Massdrop Polling for USA Made Kitchen Knives

I have been working on a few models that I am considering creating a production line out of. Currently I have the Paring knives in production and thought these are pretty much still hand made knives, I will be shooting for a better price-point than some of the full customs with Hamon lines as in these images of the New Utility Paring Knife.
   The FTTU Full Tang Tribal Utility is a newly created design, Born out of the Tribal Utility knife that you can find in earlier posts, it is a sweet knife for daily use in any kitchen, and would make a fantastic line-knife for professional kitchen work as well.
   The Personal Chef is a creation that started life as a knife i made for myself some years ago. It gained in popularity among my visiting chef and avid cook friends who worked in my kitchen.....so I figured I would make it part of my line-up. Currently the thoughts on this knife are to make it our of 52100 carbon steel, but there may be a split on the number of pieces produced, some being in AEBL (13c26) stainless steel.

These are the prototypes, hand made versions of the knives I plan on creating in CMP-154 stainless steel. Slight variations on these will be that the pins and inlay will all be matching brown micarta, the handle material you see here is Antique Paper Micarta which will be the material of choice for the run of 50-pieces. 

The blades are 4" in length of cutting edge, and will be hollow-ground on the run of 50, the Overall Length is Just shy of 9" - giving plenty of handle for control and making this a wonderful little knife that will be handy in any kitchen.

These knives will essentially be hand made knives but will use some machines to accomplish the simple task of creating the actual outline of the knife, the rest is all hand ground and shaped, finished and sharpened.

Currently polling these for pre-order of a limited edition of 50-Knives in CPM-154

 Projected costs are still being worked out, but these are looking to be somewhere in the range of $285-310ea.

These are currently in production now, and are

Expected to be available: Fall 2015.

 

 

FTTU > Full Tang tribal Utility 

These are the prototypes, hand made versions of the knives I plan on creating in CMP-154 stainless steel or possibly CTS-XHP. Slight variations on these will be that the pins and inlay will all be matching brown micarta, the handle material you see here is Antique Paper Micarta which will be the material of choice for the run of 50-pieces. 

The blades are 5.25" in length of cutting edge and the Overall Length is Just shy of 10.25" - giving plenty of handle for control and making this a wonderful little knife that will be handy in any kitchen.

 The run of 50-knives will essentially be hand made knives but will use some machines to accomplish the simple task of creating the actual outline of the knife, the rest is all hand ground and shaped, finished and sharpened.

This is a knife that will fast become your favorite in the kitchen! The perfect knife for daily meal-prep. and a super sweet size for making small meals, detail tasks, or taking along for a picnic or camp-outing.

Currently polling these for pre-order of a limited edition of 50-Knives in CTS-XHP or CPM-154. 
Projected costs are still being worked out, but these are looking to be somewhere in the range of $475-525ea.

Personal Chef

This is one of the prototypes, hand made version of an excellent medium-full size kitchen knife. 

The plan is to create a imited edition of 25 of these in 52100 carbon tool steel and 25 in AEBL (13c26) Stainless Steel as pictured. 

Slight variations on these knives will be that the pins and inlay will all be matching brown micarta, the handle material you see here is Antique Paper Micarta which will be the material of choice for the run of 50-pieces. There will be no carving on the handles as seen either, but this may be an option of occur on a few in each edition. 

The blades are 7.25" in length of cutting edge and the Overall Length of 12.25". this will be that perfect main knife in any kitchen.

The run of 50-knives will essentially be hand made knives but will use some machines to accomplish the simple task of creating the actual outline of the knife, the rest is all hand ground and shaped, finished and sharpened.

Currently polling these for pre-order of a limited edition of 25-Knives in 52100 Carbon Steel, and 25 in AEBL (13c26) Stainless Steel. Projected costs are still being worked out, but these are looking to be somewhere in the range of $700-800ea.

5 For BLADE Show Atlanta 2015

Greetings All,
  I am so grateful for good friend and purveyor of my knives Duane Weikum of EDC Knives for offering my work at this years BLADE Show Atlanta. I will be there this year, but may not be at the table at all times:) See you All there!

You can visit and purchase any of these knives at table 16C at this years show.

