D. Martell Forgecraft Upgrade

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Dave Martell

Dave Martell

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Here's a vintage Forgecraft chef's knife that came in for a facelift of sorts. Actually when I think about it I really body-lifted it as there's nothing that got left untouched on this one. :)

I started with the blade which was too thick and had a lot of deep pitting along the bevel. I thinned this section down and removed as much of the pitting as possible but there's still some evidence present of it's former life of service.

The Forgecraft pattern on the blade was reconditioned to show off better and the spine/choil were re-worked/rounded for comfort.

This knife had a full tang but was converted to hidden and a new handle fashioned out of figured maple & ironwood burl along with nickel silver accents.

In my opinion this knife is BADASS! If I had this knife I'd use the hell of it, it's just that nice. :cool2:


Please feel free to let me know what you think....

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Nice stuff, Dave!
I'm guessing the Forgecraft can be treated essentially as a flat-ish wide bevel knife (everything under the iconic pattern)?
 
I think this is my fave forgecraft makeover so far. The blade came out amazing, especially the tip looks pretty sweet. And the handle gives a modern touch to a vintage looking blade. This restorations are the reason why I almost picked up a forge craft from eBay a few weeks ago.
 
foody518 said:
Nice stuff, Dave!
I'm guessing the Forgecraft can be treated essentially as a flat-ish wide bevel knife (everything under the iconic pattern)?
Click to expand...


I grind the bevel as one large entity but then I add a primary bevel (edge) just the original did. The thing to keep on mind is that the large bevel isn't anywhere near flat or stone ready, it'll need grinding to get to that point. Hell, even after I flatten it on my belts it's not stone flat so even if I flattened a Forgie for you it'd still require some sweat equity to make it match up with your stones.

I recently saw pictures of a guy's efforts to re-do his Forgie on stones and man let me tell you how nice that thing was. I should send him an email and get him to post pictures in the general forum.
 
valgard said:
I think this is my fave forgecraft makeover so far. The blade came out amazing, especially the tip looks pretty sweet. And the handle gives a modern touch to a vintage looking blade. This restorations are the reason why I almost picked up a forge craft from eBay a few weeks ago.
Click to expand...


Thanks val! :)
 
10/10 would rock this for sure. I think we all need to get Dave a big back stock of forgies ASAP.
 
I think everything goes together very well on this piece. Nice job.
 
TheCaptain said:
Geesh! Makes me want to go out and get one just so Dave can work his magic. That is truly impressive!

Gotta keep telling myself, no...no...no...
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If you don't have a good boning knife yet, the Forgie is a great one.

And what's this "no" chit? Haven't you passed indoc?
 
:)

Actually watching ebay right now. I've resisted the urge to get into vintage knives so far...it's soooooo tempting!

This will likely be enough to push me over the edge.
 
TheCaptain said:
:)

Actually watching ebay right now. I've resisted the urge to get into vintage knives so far...it's soooooo tempting!

This will likely be enough to push me over the edge.
Click to expand...
Same here, thank lord this wasn't posted a couple of weeks ago when I was about to pull the trigger on a Fogecraft from Ebay that was in pretty good condition (brick pattern was very visible and it height was steel there) and only ~$30. Gotta keep myself away from that stuff... mumble mumble...
 
valgard said:
Same here, thank lord this wasn't posted a couple of weeks ago when I was about to pull the trigger on a Fogecraft from Ebay that was in pretty good condition (brick pattern was very visible and it height was steel there) and only ~$30. Gotta keep myself away from that stuff... mumble mumble...
Click to expand...

10 inch? I think I saw the one you are referring to. The profile had more of a frown than I wanted to sacrifice my stones fixing, would lose knife height too

I keep a watch out on eBay occasionally too... There's those 80-100 buck ones on there, but I really try and look for the occasionally better deal (however much that exists with this inflated pricing currently)
 
foody518 said:
10 inch? I think I saw the one you are referring to. The profile had more of a frown than I wanted to sacrifice my stones fixing, would lose knife height too

I keep a watch out on eBay occasionally too... There's those 80-100 buck ones on there, but I really try and look for the occasionally better deal (however much that exists with this inflated pricing currently)
Click to expand...

Maybe it was the same, there were two up at the same time at around the same price (only about 3 days difference for the auction) one had more signs of previous sharpening and less of a dark pattern. The one I'm talking about needed some work on the stones for sure, I don't remember noticing too much of a frown but right at the middle there were some ships or deep pitting marks at the edge so I think it would have lost about 1-1.5 mm of height to get it right (rough estimation of course).
 
Right now there is a rather big lot for action that includes two chef knives. However, there are still several days left for the end of the auction and I have zero use for a lot that big.
 
valgard said:
Right now there is a rather big lot for action that includes two chef knives. However, there are still several days left for the end of the auction and I have zero use for a lot that big.
Click to expand...

I'm all over it
 
Sorry - No links to auctions. Only to "Buy it now" Keeps us from bidding against each other or some such.

A search should find it. [FONT=&quot]12 Old Hickory Ontario Forgecraft Carbon Steel [/FONT]

They look like they've been through purgatory. Or been used a good bit.
 
This knife was purchased a few years back from Goodwill's online auction site. The auction site has been "discovered" since then and you don't see as many bargains, but they do have the occasional treasure, and it's for charity. :angel2: Mostly they have cutcos and henckels, but there are some other interesting knives that pop up. Seems like a lot of people clean out their parents' houses and take everything to Goodwill, so you never know what you'll find. Right now there's a big vintage F. Dick chef and a Randall hunter that people are bidding up. Another site that's worth looking at if you're seeking out an ODC.
 
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