Martell Knives Gallery

Thanks Anton, that's very nice of you.

 

OK.....finally.....this one is done....phew!

The owner of this gyuto ordered this knife w-a-y b-a-c-k when (2012) and asked for what I thought would be an easy order to fill. He wanted a simple looking knife with a silver bolster, single silver pin, and dark black handle. Sounds easy, right? Well yeah except for it wasn't.

Finding a material that was dark black is harder than you'd expect. Blackwood is brown, ebony is black (most of the time) but is prone to cracking, bog oak (which came on the scene in the last year or so) is black but without any experience with this wood I was a bit nervous of the results I'd get and I couldn't chance another loss. I once attempted black buffalo horn (and this looked great) but it kept moving - real bad, so that knife got sold as a 2nd. In the end we decided to go with canvas micarta because we knew it to be stable.... and it's black. Let me say here that micarta sucks to work with - don't go there if you don't have to.

I've lost track of how many attempts that I've made over the last couple of years to attach a nickel silver bolster for this knife, it's way more than I'll admit to. Failure, failure, failure.... lost a few knives in the process too!

Finally, through persistence (and commitment to a promise made to this customer), I taught myself how to solder a bolster on the old school way and I couldn't be more pleased with the results I've achieved here.

The thing is that I wasn't ready for this order when I took it but in the end I'm glad that I did. And even though the customer has waited far too long for this knife I am hopeful that he'll like it and get a lot of use out of it over the years.

Thank you for being so patient David.

 

Really sleek and sexy Dave

 

Might as well use my first post here to convey my profound appreciation for Dave's work on this knife. I gave him a pain-in-the-ass project and he just destroyed my highest expectations. Dave, thanks again!

 

Welcome to the KKFora!

 

Thanks guys!

And welcome to the Fora David!

 

Goddamn you make some sexy knives, Dave. Been awesome to see how you've refined your technique over the years.

 

Thank you Jack, I appreciate this coming from you.

 

Amboyna Burl with nickel silver bolster, copper spacers, and mosaic pin

 

300mm wa sujihiki in amboyna burl....

 

180mm Nakiri with Buffalo Horn handle

 

270mm Wa-Sujihiki in Koa....

 

240mm Gyuto (CPM-154) in Dyed Spalted Maple Burl...

 

Here's a 160mm wa petty that I just finished up on. The blade is CPM-154 and it's handle is made of dyed box elder burl, streaked blond buffalo horn, and nickel silver spacers.

 

Darn sexy, sir!

 

Thanks

 

Love the handle

 

Thanks Alex

 

Here's a 180mm nakiri that's headed to WA to live with Mr. Mark Farley of BurlSource.

Steel - O1 @ Rc60-61

Handle - Moroccan Thuya Burl, dark marbled buffalo horn, copper & gray G10 spacers, & mosaic pin



Of course we couldn't have gone with an easy glass finishing maple, nope, we had to go with one of the most difficult wood types out there. Thuya burl is no easy wood to work with, it's got a lot of oils/resins making it difficult to finish and is somewhat easy to scratch. To add to the pressure Mark is a woodworker/wood pimp so getting the finish and feel of this handle correct was critical to me, I just hope that it'll pass OK for him - I did my best!

PS - Sorry for the crappy pics....lots of cloud cover today.

So here's it is....

 

Fantastic Nakiri!
Thank You Dave. I love it.