Media Cut Brooklyn Again

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Don Nguyen

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Stumbled on another video on Cut Brooklyn. I know a lot of your thoughts on the guy, but he makes a lot of good points. I for one am kinda a fan of his :O

[video=youtube;EAFG5ZLYpjw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAFG5ZLYpjw[/video]
 
I can't figure out why he doesn't get them laser cut. He doesn't hand-roll the steel himself or HT them, why's he gotta angle-grind it?
 
You know, that stuck out weird to me as well. Everything else he does makes sense, but that angle grinder approach is a little wonky. Maybe even a plasma cutter would fair better?
 
He's doing something right.
 
I'm a fan. He loves what he does, makes some apparently good quality stuff and to be honest, I'd like one of his knives.
 
Does anyone here have one of his knives? I would be curious to see how they perform.

His handles look uncomfortable, even for a western lover like me. But that is speculation.

Does everyone else grind before heat treat or after, it seems like even if you dip it in coolant after each pass on the belt, you still may be reaching a temp of ruining the temper on the edge?
 
I saw at least one piece of CPM154. Maybe that handle is called a Western Wa? :)

Comes off as an honest guy, I liked his video. Not too stuck on himself, always a plus. To acknowledge other makers as awesome is quite a compliment from a maker..................
 
Does anyone here have one of his knives? I would be curious to see how they perform.

His handles look uncomfortable, even for a western lover like me. But that is speculation.

Certainly don't ask Joel about any of that. At least not on the internet. He got flamed on a few forums at some point about his handles, profiles, etc. and apparently never got over it. He was really crappy to me when I offered to host a passaround for him, and guarantee the knife would be returned to him, just to have the chance to put his skeptics to rest, because I like American knifemakers. He got pretty insulting, and made it clear that he's busy because he is in a hip part of Brooklyn and doesn't want any more business. I still wish he'd get off his horse about it.

Does everyone else grind before heat treat or after, it seems like even if you dip it in coolant after each pass on the belt, you still may be reaching a temp of ruining the temper on the edge?

If it's ground before heat treat, it has a higher chance of warping. It doesn't heat up that bad if you are using good, sharp belts and have a beefy motor behind it. The tip gets tricky. I am currently :doublebanghead: because I didn't taper a few blanks before HT, and now they are a massive PITA to taper without screwing them up.
 
He seems to be making some decent knives, and seems like he genuinely cares about what he is doing. Personally, I have no desire to own one of his knives, though.

The angle grinder makes no sense, I can't imagine how much time would be saved by using CNC of some sort.

Edit:
Certainly don't ask Joel about any of that. At least not on the internet. He got flamed on a few forums at some point about his handles, profiles, etc. and apparently never got over it. He was really crappy to me when I offered to host a passaround for him, and guarantee the knife would be returned to him, just to have the chance to put his skeptics to rest, because I like American knifemakers. He got pretty insulting, and made it clear that he's busy because he is in a hip part of Brooklyn and doesn't want any more business. I still wish he'd get off his horse about it.
That is unfortunate.
 
Love to see a guy pursuing his passion, and being humble about it. What I really appreciate about his work is that it's unique to him yet still comes across as a functional design.

I like the look of his blade profile, on the fence about the handle. I'd love to try one.
 
I still wouldn't mind trying out one of his knives. But his price point seems a little high to me. But I didn't look at what steel he is using. I think his prices went up too.
 
Yeah, he'd kinda chic, and on that border between mainstream and New York underground.
As for not taking Eamon, or myself up on offers, well, public scrutiny can be rough, and he has more business than he currently can keep up with. Whatever works, I guess...either way, I still wanna bang on one.
 
He seems to be a legit guy, no smoke or mirrors.
While I like his blade designs, his handles seem a bit radical. But not having tried them I can only guess.

On using a side grinder, as a part time maker myself, you sometimes use whats available. May not be the best or most economical way to do it, but its what he has, and it works

Would be intrested in trying one out though!.

God Bless
Mike
 
Yeah, easy to say laser cut, water jet, cnc, but if it's not in your budget...

-AJ
 
If you are getting an entire sheet done, provided you can find a shop to do small jobs(which, if I can find in Texas, he can find in NY), the price of Laser cutting is comparable to what he would spend on cutoff wheels and belts. Not to mention the time it takes that he could be doing something else with his time. And the benefits of proper nesting are almost exclusively profit.

Sorry, if you are making a billet at a time yourself, and then making custom one off knives like Randy Haas, I can see cutting them yourself. But this? Just seems to be extra work for the hell of it.


