Has Anyone Heard Of A Ringel Head Knife?

[RawhideLeather]

I have a Ringel #3 head knife that I bought used off of Ebay some time ago. It looks like a well made high quality knife with decent steel but I've been unable to find any information on it. The only thing I don't particularly like about it is that it seems that the edge dulls a little too quickly, but to be fair I don't have any other high quality head knives to compare to. I somehow found what I thought was the maker's phone number a long while back and left him a couple of questions on his answering machine but never received a call back. Does anyone know if this is a high quality knife? Anyone ever heard of this guy Ringel? I need to decide whether or not I should keep using this one or invest in another knife with an established and well known very high quality. This one has a 4 1/2" wide blade and it seems to work pretty well for me but I'm open to size suggestions as well. Any suggestions in this area would be appreciated. If it helps, most everything I cut now is from 12 oz. W&C skirting (holstered).

Thanks,

Richard

[rdb]

I'm betting it's this company. They look very good quality.

http://www.ringelcustomknives.com/

[MADMAX22]

Could be the edge you have on it as well. Just a thought, I dont know if your really good at sharpening knives or not so please no offense. Also there is the possibility that someone took a power tool to it a long way back and caused the temper to go bad. Looks like a real nice knife though.

Edited May 24, 2010 by MADMAX22

[RawhideLeather]

I appreciate the replies so far.

rdb - I think I have to agree with you. That is probably the maker - good find. Judging from the responses it doesn't appear that they made very many head knives.

Madmax22 - It very well could be that it's not sharpened as well as it could be. I try but I'm not an expert for sure. I may send it off to have it sharpened professionally by Duey Peters and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks,

Richard

[TwinOaks]

If you're able to sharpen it yourself, there's a tutorial on sharpening head knives here on this forum. If you send it out, have the tinker check the temper of the edge. Max is right, if it was overheated on a power tool, the temper may be ruined. If that's the case, it'll need to be rehardened, and retempered.

[chouinardragon]

Hello Rawhide,

I checked the website http://www.ringelcustomknives.com/ They mostly makes hoof knives for the farriers as you can tell from that website.

So, I wrote to ask if he had made this knife and he said he had made few of it in the past 12 year.

Chris

[RawhideLeather]

Thanks Chris, I sent them an email myself and a photo of the knife as well. I asked them what kind of steel they might have used so hopefully they will be able to tell me that much at least.

Richard

[HarryB]

I have one very similar I bought several years ago at the show in Sheridan. Works great and holds a good edge. Are the ripples along the cutting edge a reflection or does the cutting edge look like that?! If the ripples are in the cutting edge, your knife needs a LOT of attention. Keep it away from power tools and get someone that can hand sharpen it to try to correct the edge.

Edited May 28, 2010 by HarryB

[Luke Hatley]

I have one very similar I bought several years ago at the show in Sheridan. Works great and holds a good edge. Are the ripples along the cutting edge a reflection or does the cutting edge look like that?! If the ripples are in the cutting edge, your knife needs a LOT of attention. Keep it away from power tools and get someone that can hand sharpen it to try to correct the edge.

HARRY B glad to see you back.........

[RawhideLeather]

Thanks for the info Luke. The right side of the blade is just showing a reflection of the venetian blinds behind my workbench. Sorry for the poor photo. I was thinking I would get someone to give it a convex grind. I heard that was the best edge for a head knife. Any input there?

RDB was right about the maker being ringelcustomknives.com. I contacted Frank Ringel and he said he indeed made that knife and that the steel was L6 saw blade so it's probably my lack of sharpening skills and not the knife.

Richard