Saya makers :)

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Get some saya wood from Mark Farley and have a go at it. It is fairly thereputic. Or Eamon from Burke Cutlery and Marko still takes a few customs.

Or you can always go leather and check out pabloz.
 
Is Chestnut a wood that is easy to find in a board format? I'd have to test out burning it a few times I'm sure to get an even char. It looks like the char would be brushed off with a stiff wire brush and polished with a fine grit. Or am I totally off track in my assumptions?
 
Is Chestnut a wood that is easy to find in a board format? I'd have to test out burning it a few times I'm sure to get an even char. It looks like the char would be brushed off with a stiff wire brush and polished with a fine grit. Or am I totally off track in my assumptions?

Even something like walnut may look pretty good. Two boards and a paddle sander for the dremel and you are set. Unless you want to go the pro route and chisel it out.
 
Is Chestnut a wood that is easy to find in a board format? I'd have to test out burning it a few times I'm sure to get an even char. It looks like the char would be brushed off with a stiff wire brush and polished with a fine grit. Or am I totally off track in my assumptions?

if you want a fairly even char. I would use the fan tool for a propane torch, it attaches to the end of the nozzle and fans out the flame, this should give you a nice even char without deep burn spots.
 
I am sure Marko would also make a matching ironwood burl handle/saya combo for you ;)

Stefan
 
Nooo
I don't want to waste your money. The last time I checked for irowood burl, wood for saya alone for 10" gyuto came out to be $150.

See if JC wants to make it, as he is starting apprenticeship with me in a week or two. :D
We will cover yanagi saya as well.

M

PS: Chestnut lumber is hard to get here in the US. The only chestnut I came across was reclaimed from structures built over 100 years ago.
 
As much as I love ironwood burl it's not the wood I'd want for this knife. My Hiromoto AS Wa-Suji on the other hand :p

What wood could be used in substitution considering grain density and color? Also are these chestnut handles treated in any way? Both my current burnt chestnut handles are slightly shiney. Is the shiney finish just a part of the polished tops of the texture of the wood?
 
The first wood that pops into my mid that might go with the burnt chestnut is wenge.

Dang, struggling with imbedding pics on the Ipad - google it ;)

Stefan
 
Wenge huh, I'm familier with it, isn't the grain kind of tight on that wood or is that on a piece by piece issue? The pieces I have seen where on razors so that may not have been the best size for my recollections :p
 
Nooo
I don't want to waste your money. The last time I checked for irowood burl, wood for saya alone for 10" gyuto came out to be $150.

See if JC wants to make it, as he is starting apprenticeship with me in a week or two. :D
We will cover yanagi saya as well.

M

PS: Chestnut lumber is hard to get here in the US. The only chestnut I came across was reclaimed from structures built over 100 years ago.

That's because most American chestnuts are extinct. they were wiped out by a blight. not very many left in the world.
 
That's because most American chestnuts are extinct. they were wiped out by a blight. not very many left in the world.

Wow I just remembered that bit of trivia from back a few decades.

I started working on that knife you sent me. Going to be wrking on some Soceye salmon next week :)
 
Wenge huh, I'm familier with it, isn't the grain kind of tight on that wood or is that on a piece by piece issue? The pieces I have seen where on razors so that may not have been the best size for my recollections :p

Wenge has long oper pores, but otherwise pretty dense and stable, particularly if quarter-sawn. I would not consider it a perfect match, but it would be kind of in the same theme as charred chestnut.

There is plenty of chestnut in the world, and there has been an to introduce European Chestnut in the US in the last few decades, but not at a scale that would make it a viable lumber source

You might try to buy some chestnut from online dealers from outside the US.

M
 
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