Chefknifeuk - New Website Just for my Forged Knives and their maintenance.

Big news I have made a new site just for the forgies and their up keep. I have a 4 part sharpening series aimed at the novice and a brand new cutting video already uploaded. Last episode still uploading....

Plenty more detailed demos will follow and I have made a Facebook page Chefknifeuk @WillCatcheside

This will be the best place for video requests and questions from customers.

www.chefknifeuk.com



I've also finally got around to doing the instagram thing so will be posting regular WIP there.....

catcheside_cutlery So come follow me there too


I have also collaborated with Maxim to put together a perfect sharpening kit for these all of which I use in the demo.
Pic shows the 1000 in the middle, where as the kit comes with the 800, will rectify that.
Was torn between the JNS800 or 1000, the picture has the 1000 but in the end went with the JNS800 for these as the contrast is much easier to achieve.

The store shares the Shop for my main site, clicking the Shop tab will take you there where you will see my new stock available.

Plenty still to do such as adding contact forms etc etc but the basics are there. Let me know what you think. Thanks All

Congrats on the new site - great pic of you and the missus + child in a field :biggrin:

Lars

Ha Lars, neither me nor the Missus are ever that clean looking

Nice, clean looking site, Will.

WillC said:

Ha Lars, neither me nor the Missus are ever that clean looking

Click to expand...

Haha, was joking - that pic is obviously staged

Lars

Thanks Lars
I got around to updating the order section, offering a few size options in Gyuto and Suji, option to order a matching wa parer with your special forged geometry Catcheside.

Order book is open for the Forged works now with a few choices of knife type, Gyuto, Petty, Suji, Nakiri and Honesuki, also if you make an order you can order a Parer for £150 with standard wa.

First 10-12 spots can be this year with my current workload, after that will move to 2017. If you would like to order for 2017 specify and I will place you back 10 spots.

Cheers and Happy ordering

http://www.chefknifeuk.com/order.html

Will,

Will you post videos on how to sharpen your honyaki knives.... I couldn't find the one you made with
The Aiiwatani? Stone for me....

Will,

Will you post videos on how to sharpen your honyaki knives....I couldn't find the one you made with
Aiiwatani? Stone...

Hello there, its here on my you tube channel

[video=youtube;Fex497iV_Mc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fex497iV_Mc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fex497iV_Mc[/video]

Wil, Wanted to say thanks for posting this video of your approach to sharpening. I've been over it a hand full of times but seems like an excellent strategy. I'm still having a hard time completely erasing the shoulder, even though I'm dropping the angle to below 10, just above scratching the blade face above the lamination line.

I'm surprise that others haven't chimed in cause its its quite different that what most do. The two things that struck me are 1.) bringing the whole bevel to the edge (zero bevel sharpening) and 2.) Using very few tiny short strokes to do it.

I'm a flipper sharpener following traditional Japanese knife sharpening, what Jon preaches. What mostly taught is on sharpeing technique not sharpening strategy. Something like start at low grit, move to high grit, hold like this...

Your four step technique, I'm calling it "the Wil four step" is just brilliantly demonstrated. The video is clear, simple and exactly how I want my edges finished.

Kinda ironic that the only natural stone I have is a VL2.5 Aiiwatani from Maxim. Looks like I picked a good one, but it wasn't cheap. HA

Thanks for this eye opening 10 minute presentation on blade honing. Just brilliant. Watching you WIP and other videos, I'm always impressed, never surprised.

dp

That was awesome. It's answered a lot of questions on blending for me. Thanks Will

Thanks for the kind words chaps, glad the videos are getting some use. I don't own many naturals, the two higher grit ones for knives I have are the Aiiwatani and the Takishima, I find the Aiiwatani most versatile for edges and blending.
I watched lots of Jons great videos as well, you will see some familiar concepts when Jon talks about finishing the upper/lower parts of single bevel knives, compound bevels and maintaining that geometry, also with micro bevels.

The rest comes from the way I form my geometry in the first place, after about 100 grit belt, the knife is consistently sharpened at every process after this point to aide the thinning process, this process continues down through the grits and into hand finish and stones. In this way the finish of the blade and the edge finish and final geometry arrive at a state of finish at the same time.

I will add some more in due course, I will have to start abusing one of my knives somewhat to show how to repair damage to tip/heel, larger chip etc. And the best way to deal with patina if you wish to deal with it, I think the best way with this is to allow the cladding to form a nice patina and just maintain the bevel, the simple beauty of wide bevel carbon

Some video footage for forging stage 1, working on some of the first orders. Two more forging stages to go! Told you theres allot of forging in these to get the geometry so very very nice ! but not grinder in sight......until the very end part ...

Ill be gathering clips as I go, I hope to get something pretty nice together from all the little clips when I'm finished, but for now here's a kind of video blog of the forging process.

Don't forget to get on the Chefknifeuk site and order yours for next year while you still can.

[video=youtube;c90SHTo44rU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c90SHTo44rU&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Got all these first stage forging complete, 6 Gyuto, 3 Petty and 3 parers.



