210mm Damasteel Santoku

Three months ago I put the call out looking for a willing patron to fund a Damasteel project knife and Bruce answered the call.

He asked for something a bit different then I normally do but that was OK as it fit (dimensional wise) the limited sizing that this steel can be found in flat stock form. He requested a "rocking santoku" patterned (exactly) from a Miyabi, just expanded in all dimensions. He opted to go with Damasteel's Rose pattern steel, specified the heel height, thickness, and length of the blade as well as asking for a green western handle.

I wanted to get the best quality nicest looking green wood I could find and I sure got lucky when I came across this stabilized block of maple. It was the costliest maple I've ever purchased but the results are nothing short of spectacular - best stuff I've ever had.

I paired the wood up with a stacked nickel silver bolster, something new to me. The handle is western style like I normally make yet I added a bit of different styling to it, just to jazz it up a bit.

As for the steel, this is a stainless powdered damascus, not your everyday stuff. The heat treat was taken to Rc62-63 with cryo. IMO, it ground pretty easy compared to CPM154 (also a powdered stainless) yet wasn't as easy to finish to a high shine as CPM154 is.

This steel requires a different etching procedure than is normally used. The recommendation is to first soak in warm hydrochloric acid (very nasty stuff!) to bring out some color and then dunked in a mix of ferric chloride acid and vinegar for the texture. I'm not so sure that I couldn't have just used ferric chloride here and skipped the HCI but I did what I was supposed to and the results seem nice. It did require a re-edging and some fine sandpaper work post etch to make it look nice and restore the etched away edge. I chose to also buff the blade lightly to make for a slipperier surface.

Would I use Damasteel again? Mmmm....yes....but for more $$$ Yes I charged a lot for this job, actually this is the most expensive knife I've made, but this steel requires a lot of extra work and it's very expensive as well, so the cost of the product has to bear the expenses. It was fun to try out though.

To Bruce, thank you VERY much for the opportunity to work with this steel, the chance to do something different, and to show off what I'm capable of of doing on the high end.




Now here's the knife, please let me know what you think.....

 

Saint Patrick would have loved it!

Very pretty indeed Dave.

Congratulations Bruce .

 

Thanks Jim

 

Beautiful work. The wood is otherworldly.

 

Thanks Daniel

 

Absolutely amazing!

 

Darn sexy, sir!!! Wish all my first time projects would come out like that! LOL

 

Thanks