Martell Knives Gallery

Whoa!

 

I just finished up on this 240mm K-tip gyuto made from CPM154 (powdered stainless) steel. The handle is an octagon wa using a "metallic" poly acrylic material.

The customer ordered this knife while he was here in the shop visiting and was able to design the knife right then and there. He came up with just the profile and handle size/design on the spot and from there I did the profile grinding and then passed the knife back and forth between us until he had just the right feeling on the board he was looking for. He had me tweak the heel height and also added in the K-tip feature, all under his immediate approval. The customer then went through my bin of poly blocks and paired up a combo that I wasn't too sure about, certainly not something that I would have done on my own, yet I think the end result is simply fantastic! He did a great job on designing his knife and I was happy to build it for him.

Thanks Richard, enjoy!

 

VERY nice!

 

Thanks!

 

Here's two that I just put a wrap on, both for the same customer.

They are both gyutos (a 270mm and a 240mm k-tip) made from 52100. The blades have a (vintage) mustard patina applied. Dyed box elder burl and buffalo horn was used along with colored G10 spacers for the handles. The customer wanted some color so I did my best.

Hope you like them Ben!

 

Here's a freshly completed 180mm nakiri made out of 52100. This started off to be a rustic nakiri but took a couple of twists along the way where I added/tweaked to make it more of an "upscale" rustic nakiri.

The customer requested a brass spacer but he got 2, plus a nickel silver one and a few black G10s as well as a matching mosaic pin. He was looking for brown wood and left the decision to me so I went with a spalted maple to sort of match the vintage mustard patina applied to the blade. And speaking of the blade, I decided to take the bottom half of it to a nicely polished (convex) bevel that's very thin yet should still push product up and away as it rises and hits the defined "shinogi" (term used loosely here) line. The blade was initially mustard finished all over so there's still some remnants of this on the polished bevel that can be seen when the blade is twisted in the light. I left it because the bevel will just get all patina'd up in use anyway but the customer still has a nice blank canvas to see turn into whatever it will over time as it becomes his knife.

I hope that you like it Jay. Thanks to you and Trish for your support!


PS - The sky is overcast today and I'm dealing with a half dull/half shiny blade. I did my best to show all aspects of the finish but I can say without question that the owner will be surprised when he gets it in hand as it looks better in person.

 

Here's the newest Martell knife, freshly completed, and ready to go to it's new home. It's a 270mm wa gyuto made out of 52100.

The handle is made from a crazy double dyed block of box elder burl that the customer picked out himself. He chose to forgo using another material for the ferrule so that he could include more of the wood's character and I'm sure glad that he did!

The customer requested a nickel silver spacer and mosaic pin be added but I needed to add some umpf (to match the crazy wood) so I went with a double nickel silver and single copper spacer paired with black G10. The mosaic pin that's used matches the spacer stack perfectly.

Now to hope that he likes it.

 

Looks like candy!
Well played Dave.

 

Thanks Jim!

 

Stunning!!!

 

Thanks!

 

Woah that's a beautiful piece of work, Dave!

 

Thanks Warren!

 

Here's something a little different...a 240mm gyuto in 52100 with a "recycled" Japanese d-shaped wa handle installed.

The handle is actually brand new, it was a take from a rehandle job I did a couple of years ago, just too nice to use for a shop jig/tool like I do with most that come off in one piece so I saved it to use at some time in the future. I finally decided to mount it on one of my knives as an experiment since a lot of people have told me that they'd buy this combo if I ever made it so I wanted to see if that was true. Funny thing is that it sold before I could even list it online so I guess this works, LOL.

Here it is....

 

Here's 3 - CPM154 knives I just finished up on, all handled in African Blackwood with the two Japanese models sporting streaked blond buffalo horn ferrules.

This is the first butcher knife that I've made out of stainless. This one is also a bit different in that it's a wider bellied version and the handle is rounded on top and bottom facets. It's the nicest ground butcher knife I've done so far.

 

I just finished up this Martell 230mm Gyuto (Chef's Knife) made from CPM154 powdered stainless steel paired with a western handle made out of a streaked blond buffalo horn, nickel silver/G10 spacers, and some of the best quality koa I've ever worked with.

The wood was selected by the customer, sourced from SheltonPacific.com and is extremely understated in my pictures. Seriously, this handle needs video to show off it's character. Just incredible color tones, chatoyance, and all that which makes koa so awesome.

The handle shape is a bit out of the norm for me but something I have done before a few times. The ass end curve is more flat while there's a deeper finger notch cut on the underside. This type of handle I usually reserve for putting on the higher end knives but the wood was so charming I gave it some extra work.

The blade is sort of an in-betweener, custom request from the customer, being 230mm in edge length with a shorter than normal height of about 53mm at the heel.

I don't want to keep every knife I make but I'd keep this one if I could.

 

Thats a winner for sure Dave!

 

Thanks Jim!