Compact Chef Knives March 2012

I just finished up a few new ones!

The top two are different versions of my Shallot Knife design. The top one is a custom handled Jumbo Shallot forged out of some 3/16"-thick 1095 for a local chef here in California.
The bottom one is the original size Shallot Knife forged out of some .125" 1095.
Both have nice rainbow quench & some detail carving on the handles. The top knife in desert ironwood the bottom in African blackwood.

The next knife is one I made for Jerome' (Torpen on the USN) He is a maker of very high-quality folding knives & lives in French Brittany.
I am calling it a "Petite' Gyuto" .....how's that for a cross-cultural knife!

It has some sweet desert ironwood and some art-deco-ish carvings on the handle.
This little knife feels really wonderful in the hand and I hope his wife likes it lots! The blade steel on this one is 1080 with satin finish.

Enjoy the images.

-DON:)

Something A Little Different *Whittling Knives*

I was asked by Brian aka> bbbowers here on the USN to make some whittling knives for he and his wife.

After spending some time around the Traditional Knives forum I think I was influenced by some of the blade shapes I saw over there & got around to forging these little blades out.
For sure they are the smallest blades I have made to date at like 2-3". Both are satin finished 1095 fully hardened and wickedly sharp!

I just shipped them out to him after making two very simple leather sheaths for them.
My normal trademark slip sheaths would not do, they really needed leather to be safe and more easily taken long to the camp or wherever.

Enjoy the images.

-DON

GonAlves Camp Knife with beautiful Hamon

Recently finished is this wonderful Camp Knife Tat I am calling "GonAlves Camp."

Forged out of some of Aldo's .140" X 2" 1095 and featuring some contrasting finishes with the rustic file-finished details high on the bevels and the fine Gunome Hamon below.

OAL is 15" with a 9.5: blade that is 2&3/16" wide. This knife features some very nice Goncalo Alves Wood handles with detail carvings and peened bronze pins.
This is one of the very few knives I have ever made with no tapered tang.....it really did not need it & the feel and balance it just right as a result of keeping it all there.

This thing feels like a totally wicked chopper/cutter despite it's straight-forward camp-styling.

Posted is an extra detail image of the Hamon showing more clearly where the primary and secondary clay coatings were layed-down prior to quench.
All of this "registered" onto the blade on a molecular-level and is something I have been playing around with lately. Certainly not an exact science, but I am trying some different things with it.

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Thanks for looking.  -DON:)

Three for December 2011...>the last few knives of the year:)!

These three knives are very sweet...and perhaps the last knives I will complete for 2011.
Two are going to customers and the one large shallot knife (in the middle first image) is still available.

All are forged-to-shape from 1095 high carbon tool steel & exhibit wonderful differential quench-lines....though they do not show that well in the image.

From top to bottom: 

*Modern French Knife with a classic French knife shape and a 9.25" blade and exhibiting a new construction method I have been working with using the ironwood as a supportive" bolster to the kiln dried maple burl. This makes a very handsome handle.

*Next is a Jumbo Shallot Knife.
I expanded on the same design by forging the blade out of 3/16" material rather than the 1/8" material  originally designated for this knife design. The result is a wonderfully balanced and highly functional medium-size chef knife. This knife exhibits some wonderful banding in the quench-zones and Kingwood handle with detail carving.

*And finally a wonderful little Shallot Knife  exhibiting spalted desert ironwood handles with detail carving. You can click the link above to read more about how this knife was designed and came to be:)

I hope you enjoy the images:)

Available Knives @ Tiber Canyon Ranch!

Happy Holidays Everybody!

It's time again for the Holiday Fair @ Tiber Canyon Ranch

The above knives will be available at my booth!

11 am-5 pm Saturday and Sunday 

November 19 & 20 and 26 & 27

There will lots of amazing artist representing their work over both weekends. Tiber amazing Olive Oil, Artizan Vinegars, Metal Workers Fiber Artists glass blowing demonstrations and much more!

Directions at: www.tibercanyon.com

"Out of Africa" Warthog Tusk Knives

Well I just had to make a post of these knives now that they are completed!

It was a bit of a difficult journey, but I was able to get the results I wanted....and hope the clients will be happy with them.

It all started when a father and son found me via an internet search.
They are hunters and came out to the shop with an assortment of trophy horns and others stuff that they had shot. It seems that they have been to Africa on "safari" and had some natural horn and tooth material they wanted some knives made with; using this material as handle fixtures.

Among the items they had were some really interesting Tusks from a Warthog. These were very cool and as an artist/knifemaker excited me the most. Create a blade-shape and overall style of the knife was next.  So I did some conceptual sketches to send them the next day & they left the tusks with me. We decided on the top design & off to work I went creating the blades.

  First thing to do was to trim the ends of the tusk down to help create a better alignment for the blades to enter and to get to some thicker material too.

 I was amazed that the tusks actually were so amazingly symmetric/a-symmetric when I lined up the openings I had trimmed back!

 

Next I got down to designing the blade preform. I cut the preforms inspired by the matching aspects of the tusks & intended to make the blades as close to the same as I could. I used Aldo's +.002 3/16" W2 for the blades.....and got down to forging them out.

Then on to some clay coating & Heat Treatment.

I did not get the best hamon lines....live and learn.

Now on to the handle construction. Carving some African Ebony to register into the tusks. These serve as "bolsters" both to support the blade and strengthen the OAL construction of the knives.

I must have gotten excited to get these done because I stopped taking process images from here on out...
So Here are the final Images of the finished knives/ The blades are 5.5"...and an OAL measurement has not been taken, but these are not light-weight knives.
The Turks head knots & wrappings are all epoxy impregnated & the final sharpening of the blades was a blast.... they came-up wickedly RAZOR Sharp.

I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I have:)

Modern Utility Slicer

This is a beautiful utility slicing knife recently finished for a local artist. I was excited to make this knife for Paul because I know he will cherish it and use it daily in his kitchen.

I decided to go with a new handle style. Employing a slightly different shape and expanding on some of the simple inlay I have been doing lately. Here I decided to add some carving and to use the smaller inlay to hide the silicon bronze pin that sets the knife in the handle.
I think it turned out amazing! AND> It sure feels wonderful in the hand.

This knife is 11.75" OAL with a 6&3/8" blade that has been forge to shape out of 1095 high carbon tool steel. The handle is Arizona Desert Ironwood with Lemon-wood inlay and detail caring.

I hope you enjoy the images:)

-DON:)