How to care for a ruby swivel knife blade?

[sheowahya]

G'Day

I recently became the proud owner of a ruby blade.

But as some of you know, I am very new to the craft and am still learning to work with my steel and ceramic blades.

Before I do something horribly wrong and destroy the blade forever, what do I need to know about the care, maintenance, and use of this very special tool?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge with a newbie.

Marilyn

[Art]

Hi Marilyn,

Ruby was all the rage 15 years ago. It didn't last long as ruby is hard but quite brittle resulting in dings on the blades which never really were fixable because the ruby usually came off when attempting to regrind the darned things. I found they could be sharpened on a flat steel grinder with diamond paste if not dinged too bad but were still prone to ruby detachment which can be reattached with jewlers cement sometimes. What I am getting at here is you have a collectors item. Current technology says steel or ceramic, you pick em.

Art

G'Day

I recently became the proud owner of a ruby blade.

But as some of you know, I am very new to the craft and am still learning to work with my steel and ceramic blades.

Before I do something horribly wrong and destroy the blade forever, what do I need to know about the care, maintenance, and use of this very special tool?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge with a newbie.

Marilyn

[ClayB]

G'Day

I recently became the proud owner of a ruby blade.

But as some of you know, I am very new to the craft and am still learning to work with my steel and ceramic blades.

Before I do something horribly wrong and destroy the blade forever, what do I need to know about the care, maintenance, and use of this very special tool?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge with a newbie.

Marilyn

Hi Marilyn,

The ruby blades aren't really ruby, exept in color. I think they are some sort of man made substance. From what I have heard, they tend to chip VERY easily if dropped, and sometimes the ruby tip just falls out of them. They are also about impossible to sharpen without special tools. But, if they aren't damaged, they were supposed to stay really sharp with just normal maintenance, using a strop as you would any blade. I know one master leather carver that likes them better than any of the blades he has from custom tool makers. They are also gaining value as collector items. You can use it, and will probably like it, but just be careful not to drop it.

Clay

[whinewine]

The ruby blades are, I believe, real ruby- not natural, but synthetic ruby, grown in a lab, just like ruby crystals are grown in labs for use in lasers. Same chemical formula, same crystal structure, just grown synthetically.

I have a ceramic blade & I have a ruby blade (in addition to steel blades). I almost never use the ceramic- it just doesn't feel right & seems to have much more drag than the ruby blade. I use my ruby more than any other blade, & I've had it since the early '70s. It seems to work better in certain leathers, while my steel blades seem to work better in others. Whichever of the two (ruby or steel) works better in the particular leather I'm working with is the one I'll use, but I do favor the ruby 80% of the time.

As far as stropping, I really don't think it will work with ruby (it is the second hardest substance next to diamond- & I don't think stropping a diamond cutting edge with rouge would make it any sharper, at least by a few manual strokes on a strop board, anyway). I think the concept of manually stropping a ruby or a diamond is another urban legend- diamond polishing paste on a lapidary machine would be the way to go- not a few strokes on a piece of cardboard with rouge.

Anyway, Marilyn, enjoy your blade, use it, & protect that edge- it IS able to be chipped easily if dropped on marble or any hard surface, and yes, I've heard the tips do sometimes come loose (knock on wood, that's never happened to me!). Just to be sure, get a piece of surgical rubber tubing & place it over the tip to protect it. Don't be afraid to alternate with properly stropped steel blades. You may find the ruby works better in some situations than others, & visa-versa.

[ClayB]

The ruby blades are, I believe, real ruby- not natural, but synthetic ruby, grown in a lab, just like ruby crystals are grown in labs for use in lasers. Same chemical formula, same crystal structure, just grown synthetically.

I have a ceramic blade & I have a ruby blade (in addition to steel blades). I almost never use the ceramic- it just doesn't feel right & seems to have much more drag than the ruby blade. I use my ruby more than any other blade, & I've had it since the early '70s. It seems to work better in certain leathers, while my steel blades seem to work better in others. Whichever of the two (ruby or steel) works better in the particular leather I'm working with is the one I'll use, but I do favor the ruby 80% of the time.

As far as stropping, I really don't think it will work with ruby (it is the second hardest substance next to diamond- & I don't think stropping a diamond cutting edge with rouge would make it any sharper, at least by a few manual strokes on a strop board, anyway). I think the concept of manually stropping a ruby or a diamond is another urban legend- diamond polishing paste on a lapidary machine would be the way to go- not a few strokes on a piece of cardboard with rouge.

Anyway, Marilyn, enjoy your blade, use it, & protect that edge- it IS able to be chipped easily if dropped on marble or any hard surface, and yes, I've heard the tips do sometimes come loose (knock on wood, that's never happened to me!). Just to be sure, get a piece of surgical rubber tubing & place it over the tip to protect it. Don't be afraid to alternate with properly stropped steel blades. You may find the ruby works better in some situations than others, & visa-versa.

Hi Whinewine,

I didn't realize that ruby could be grown in a lab. I googled it and that was interesting.

Only time I used a ruby blade was when I bought one off the internet for Jan Schoonover. I tried it out before sending it to him to make sure it worked. He prefers the ruby blade over all the blades he has, and he has several including a few from Robert Beard. The one I found him, and the last one he found himself both chipped soon after he started using them. Last time I talked to him he was looking for another. If I had that much trouble with a certain blade I think I would switch, but there must be something about them he really likes. Robert Beard said he could sharpen the ruby blades if they aren't damaged to badly.

Clay

[krauter]

Wasn't one of the best set of blades I bought in the 70's. they dinged up too easily. Still have a couple.

[Gump]

I like the ruby blades much better than steel, never tried ceramic though. I like the wide cut you get with the ruby, because it is ground to around 90 deg. I find I get too deep of a cut with the steel (although my steel blades were all used when I got them and may be ground too much), don't know what factory angle was. I have 3 rubies, all in perfect shape and they always stay sharp.

[TigerPal]

Does anyone know of anyone who still makes ruby blades??? I have a chunk of synthetic ruby with which I would like to have a blade made, if possible.....

[TwinOaks]

No one is making ruby blades as far as I know.

They were offered as an alternative to steel, but these days, Ceramic blades have that function. There's also been a LOT of development of different types of steels used in blades. The steel used by Leather Wranglers is far superior to the steel used by Tandy in the 70's (and now). Essentially, if you found anyone that could work with the synthetic ruby, then they could make the blade....but no one that I know of is doing it for the leather industry. There's just better options that yield better results.