I let the acid do the work on descaling, all clean for monday morning and the second forging



And heres a much clearer video of the forging process, showing its much more involved than just tapering a piece of steel, formwork would be the most accurate way to describe it forging in all dimensions at once, taper, bevels, thinning right to the centre of the blade and profile and straightness all at once under the hammer dies...... Its fun and the effort pays off in the performance of the knife geometry vs weight for the perfect balance

[video=youtube;_qRXeWpfB8k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qRXeWpfB8k&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Note on the Parers, they are only available when you order a chef knife of some sort and at a nice price. Im open to doing these as Utility rather than Parer, so if you want a nice sturdy knife for dealing with animals as well as paring duty thats a possibility or a thinner edged parer as you desire, Im doing at least one of these in a simple full tang to see how it comes out, Ill be in contact with customers though how you want yours......

BTW, boys, wanted to share some experience i had with Will's forged Gyuto.
The very first time i met him ( we were younger, thinner and nicer [emoji12][emoji12]) i wasn't that inspired by his knives. Really. They were good, but... not the real alternative to my favorite Kato- Shige/ Hinoura etc.
We had a long discussion what to change on the belly, spine, grip, tip etc, how to improve to make it interesting.
This time i was pleasantly shocked, really, boys!!
Will has improved A LOT. I played a lot with his 240 forged Gyuto, even without handle. Boys- that was a great cutter!!! No, really, i have too many knives and stopped looking into it more or less. He he. Never say never. He he. [emoji23][emoji23].
The grip, the steal, the forging, the form, the release were just perfect. Willy, don't read this, this is not for you!!! This is for boys. Otherwise you'll keep your nose up, and we don't need this at all. [emoji12][emoji12][emoji12][emoji120]🏻.
That was the moment i wasn't that far to grab it and run away.
Man, This Gyuto was just perfect!!! Uffff!
If you wouldn't have promised it already to Maksim, i would grab it. Really.
I was a bit angry having recognized it in the picture for sale after, Will told it was pre-sold actually to somebody or so. Maksim to try, me to make hot, Will, you try to manipulate people [emoji83] .
But really once again the simple forged Gyuto was great. I saw the set of 2 Honyaki- my favorite remains the forged Gyuto. Not even his f..g awesome Suji 310 he posted some days ago- This simple knife turned my evaluation of your skills upside down.
Now it's not like Kato, or other Japanese- it's like Willy the Blacksmith [emoji123]🏻[emoji123]🏻[emoji123]🏻.
Unique, one of the kind, own features, own style. And it wasn't pretty, btw. Quite ugly, rough finish, not as his Damascus etc fancy pretty knives ( sorry, if i touched somebody)- i really liked this simple very masculine appearance of a heavy sturdy mighty knife.
Congrats, Will!! Be calm, be reasonable, don't go up with the price after my review- you know me- i say directly how it is. Bad- bad, good- good.
This time freaking awesome [emoji120]🏻[emoji120]🏻[emoji317][emoji317][emoji317]🍾[emoji122]🏻[emoji122]🏻[emoji122]🏻

Thanks Andrey, you've a big heart I was so happy you enjoyed the simple forged knife so much. I knew you guys would appreciate these having been my harshest critics when I came to my first gathering years ago with my mono steels. I brought 3 in 4mm and 3 in 3mm Gyuto's, I think overall the 3mm was the favourite for cutting performance, but I wanted to make heavier knives that perform like a thinner knife so Since then Ive built on making workable lower bevel knives, in my mono steels, leaving the spine thick and grinding more off the middle leaving a short workable lower bevel and break in angle. the profile also changed, I lost that slope at the heel which can make an awkward angle on the cutting board, and a nice belly to the tip. The forged knives are an extension of that learning, except the entire blade geometry is forged, it allows me to work efficiently with greater thickness on the spine to leave the spine thicker and leave that flow into the handle.....while forging the centre to the edge of the knife thin, the lower bevel is ground creating the essential break in angle, Stone finish for consistency of finish, everyday use and continued performance. Im happy where there at, Im enjoying now seeing how the process works on some of the different sized knives, forging the smaller petty is really fun, looking forward to applying the style to a whole range of knives.

Heres a quick vid close up and personal with the first Pair taking advantage of my offer to get a Parer/utility for £150, (List £210) with any Chef knife Order.
you can order yours here www.chefknifeuk.com

[video=youtube;bkV8oQlX_-Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkV8oQlX_-Y[/video]

Heres the stills of that finished pair with the Utility full tang option rather than Wa Parer. For a limited time I'm doing a Parer/Utility for £150 when you order any other full price knife. Im thinking about Running a 180-200mm Gyuto, 120-130mm Petty and Parer/Utility order deal too if anyone would be interested in little 3 piece sets at a nice price in the stock handle materials £700 as a limited offer.

More orders complete. A 180mm Gyuto and Utility Pair in Red Mallee wood upgrade.







And a 230mm Gyuto with brown Mallee upgrade.

Looks very nice, can't wait for my 250 one