What's on my Bench Today?

Laser=So thin you can't see it with the naked eye

 

love seeing your knives in 'Predator' mode Cris

 

Do you mean on the maple/nickel/wrought handle? I use a belt grinder for anything that requires flatness. The oval/rounding is all done by hand.

Lol...it's ok...the sneaky bugger bit me too!

 

Yup, that's the one I mean. I'm trying to figure out for myself how you make such handles. (And I've read a couple of how-to's already.) What I wonder is how a belt sander (in which the belt has some give) can make such straight surfaces. Funnily enough I thought that you'd do the rounding with a belt sander.

 

This is my belt 'sander':





Or rather, that was it when it was new lol. It's a 2hp variable speed 2x72 belt grinder. There is no give against the platen, though I can remove it to use the belt with some give (slack belt). Even my old 6x42 sander, which actually WAS a sander...had a hard flat platen. That's what I made all of my first handles on btw. There's a 'how-to' here:

http://www.kitchenknifefora.com/threads/my-method-for-making-wa-handles.1202/

I do things a little differently now...but that is a good enough tutorial to get you started.

On the rounding...I found out very quickly that even at low speed, it either chews through wood insanely quickly (too quickly for me to control reasonably...my first oval handle almost ended up a toothpick!), or is so slow I may as well do it by hand.

Soooo...I do it by hand. It's more accurate anyhow...and I have better control of where and how material is removed. For example, on the handle we're discussing, the wood would be removed at a far, far greater rate than the wrought/nickel. If I had tried to shape that with a belt, it would have left huge dips to either side of the metal (again...I found this out quickly on my first oval handle!). Being able to control the rate and location of material removal is mandatory for me.

 

Today we have @strumke's finished 280mm suji with a freakin gorgeous @mkriggen handle and my distressed saya .



Loving this knife .

 

That's a really good looking package!!

 

Gorgeous as always

 

That is a very cool machine, Cris. And thanks for the link to your method for making wa handles. I'll read it tomorrow.

 

Anytime Mark!

So...what do you all think of this?



I made this laminate blank almost two years ago...and have been sitting on it undecided as to its fate. I mean...the spalting is cool...but it was kind of...I don't know...on a standard wa handle it just seemed wrong. On a flared half round though...that could look nice maybe. There's plenty of spalting through the blank as well...you can tell by looking at the ferrule.

Hmmmm...

 

What's on my bench tonight!



Robert's ko-gyuto all polished up, sitting under the handle blank prototype I made for it (I've started rubbing the pine down with iron oxide paste so I can see the bevels! Seems to work well lol). Robert and I have been going back and forth between the koa and black mango pictured for this handle...and only just tonight decided on one. I'm curious which you guys like best though .

This handle setup is going to be kind of cool, but I won't spoil it before it's done lol.

Also pictured, 270 gyuto-hiki, and two 270 gyuto that just got straightened tonight. None of those three are orders, and will be up for sale if anyone would like to jump ahead in line .

Thanks for looking ladies and gentlemen!

 

I think the pic doesn't show off both pieces of wood very fairly, and that'll skew the opinions...oh well. Both are pretty cool.

Polish looks nice. Nice example of how a habuchi doesn't need to be super fluffy all the time.

 

Well...we already know which we're using lol...so it's a moot point. I actually prefer the same one you chose with the way the handle turned out.

On the habuchi...I agree. It's very sharp and clean. I may adjust it just a bit to get more polish out of the soft steel above it...but for the most part it's exactly as I want it and suits the blade geometry perfectly.

This one is a cutter for sure.

 

A quick (very) little video showing off Robert's ko-gyuto.

 

Getting closer....



So...the facets. What do you all think? Personally I'm freakin in love with the things, lol...and may actually modify the passaround's handle to have them when it comes back. The knife is SO light that removing as much material on the handle as we did (credit for the initial idea goes to Robert!) went a long way towards getting the balance point forward. As it sits the knife weighs 117g (it's 185mm), and the handle is 52g of that (mostly due to the wrought iron). The balance point is about 1cm in front of the ferrule. The knife feels good in hand, but I'm used to neutral balance knives that are feather light lol...so it's tough to say what you all might think.

Anyhow, there it is lol. What's on my bench today .

 

A customer asked me to sell off a couple pieces of wood for him. The first is green dyed stabilized quilted maple from Mark at Burl Source. Original cost was I believe $55 (Mark can verify if he likes, I'm assuming). He's asking $45 shipped in the US. The second is a really special piece of blue/purple dyed stabilized buckeye burl from Craig Stevens. This one was won at auction for $140. He's asking $85 shipped in the US. If you buy them together he'll take $120 shipped.

Thanks for looking guys! Let's get these sold for him if we can!

 

Reprofiled and reground Ichinimon .



212mm, and 50mm on the heel. Its a sweet little cutter for sure .

 

Wow, I really like the look of that newer sculpted handle, very sleek and unique! I'm diggin the hamon on that one as well :like Not sure what "Ichinimon" means, but I'm guessing it maybe means it's a blade made by someone else? lol.. anyway, but it reminds me, where's that san mai at man?? juuus messin... I do hope ta see at least a few WIP pics on how ya go about forge welding and forging the blade however when ya do get around to that.

And man I love me some spalting (maple?). Have you seen any of Karl Andersen's hunters using end grain spalted maple? http://www.andersenforge.com/fourbrothersproject.html .. Man it is gorgeous stuff! I've always wondered were he gets that from ?? .. I'll be waiting ta see what that looks like when ya get all the facets ground into it.. So will that one also be shaped in your newer sculpted handle style? BTW, that pine handle with the red oxide looks cool in and of itself, will be a shame ta see it just sittin around.. give it a thick candy coating of some lacquer and call it good!

~Paul

 

the itinomon comes from maxim who is also a vendor around these parts. www.japanesenaturalstones.com is his site. the particular knife is of san mai construction, it just looks like a crazy contrast because cris etched it. I believe these knives to be great cutters out of the gate, but I'm sure cris made some outstanding adjustments to this one in particular. and he made a beautiful handle for it as well.

beautiful spalted wood on those handles you posted as well! I also cant wait to see what Cris' next move is lol!

 

Thanks for the quick explanation and kind words Brad!!

Paul, Brad covered it pretty well lol. Ichinomon/Itinomon are a brand as he said. Robert (who owns both of those knives btw...both my ko-gyuto with the sculpted handle and the Itinomon) asked me to reprofile it and regrind. It really was a great cutter from the start...but I think this profile is much more useful, feels much better on the board, and cuts better as well. Honestly, it's a great little knife at the initial price point, but I think the cost of the modifications I made vs the improvements were a value as well.