Knives from Vinh Lê Cao

[a.lber.to]

Hello everyone - long time no post... so I thought that the two knives that I currently have on their way would be an interesting topic to share.

If you look at my knife gallery (link in signature), you will see that I already have a couple of knives from Vinh Lê Cao. He was trained by a traditional Vietnamese black-smith, and has since been practicing his trade in France, as Forge de Caractère.

The two knives I have coming are a simple rustic Chef and Petty matched pair, with handles in boxwood. As you can see below, they were made quite traditionally, on a coal-fired forge and with selective water quenching.

I like the hamon line on the Chef knife...

Enjoy!

[All pictures from ForgedeCaractere's facebook page]

 

[rick_english]

Great pictures! I get the impression that guy WORKS for a living.

 

[AddUmm]

Awesome! Man that's a beautifully made knife.

 

[spoiledbroth]

Great pictures! I get the impression that guy WORKS for a living.

no kidding his hands are shredded !

 

[a.lber.to]

no kidding his hands are shredded !

He only forges using hand-held hammers between 2.5 kg and 5.0 kg...

 

[Mrmnms]

I recall you posting a few of his knives with very cool rustic handles years ago. Great posts. Thank you.

 

[DanHumphrey]

Great pictures! I get the impression that guy WORKS for a living.

And I'm sure he has way more job satisfaction than I can ever hope for.

Also, I am incredibly jealous - those are beautiful knives, and it's awesome to see the pictures of the process!

 

[Asteger]

This is nice to see. Oh, this guy's left hand is baked

 

[RubbishCook]

Really beautiful. Are they something that can be ordered from abroad?

 

[a.lber.to]

Yes, I am sure he will ship wherever is necessary. You can contact him via his facebook page, or PM me for his e-mail address if you prefer. He does have a few months' waiting list at the moment, though, I believe...

 

[a.lber.to]

Great posts. Thank you.

All the credit must go to his cool photos... he used to be a professional photographer before he became a black-smith!

 

[nwdel]

Stunningly lovely knives, I'd love to read a review of how they perform.

 

[user 29468]

i can't understand why he use this steel for kitchen knives :/

 

[a.lber.to]

As far as I understand it, it's all part of the Vietnamese black-smithing tradition, where they only use scrap steel to make things. All his hammers, for example, are made of truck axles and all of his tongs from car or bus suspension springs...

 

[user 29468]

i know, i follow his Facebook page.

par contre il forge vraiment proprement !

 

[a.lber.to]

Spoke with Vinh today about the steel he uses, and I loved what he had to say about it!

He told me that the steel from truck/bus suspensions, properly forged and water quenched, has good resistance to abrasion and very good flexibility (due to its manganese and silicium content), while also having very good strength. Without being comparable to the high-end modern knife-making steels, it is a very polyvalent steel which allows him to forge a very wide spectrum of knives. He could of course purchase specialized and/or very hard steels, but that would be at the detriment of polyvalence (and would require him to keep stocks of different steels for different knives). Obviously, he also has the choice between purchasing the same kind of suspension steel, but new, or recycling steel which has already been used. He prefers the latter, as he believes that black-smithing is a profession where it is best to be humble, and improve progressively in terms of difficulty and/or materials used only as one's skills improve.

I really like his philosophy, and I believe that it is perfectly reflected in the type and style of knives that he makes...

 

[strumke]

Isn't this basically the same thing Bloodroot does as far as repurposing steel? People don't seem to question their decision

 

[user 29468]

it's not about philosophy, it's about métallurgie. spring steel is low carbone steel, like .5%c .

 

[chefcomesback]

Isn't this basically the same thing Bloodroot does as far as repurposing steel? People don't seem to question their decision

Bloodroot guys( Luke and David ) are using mostly 1095 and 52100 out of recycled materials and some other old carbon tool steels , they have around 1 percent carbon,with good heat treatment they will make very good kitchen knives above 62hrc , Spring steel (5160) which has .5-.6 percent carbon doesn't get that hard , it is good for making large choppers and swords where thoughness is more desired than hardness .

 

[user 29468]

thank you Chef' ;-)

 

[strumke]

Ah interesting, thanks for the clarification. I know they use things like sway bars, and one of my knives is O1 tool steel, so I didn't realize that the specific steel he was using was not as optimal as another part of an old car.