TC Blades is back?

Nice.

Its a process, but essentially - yes

Welcome, I take it this is one of yours?
[video=youtube_share;vSTOGjoH-AU]http://youtu.be/vSTOGjoH-AU[/video]

I really like the handle shape, this is coming from someone who prefers wa handles too

tjangula said:

I really like the handle shape, this is coming from someone who prefers wa handles too

Click to expand...

what do you think about the grippy handle on this small santoku:

[video=youtube;T1hxtXDp2xM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1hxtXDp2xM[/video]

The santoku reminds me of a Carter in more ways than one. Love your sayas. Is that one stained? What's going on there.

The saya is rosewood, and was cut with the natural color scheme in mind to show both light and dark portions of it. Then it was brushed to accentuate the natural grain of the wood - and treated with water based lacquer.

tsuriru said:

what do you think about the grippy handle on this small santoku

Click to expand...

I like the shape as far as a western handle goes (reminds me of hattori FH) and also like how it isn't too much "bling", which is fitting for the KU finish. I can't help but wonder if the "grippy-ness" may cause it to be difficult to clean…

tjangula said:

I can't help but wonder if the "grippy-ness" may cause it to be difficult to clean…

Click to expand...

Good point. I was also wondering this when we first started experimenting with this design. What I found is, that as long as the brushing grooves are not done too deep and given a sufficient cover of lacquer, it cleans up quiet easily, simply by using a moist towel - or in extreme instances, can be scrubbed under a running tap with no extra effort.

I see… didn't think about lacquer and instead was thinking of pourous wood

Yes. Porous wood would definitely create some problems. In fact, besides making the wood potentially swell up and crack around the tang I would think it might very well pose a health hazard as it would probably turn into a bacteria trap. Well...with the exception of a few wood types that are said to be natural antiseptics - but I have no access to these varieties. This water based lacquer we use is interesting. Once it is set it is no longer water soluble and in fact remains very inert. Apparently it is also food safe so - it's a win win.