Top to Bottom are: 

1. A Wonderful EDC Wharny, created out of 1095 with a fine Hamon and polished details & dressed in Vintage Turquoise and Black Micarta with stainless pins and lanyard-liner. This knife come with a custom Kydex Sheath.

2. A Sweet EDC Hunter, created out of 1095 with a fine Hamon and polished details & dressed in green linen Micarta, with Peened bronze pins and stainless lanyard liner. This knife come with a custom Kydex Sheath.

3. One of my new Bug-Out-Camp knives with polished blade and details. This knife come with a custom Kydex Sheath.

4. A very sweet Tribal French knife, forged out of 52100 and heat treated for optimal performance. this one with a mortised handle construct of Antique Ivory Micarta with matching inlay at the end of the handle and rosin-impregnated woven cotton line. Just finished this one yesterday and it is AWESOME! Comes with one of my trademark slip sheaths.

5. Last but not least is one of my New Paring/Utility Models dressed in Antique Ivory Micarta with rare Westinghouse Ivorite inlay over a blind pin, and two more peened bronze pins.

Comes with one of my trademark slip sheaths.

Two Camp Cleavers Underway

Sitting here in their freshly forged state, descaled and ready for some light stock-reduction and sub-critical thermal-cycles. Stay Tuned as I will be posting more images of the process on these two.

I have only made one other like these, and am excited to be making these two now! These are perfect compact Camp Knives for general camp tasks, when a large knife is not needed.

Seeking Perfection

Greetings Everybody,

Well, I thought I would title this Post in this way because of the time and experience it takes to get Exactly what one is after in the realms of the Differential Heat Treatment.

As many of you who have been following my work know, it is quite common to see knives with blades that have different tonal changes on them, some in patterns, some straight, some in between. This is generally termed as being differentially heat treated. Other names used are, Hamon
(meaning "Blade Pattern" in Japanese) and there are many many styles of Hamon.

What most people do not know, is that shooting for a perfectly defined hamon, or even getting a beautifully defined straight quench right where you would like it, with the exact look you are after, can be quite challenging. This is why you mostly see lots of satin finished knives (especially chef knives) with no etched surfaces.....it's just easier to harden the whole blade. AND is easier to finish too. nothing to really develop, polish, reveal, or fuss-over.

I recently finished a knife that I am very proud of and wanted to share it with you All.
This is a seemingly simple knife but it really has character.
Character you might ask, what's so special?

For-One: The position and depth of the quench line is very nice on this particular blade.
Of course it could be deeper (higher to the spine) resulting on more hard-zone, but in terms of aesthetics, I like how the quench-line lays half way between the machi and the heel, and flows so gracefully right where the kissaki make it's transition to the spine.
Also: The definition is very crisp, and the little bit of secondary plunge as the second ticked during the hardening stage, resulted in a bit of what my Mentor Tai Goo calls "Rainbow Quench".
Resulting in what In think is one of the most beautiful blades I have made to date.

This particular model is based on my Personal Chef Model, in a stick-tang configuration and with a rustic forged finish, with polished bevels and details for a striking contrast.

The Steel is 1095. The blade is 7.25" of cutting edge and the OAL is 13" The handle is African Blackwood with Antique Ivory Micarta inlay and mosaic pin.

I also attached a few process images of another knife I am extremely proud of that illustrates the Hamon Process in just a few images.
#1 the final part of the clay application.
#2 the initial trial etch.
#3 the finished knife.
Trust me, it's not as simple as 1,2,3 either!
For more information on the knife you see directly above: VISIT THIS POST

I was very happy with in terms of getting the definition of the Hamon just as I wished.
It seems as though I got about 90% of what I was after in terms of how I applied the clay on this one!

It's just not one of those things that happens in a perfectionistic way, but it is driven by perfectionism and fueled by some degree of program, related to how the clay is applied.
And then there is a ton of practice, experience and trial and error that fuel the passion for getting things just-so....
.......because the next step is all about time and temperature.
Every blade is different, every clay application slightly different,
every moment in time is different etc...

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed seeing these two knives that illustrate two styles of differential Heat treatments.