I think his knives look like great cutters. I bet they are nice to use, and they've got an interesting look, like a Riceburner made by Ikea.
 
I think he is happier dealing with people outside the knife lover community. I met him at the NYC custom knife show several years ago before he had much publicity in the main stream media. I thought we had an agreement on him making a knife for me but when I didn't hear anything from him for several months I e-mailed and left a message on his phone. No answer. Waited another couple of months and tried again. Still no answer. I guess he can pick and choose who is allowed to own his knives.
 
Up until I bought a metal cutting bandsaw, recently, I used a angle grinder to roughly cut out my profiles too. Sometimes you just have to use what you have on hand. I've only been making knives for a year, and started out grinding with a handheld belt sander because that is what I had. I've since moved up to a 2 x 72 I traded my pots for and a serious disk grinder, like Dave Martell's I think. I'm using 1/8" 1080 right now, and I grind in my bevels after HT also. With only 1/8" of steel to work with it seems to make sense to me. I also sharpen before handling then wrap my blades with paper and painter's tape.

I really like his profiles, from a purely visual standpoint, and would love to try one out in my home kitchen. The guy is living an envious lifestyle doing something he digs, where he wants to do it. I think that's pretty cool.
 
This is an old video, probably over two years old. I am sure Joel has moved on cutting steel with an angle grinder. I would guess his blanks are laser cut these days.

Why people use angle grinders? Because water or laser jet cutting is expensive if you buy steel by a sheet. Say 80LB sheet will yield about 80 knives. At $10+/cut, you shelling out $800+ extra plus shipping. Take PM steel at $21/lb, add shipping to the laser/waterjet cutting facility, cost of cutting and return shipping and you start seeing a real incentive to cut steel yourself by whatever means (including angle grinder) available.

I use angle grinder and a portable bandsaw at the moment. I might get a stationary bandsaw, or use laser jet or waterjet cutting service next time I order, but upfront cost is high in both cases.

Sharpening before finishing? Now, that is something worth to wonder about. As honing an edge on slack leather (razor hone).

M
 
As honing an edge on slack leather (razor hone).

A bit off topic, but you should try shaving extensively with a razor both with a strop and without a strop to see what difference it makes. Knife guys seem to always have something to say about stropping on hanging strops, but I always wonder how many of them have actually tried razors extensively. In other words, theory is great. But, it doesn't necessarily predict lived reality.
 
I was referring to stropping a knife on a hanging (slack) strop - it was at one point at the end of Joel's video. Maybe it got edited out since along with a comment that best knives come from Europe, Japan and Brooklyn? I haven't watched that video since that first time years ago so I don't know.

Strop makes a huge difference in improving an edge, particularly a felt strop with 1-2 micron diamond for 52100. White steels seems to respond better to Chromium Oxide.

Razors have their backs as guides for stropping, but knives don't, so you have to mount your strop on a flat surface and use the same angles as sharpening. Honing a knife on a slack belt will round your edge in no time.
 
My bad, Marko. I watched the video and don't remember that part, so it may have been edited out, or I may not have been paying enough attention. I had initially thought that your comment was somewhere along the lines of how Carter thinks about razor honing.

Anyways, back on topic. I'd like to try his knives. Does anyone know if he has a shop in Brooklyn?
 
He does, or did as of last year. If you go to his website (same name.com) it gives his address.
 
... Does anyone know if he has a shop in Brooklyn?

You go on his website and somewhere in there, there is an address for his shop. I googled his place with a street view. I don't know how old the google imagines are, but it looks kind of run down. Maybe the area has been renovated since. The place is a pretty easy drive from my house. If it wasn't for the $20 in bridge tolls I was thinking about going by there one day.
 
Yes. It's in Red Hook, if I am not mistaken. That whole area was industrial and run-down residential area, but has seen a lot of revival in the past few years thanks to gentrification.

M
 
not to be a stick in the mud, but I dont really understand all the interest in this guy's knives. Theres about a hundred other U.S. makers I would like to check out first at his pricepoints. Furthermore, theres virtually no testimonies or feedback about the performance of the knives. I need more info than indie short films.
 
not to be a stick in the mud, but I dont really understand all the interest in this guy's knives. Theres about a hundred other U.S. makers I would like to check out first at his pricepoints. Furthermore, theres virtually no testimonies or feedback about the performance of the knives. I need more info than indie short films.

Well, I tip my head to him for marketing himself right. Money well spent (videos and two writeups in NY Times) despite the cost.

M
 
Strange he advocates steeling over using stones, what hardness does he take them too? It struggled going through that cherry tomato :D
 
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