Catcheside Cutlery 2012 pre-order profiles and options.

[WillC]

Hello all i'm pleased to announce my profiles and options for pre-orders in 2012.

I have worked from the profiles of the damascus Petty/Suji and Gyuto, I recently finished.



I have also drawn a flatter version of each profile. And an extra profile for the Gyuto working to a customers request for a Masamoto type profile but deeper at the back.

240mm Gyuto Profiles.

1. Is the profile used on my W's pattern Gyuto and the mono-steel/amboyna I have made recently.
2. Follows the shape of the Masamoto tip, except it is deeper at the back than Masamoto at 55mm.
3. Is a Flatter version of the profile with a lower tip.

300mm Suji profiles.

1. Matches my recent W's pattern Suji profile.
2. Has a lower tip, flatter profile and curved transition from spine to tip.

180mm Petty Profiles.

1. Matches the w's Damascus Petty
2. Slightly Flatter/lower tip version.

I'm hoping these will be a starting point to tweak for each custom order.
I would love to hear feedback on the profiles even if you are not in the market for a knife at the moment.

In terms of Grind and thickness/taper. I'm over the moon with the examples I have done in damascus. I believe there is a nice balance of convexity and thinness which performs. The only change I would like to make is to go slightly thicker on the spine above the choil but have the taper just as dramatic as on the example pieces. I will add target thicknesses later.

I am planning three different steel options.

Mono-steel in 01
Blue paper 2 core with simple damascus cladding.
Full Mosaic damascus in en42j and 75ni8.

Same high quality fit and finish on all knives.

Handle options are wa only. Standard pricing includes a choice of stabilized wood spacers and blackwood ferrules. And take it from there if upgrades are requested in terms of Damascus end caps or some of the very pricey woods/Mammoth etc.

Prices are now up on my blog here

I would like to thank you all for your help here and look forward to making some superb kitchen knives for you in 2012.

Have a great New year everyone.

[jmforge]

Nice!!! I still say that at those prices, the W damascus blades are a great deal considering how much forge welding goes into making them.

[WillC]

Cheers Joe, i'm finding it a bit complicated pricing different damascus. I'm sure it will get easier as I go along. Should be ok on the W's pattern and similar as I'm quite happy with the look of the pattern "stretched out a bit" So I can get the most of the material by forging closer to size under the power hammer.
That feather pattern was a different matter, but I'm sure I'll work out a few more tricks with practice.
Right i'm off to stand in a barn for several hours to see the New year in with lots of cider, hopefully some music. Happy New Year everyone!

[Aphex]

Just a quick critique before i head out. I would say that the overall profile of the masamoto clone is very good, i would just lower the height at the heel from 55mm to arround 50mm for the 240 gyuto, then increase the height as the knife gets longer. I think 55mm at the heel would be better on a knife 260mm+ long.

Happy new year.

[EdipisReks]

are these prices going to stay for a while? i have a wedding, then a honeymoon, then a new digital-to-analog-converter for my stereo, then a Heiji, to pay for, so it would be a while before i could get one, but i'm very interested in the Blue #2 knife. i could turn the #2 profile into something similar to my Shig pretty quickly, which would be perfect.

i agree about reducing the height at the heel on the Masamotoesque #2. the Masamoto KS is perfect as is, for what it is, and should be cloned exactly, if it's going to be cloned.

[tk59]

Looks good to me, Will!

[Dave Martell]

You're off to a good start on the new year Will.

[WillC]

Thanks all, I had a very nice New year, feel a bit better now
"Aphex
Just a quick critique before i head out. I would say that the overall profile of the masamoto clone is very good, i would just lower the height at the heel from 55mm to arround 50mm for the 240 gyuto, then increase the height as the knife gets longer. I think 55mm at the heel would be better on a knife 260mm+ long."

Great, yes that makes sense, I'll rework profile 2 a little so the blade height is 50mm at 240mm and rising from there. That should bring back that slender look somewhat. Yours will be the first full size knife in a damascus/blue steel combo, I'm pretty excited

"EdipisReks
are these prices going to stay for a while? i have a wedding, then a honeymoon, then a new digital-to-analog-converter for my stereo, then a Heiji, to pay for, so it would be a while before i could get one, but i'm very interested in the Blue #2 knife. i could turn the #2 profile into something similar to my Shig pretty quickly, which would be perfect.

i agree about reducing the height at the heel on the Masamotoesque #2. the Masamoto KS is perfect as is, for what it is, and should be cloned exactly, if it's going to be cloned. "

Yes absolutely I'm fine with these prices and will only review them towards the end of the year, unless something drastically changes with materials supply. Just let me know when your ready. If you want something based on a Shig profile that would be fine too.

Thank you Tinh and Dave, looking forward to having a spark flying 2012 with KKF

[EdipisReks]

can you by chance give the blue knife a plain cladding, instead of damascus? i love the kitaeji finish on my Yoshi, but it's really a pain to keep looking pretty compared to my kasumi Shig.

[WillC]

Yes I can do you a price on that. On some of my test pieces I used en9 for the cladding, medium carbon something like 0.55%C- blue paper core with just a slither of 15n20/75ni8 on the weld line just to bling it up a bit.