Pictures of your new acquisitions

Had a really good day Tuesday. Mr. Lucretia and I took a drive south to Mareko Maumasi's shop to pick up a knife (the 220mm WIP that he's been posting about in his subforum.) We had a great time seeing the birthplace of these beautiful knives. Mareko was a great host--he let us wander around the shop and check out the tools of his trade. It's really interesting to see. Anvils and hammers--tools that have been used in some form since the stone age--sit beside a electronic hardness tester. REALLY heavy hammers for forging by hand. You see the beginnings of knives, waiting to be forged to their final shape, that look like chubby neck knives. And the final products, carefully packaged in their padded cases and waiting to go to their new homes. Kitchen knives and concept hunting knives. Many, many ways to get into trouble!

XooMG had shipped some knives to Mareko,and encouraged me to try them out. Mareko supplied some giant mutant sweet potatoes and other veggies, and we got to try some different knives side by side. I'd never tried a cleaver or a Kato, so that was a lot of fun. Plus he sharpened an older Maumasi knife I brought along. And did I mention there were cookies?

After a great time with Mareko, we set off across the countryside on the way home and stopped at a pizza place he recommended. We ate ourselves silly and set off for home, through farms and woods with Mt. Rainer playing hide and seek through the trees then looming on the horizon in open areas. Really an amazing sight. (Mt. Rainier is a big-arse, snow covered active volcano, for those not familiar with it. It looks better without the reflection in the windshield.)





Now there's a new member of the "family":



It was a good day. And always remember--try to stay on the good side of anyone who says an anvil is portable. ave

 

Sounds like a great trip, and glad I was able to contribute a little bit to the whole experience.

 

And the family shot is beautiful as well

 

I usually don't say this about other peoples children, but dang...thats a good looking family.

 

wow. Indeed the family looks gorgeous! The style of the "bolster"- that is not really one (let's say the transition from the blade to the handle) is always impress me a lot on these knives.

 

Wow that sounds like a hellava trip!

 

a couple of custom gyutos from nenohi, ironwood and ebony handles, nice weights. Custom sayas hand-lacquered each with 1,000 hinoki flowers.

 

Interesting how they kept a machi gap on those, even though they're pinned.

 

Neelesh, would you mind showing some more pics of the sayas? Beautiful.

 

did not take a good photo really, will do it again when i get home , on vacation at the moment

 

an interesting blade. 52100 steel, meteorite and one oz of solid gold

 

This is my new baby from Chadd Smith, of Tristone Blacksmithing in Australia. So glad to see more Australian kitchen knife makers on the scene.He just won the 'best kitchen knife' category, at the recent Sydney Knife Show.

Specs :

240mm blade
55 mm heel height
Grind is convex, asymmetric for right-hander
208g weight
Width of spine at heel 2.8mm
Half-way down the blade 2.01mm
10mm from tip 0.56mm
Steel is RWL34 super stainless at 63-64HRC
Gabon ebony saya with felt lining, for a friction fit and prevent scuffing of blade and bolster

Handle :

D-shape
Mirror polished 314 stainless bolster and spacers
Faux ivory ferrule
Pink dyed wood (cannot remember the species)

The blade is mirror polished to the highest extend, apparently RWL34 is one of the best steel for it, so I thought why not. I am currently on holiday and cannot comment too much on the steel and edge retention yet, will update in the future, when I am back working.

I did the usual test on onions, potatoes, carrots, and the performance put a grin on my face. Knife is a middle weight and has nice forward heft, as I specified to the maker. This blade is sporting the latest grind from the maker, with improved separation and ease of cutting. Tip did horizontal cut on onions nicely, some stiction on potatoes(probably due to the mirror finish) and carrots cut cleanly with no breaking.

Handle is tapered at the front and very comfy. As for f&f, I kept on joking to maker that it looked like a factory made knife, it was that flawless and consistent.

Lastly, please enjoy the pics, taken with my Iphone and mediocre photo taking skill.

 

Congrats Ferry, Chad's knife is looking great.

 

Beautiful @V1P

 

Thanks, guys.

 

Very very very nice piece that you scored here @V1P. The mirror polish is sick.

 

Serious outrageous knives all up this page . Lucretia, were you hiding a family member or is my memory fading?