Friday, April 25, 2014

A Beautiful Engraved Utility Knife

This is something very different for me.
First-off...I bought this little wood turning lathe about 2-years ago and finally got around to using it.
I had fun making some smaller paring knife handles with it & figured why not make a larger utility knife with this style of handle-build.

The idea of a turned handle is that a piece of metal can be mounted as a ferrule, with the wood running through it to strengthen the knife where the tang is inserted into the handle. On this particular knife I also recessed a piece of translucent G-10 (a very tough man made material) in the front of the copper ferrule to both add to the looks, but also to seal out any moisture and at the same time strengthening the whole construction even more-so. Finally I contrasted that with an inlay of the same material in the end of the handle as well.

BUT Wait....there is more! :)
That copper ferrule was just screaming-out to be engraved!
So I had Bill Rice of Morro Bay do some fine hand engraving on it. I had some ideas of my own, but decided to just let Bill do what he felt like doing, and the results are really amazing!
 I took some fairly quick shots of this knife, and will have to re-shoot it to get better images, but for now I'll post these.

This is a great utility knife, but not a small knife either. With a Blade that has a 5.25" cutting-edge ((5&5/8" to the ferrule) and an Overall Length of 11.25", this is a great knife that is very strong and very light and nimble despite what it looks like. The Handle is Rosewood and the blade is fully hardened 1095.

I Hope you enjoy seeing these first images I took of it. I will try to get better ones posted soon.

Enjoy! :)








Monday, April 21, 2014

Finally Back at the Forge part-2

Well instead of adding on to the first post about the Gyuto Blades I started, I figured I would give them their own post:)

I am very pleased with how these came out! Some new processes have been finding their way into my work-flow and the results are very positive.
These results include:
*Heat treating these thin chef knife blades in a slightly thicker state than I used to in the past. Now doing a bit of post heat treatment stock reduction.

*Thus leaving me more room to create an exacting geometry, resulting in a fine edge that is even keener than I was establishing in the past!...keeping in mind that we are talking about percentages of Millimeters of changes as my blades come down from the spine to the final cutting edge.

*Plus I believe that my overall fit and finish is getting better too!...practice,practice, practice:)

AND...I'm sure there is more, but these are the main high-points.

Two are in African Blackwood that has been sculpted for an amazing feel in the hand, and detail carved & with a nice pin layout.
Then I did one with a clay heat treatment and resulting Hamon; and placed some nice Golden Desert Ironwod Handles with Ebony inlay that hides a Blind-Pin that is peened. This handle was also sculpted and detail carved for enhanced grip and beauty.

These are all forged-to-shape out of 1084 Carbon Tool Steel with etched surfaces to reveal the quench lines (hard & soft portions of the blades). I did a deeper quench on the two in Blackwood than I have done in the past on this model. Since these are thin and quick blades I wanted them to be also tough and resilient, and the deeper quench really makes them so.
* this group has blade that range from 9.25" to 9.5" in length, 14.5"-15"OAL, and....
.... are amazingly quick, stable, and comfortable in the hand.

 OK, Enough Gab, on to the images.
I hope you enjoy seeing these three fine Gyuto Chef Knives:)