the blade, I fear that you'd laugh yourself silly if you had it in your hand...The picture hides the fact that it's off center and has 6 or 7 surfaces.

That's a pretty good idea to contrast the ebony with the handle wood. I'll have to work on that.

Let me know if you want some of this pear...It's starting to get underfoot.