Blessings of Goodness and Health to you All

-DON:)

Some Beauties Fresh Out of the Studio: Personal Chef Model and New Paring/Utility

I have truly been enjoying this amazing Handle Material Combination.
...So much-so that I would love to place it on every knife I make !!.....but then it would not be that special anymore, PLUS, this Old Westinghouse Blue Ivorite Paper Micarta is VERY VERY Rare!

Matched with some nice Antique Ivory Norplex Paper Micarta, It's PURE-CLASS !!!

SO

Instead of using the Blue as full handle material, I am opting to use it for inlay and for full handles only on certain knives. It is a limited material and none will ever be made again! It has the quality and color saturation of fine old lapis lazuli, and I love the materials for it's beauty and toughness.

Here are some of my latest knives featuring these materials on the handle.
A Beautiful Full-Size Chef Knife, a Model I call the "Personal Chef" It was patterened after a knfie I made myself some years ago, and it is a great performer. Here, created out of 13c26 stainless steel with a RC-value of 60-61, it features an 8" blade and is ready for work!
This knife will soon be available at EatingTools.Com
Along with two of the New Utility/Paring Model I have been creating.
These little beauties are out of 1095 carbon steel with fine gunome hamon on them.

I hope you enjoy seeing the images of these knives.

-DON:)

Next are these really wonderful New Utility/Paring Model Creations in the same handle materials.

Introducing > The Bug-Out Camp Knife

I have been thinking of some ideas for hybrid camp-chef knives lately.

Since I have been playing with some Micarta as of late, I thought I would re-tool this stick tang camper that I made originally about 2-years ago.
I re-worked the blade-style a bit and am happy with the results.
__________________

These knives have a camp-knife geometry, convex and yet quite fine at the edge, perfect for splitting wood for kindling with aid of a baton on the spine, and also weighty enough to do some chopping.
Sharp as a razor and totally capable to prep foods with no problem. Basically looking very much like a chef knife, but with a bit more handle drop, and yet,
still quite capable as that knife that you would want along if you were heading out & needing to have one knife that would take care of business.

These are forged out of 1095, featuring a mild distal taper,
hammer-textured surfaces high on the bevels, and a nice swedge to the tip.
These will all have Micarta Handles on them.

The top knife is more indicative of the size I will be producing these in as time goes on.
With a 6.50" blade that is about 2" wide it's a nice compact camp knife.
....Being a special order,
the request was for African Blackwood and Antique Micarta Inlay and mosaic pin.
THIS ONE > heat treated out with an amazingly sweet clay-less Hamon! Truly beautiful!
I wish I could make that happen more than once in a blue-moon!

The bottom one is sort of an XL-version, one-of-a-kind, that I do not plan on producing more of unless requested.
This one is about 7.50"
and is featuring what will be the norm on these,
straight quench, some nice Canvass Micarta, with a single mosaic pin.

Keep en eye out as I will be spinning a few of these out throughout 2015.
Feel free to Email me is you want more information.

I hope you enjoy seeing these that have been created so far.

-DON

 A Fancy Bug-Out Camp For Tim !

One of his images of the knife too:)

 And One below with a Polished Blade...I like how this looks!

 

Five For February!

OK...So This post is coming in a little late, but due to the wonderful world of computers I can time-stamp it in last months cue as I type today on March 4th;)

OK I just wanted to share some shots of recent work finished.

Currently Available From California Custom Knives are the bottom two knives and the Middle bug-Put Camp Knife, the top two Small French Knives are headed to Brooklyn's EatingTools.Com

I hope you enjoy seeing some of these images!

Top of the first Image are two sweet Small French Knives. There will be many more of these coming out of the CCK Studio throughout 2015. Simply, a wonderful size knife for every day meal prep, and perfect for those who shy-away from larger chef knives, prefer smaller knives, or have smaller hands...though they fit my hand very well with plenty of knuckle-clearance over the cutting board and I am 6'6"-Tall:)

In the middle is the Bug-Out Camp Knife. Please visit THIS POST to read more about it.

And finally are these two sweet Classic French Utility Models in two amazing handle materials for your consideration. Both are available right now on California Custom Knives. Each are amazingly sweet, light and strong. Perfect for daily meal prep and detail cutting tasks or picnic-outings!

I hope you enjoy the images!

-DON:)