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Originally Posted by Bill DeShivs
The proper term is "rebevel," not "reprofile."
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You are absolutely right about definitions. The problem is with us tinkers, we needed a word to describe the work we are doing.
First, a tinker is not a sharpener nor is he a polisher. A polisher is a highly trained artisan that refurbishes, sharpens and brings out the color of a samurai sword. A sharpener does simply that, sharpen. A tinker is a sharperner who makes small repairs to knives, handles, clasps, pots and pans, etc.
Now for the problem that Bill points to. If a bevel has been completely damaged, it needs a new bevel. If as a tinker I make a new one to factory standards, I have re-beveled the knife.
The issue is what do you call it if I set a new angle? Since it is thinner or thicker than standard, it does not have the same cutting geometry or view from the point. It has a new profile. So one tinker tells another, "I made fifty bucks on a Schrade re-profile..."
The other guy knows what I did.
(We have the same issue with glass. I'm older, so I was taught that it is called "glaziers' glass." I have come to find out it is now known as "thick glass.")
Another thing where I agree with Bill is the metal/alloy. Metal is metal, but hands down the biggest contribution is the heat treat. There, I am a snob. A craftsman named Paul Bos does my knives, or they never see my pocket.
I don't own a functioning lightsaber, but I do have a Razel crafted by the Graham Brothers (in my case, Josh Graham), made of S30V and a heat treat by Mr. Bos. I gave it a "quick buff," you know, just something to cut carrots, open the mail, slice a UPS box or overthrow a shogun.
If you follow "Keeping Sharp" over at KF (Oh, and TSR, that's a 'knife forum' no a chicken place...) you will find that there are tinkers spread all over the USA and parts of Canada. As little as twenty years ago you'd have been hard pressed to find an American sharpener who commercially used Japanese waterstones.
Go to an ATM, get a good thick stack of twenties (no, better make it fifties) and go find a tinker in your town. Follow the line of broken hearts, sick jokes, Harley burn outs and puddles of swarf.
If this hoodlum yells for you to go away, shake the money. If he gets really ornery and still tells you to go away, you've found a good tinker. Buy him a goodly tumbler of Don Julio, sit back to enjoy, see your reflection on the bevel and learn why we refer to what you are about to do as "tickling the dragon...."