D. Martell For Sale - Hiromoto AS western to wa conversions!

Last week I was going through some boxes that I had left over from our move last summer and found two Hiromoto gyutos in my "box 'o shame". I was puzzled at first by this as I know that they don't belong to a customer and seeing as how they were still wrapped in painter's tape I wasn't sure what the deal was. Upon inspection it appears that I must have screwed up on rehandling these knives (and replaced them at a loss) and then (maybe at a later date?) I tried to grind the bolsters off to convert them to wa but screwed that up too and just gave up. So I thought about this for a bit and then decided to finish the conversions and see if I can make them work. I also figured that while I was making some rare birds I might as well dress them up nicely and went with premium handles as well. :biggrin:

I made the handles similar to one another (I used the same materials and construction) but shaped them slightly different. One has a true oval and the other has a modified oval (flats on both sides on the ass end). I'm curious which one you think looks better?


Specs:

Date of Manufacture - (Likely) pre-2010

Blade Length - 240mm (although Hiros run a bit short)
*Note - Both blades are thin but the knife with the modified oval handle is VERY thin, even up near the spine. Both knives are ground a little wonky as they were started back when I had a bit less skill than I possess today.

Style - Gyuto (western converted to wa)

Handle - Wa (1 - oval, 1 - modified oval) two toned amboyna burl, marbled buffalo horn ferrule, copper & G10 spacers

Box - Yes


Price - $425 (each) plus shipping
*If interested please PM with your zip (postal code), country, and Paypal email address.

Thanks,
Dave


Presenting the amboyna sisters......
(more pictures to follow)

Here's the oval handle.....

Here's the modified oval handle.....

Awesome knives and the modified oval looks better in my opinion, just seems more developed.

Beautiful knives, Dave. Still love mine after all these years, too bad they won't make them anymore.

Stefan

Etched hiromotos look about as cool as anything. I like the modified oval too!

Beautiful. I love them!

I know that most of you old hands know the deal with what I've done here so this explanation is for the newer members who might not be up on what the deal is with these Hiromotos.....

Hiromoto AS (Aogami Super steel) knives have been popular for good reason. They have a great carbon core steel that sharpens well and holds the edge for a decent time and come at a great price point for value.

They are clad in a stainless steel which basically makes them nearly maintenance (and reaction) free - the best of both worlds. There has been, however, five complaints heard - the blade is a little too thick, rough tang/handles, rough spine/choil, not sharp enough out of the box, and only available in western (except for the 300mm gyuto and I think a sujhiki).

Here I've removed all issues by first thinning the blade to laser-esque dimensions, then rounding over the spine/choil, to be followed by etching the blade for effect to show the carbon core vs the stainless cladding as well as the lamination line between them - this also serves to reduce reactivity issues. The bolster was ground off and the tang reduced to make an allowance for a wa handle conversion thus removing the western handle and rough tang/handle issue. This conversion makes these knives very rare, there's maybe only a handful in all the world.

The sad part is that the man who makes these knives is now very old and has discontinued producing them so the day is coming, if not already here, where these knives will never be sold again.

I could not duplicate what I've done here for this price if you sent in your knife and asked for the same thing.

My hope is that they'll be sold to someone who appreciates them for what they are.

Thanks for all the kind words and the feedback on which handle configuration you prefer.

I got to thinking about the price of these knives and you know what I had considered everything except the fact that these are like 2nds so let's drop the price down to $375 (plus shipping) for each of them. That's a far fairer deal.

Pm sent with questions on the modified.

PM sent

:bigeek: STUNNING work, dave, as always! :ubersexy:

I've got a few people interested in the modified handled knife and all comments so far have been that people prefer the look of this over the straight oval. I wish everyone could hold them both side by side and see if this would change opinions. I personally find the oval more comfy but I agree with everyone about the look being better on the modified.

Actually, I lean towards the regular oval. Too bad the profile height is a little lower than I like, otherwise it's definitely a beauty!

The oval handled knife is SOLD

The modified oval handled knife is SPF

Both knives SOLD

Thanks!

Dave,
Any interest in doing this again if I supply you with a hiromoto?

KCMande said:

Dave,
Any interest in doing this again if I supply you with a hiromoto?

Click to expand...

We could talk Kevin