Tadafusa remake ( Tansufusa)

I have never been a fan of rehandles or knife modifications and tried to stay away from them, firstly I knew the effort going into them would be as much as making a knife from scratch, secondly most good potential knives were already converted and readily available... Until I decided to buy a tadafusa 210 stainless clad gyuto in blue 2 ( my favourite steel after 52100)
For what I have paid it was great but it came as expected , very sharp spine , choil , grind meant for lefties , wayy spine , very cheap handle that was mounted on an angle and not so good cutting ability which was the most concerning one .
I have decided to modify it to my taste converting from wa to one of my hidden tang handles . Handle material is 2000yo bog oak and nickel bolster .
I have reground the blade giving a proper bevel on the right side and hand finished the blade up to 1500grit sandpaper. Flattened the spine , reprofiled the knife , Rounded spine and choil . Finally gave a quick etch to create a better contrast with core steel to stainless cladding .
Finally took it to stones and did my usual cutting tests which it performed better than some knives few times it's worth Overall I am very happy with knife and the way it cuts and feels .
However this is not a service I will be offering , as I said if had spend another 2 hours I would have done a knife same size from scratch . Thanks for looking , this one will be heading to auction , feel free to ask any questions you may have

 

… just one question: why this knife doesn't carry your maker mark?

 

Because it carries the original makers mark , although I have worked on it at least 3 times more than the maker I have not made this knife from scratch

 

Nice job making a silk purse from a sow's ear. Devin Thomas reworked an old Sabatier blank a few years ago, and he said that it would have been easier to make a new knife also.

 

Actually I remember that Devin actually put his maker mark on those Sabs, since they took him so much time and sweat.
I mean if you just round choil and put new handle (like I'm doing all the time), then adding your makers mark is kinda stretch… but once you also reground knife, then its fair to put your mark and it wont offend original maker.

That Tansufusa really looks good and deserves your mark IMO

 

It wasn't so much that it took a lot of time, but that Devin started with a knife blank, not a finished blade. It was almost as if he had started with a billet. Mert is following correct protocol in not adding his maker's mark.

 

Well, I respectfully disagree.
If you take cars market as an example, you could easily finds numerous examples where tuning agencies takes stock car, makes numerous of tweaks and add their label. That's totally correct protocol. Just compare Mercedes-AMG with stock Mercedes and tell me if it would be fair to remove AMG label from those tweaked monsters. So why situation with knives is different? If you make numerous tweaks to the knife than it makes sense that you also take some responsibility — and maker mark is the sign of that responsibility. So in my eyes its totally appropriate to add another makers mark in such cases.

 

Anton,

I'm not sure the analogy is applicable. Then, I'm not a bladesmith. I think that the answer should come from one of them.

Regards,

Rick

 

Looks amazing, Mert!

And, yes. You might as well make a whole knife yourself. I have done two complete overhauls in the past couple months, and the only thing I didn't do myself to the knives was the HT, it seemed. Meh.

 

I've discussed this with a few makers, and only two have felt it was appropriate for me to add my mark to the blade. I didn't add it, but out of say, 10-12 makers, less than 20% have said it was ok. In fact, Murray Carter and I had a lengthy conversation about it, and he said the only way to get your name on the blade is to make it yourself or to pay enough to buy the rights. I only half agree. I think (for example), "Forgecraft, by Tansu" is appropriate if the knife was a complete redo from grind to handle - butt to tip.

 

Well, looks like there's no simple answer. One may say that forging and HT are too important and if you haven't done them, than you shouldn't put your name on the blade. But what about knives, made by stock removal from non-forged blanks? Last year I bough several forged blanks of steel that was already heat treated — so in order to make a knife from it, I'd need to spend god knows how many hours with grinder… but in the end it will be my knife. I can easily imagine how much time Tom puts into some if his projects and with all respect to Murray and other makers — it's not as easy as buying rights.

 

From Lefty's comment, especially what Murray Carter had to say about this issue, it appears to be a matter of creative ownership, and respecting that ownership. A knife blank, or a damascus billet from a bladesmith, is purchased with the expectation that the purchaser will finish the blade and show that ownership with a maker's mark if so desired. On the other hand, a knife that has had a maker's mark applied is sold with no such expectation - in fact the reverse is true - that the purchaser will respect the maker's rights, unless an agreement with the maker is reached.

The amount or type of work is immaterial.

 

Thanks for all the insights and feedback guys ,
@Anton with car modifications you mentioned they are still using the same chassis , same interior mostly the changes are at the drive train , and amg is the official division of Mercedes, in my case it's little different I think. And the blanks you mentioned they are sold with the manufacturer knowing they will not carry their brand and they are perfectly fine with them
While this was fun there is no comparison forging a blade a watching its transformation from a cold piece of metal to something beautiful , as I mentioned earlier I am not planning to do any conversions

 

Tansufusa does seem to have a nice ring to it . I think Mert's own work, knives and cooking, almost speak for themselves. I suspect Mert might be amused by this discussion.

 

Really sorta amazing..... the evolution of such a talented artisan! :cool1

 

Thank you gentlemen

 

More pics

 

The handle materials really suit the blade Mert

 

Thanks Alex , the cutting performance is quite impressive I have to add it

 

Appreciate you sharing stuff like this, MT. Novices to craftspeople like you mess around with stuff and it's good to know the kind of successes and failures that go on.

Now I know you like your western handles, too.

Question about steels: you said Blue 2's your 2nd fav and it's part of the reason you messed with this knife. Why do you like Blue2, and why's 52100 your first fav?