What I Have Been Up To Lately

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Having been a witness to yesterday's testing I thought I'd give you all a little insight on what was done.

After we all strengthened ourselves on a meal of Brazilian BBQ, JC spent over an hour painstakingly sharpening five knives. He stoned and stropped and ran paper cut tests to get each of the blades to the same level sharpness. Then the cutting began. If you have ever cut through half inch sisal rope you know just how tough it is, no less with just about 3" of edge to work with. It was really hard work. All of the steels took hundreds of cuts, some of them many many hundreds. Of course I had the toughest job - feeding the rope and keeping count of the cuts.

But seriously, these two guys are consummate professionals. Even with sore arms and blistered fingers they kept at it.
For those of you who follow Marko on this forum you know his pursuit of perfection is continuous. These tests are just another example of his dedication to his craft. It was quite an experience being a party to this.
 
A Quick Update52100 Heat Treatment is final. I am happy with the outcome and will be offering two versions at 62RC and 63.5RC. The latter will be a little harder to sharpen. Both versions will get very sharp, hold an edge well and will have a stable edge (no chipping).

The new carbon steel shows a lot of potential, but HT needs more tweaking and it might be a while before it is available as an option, as every tweak has to be tested in a pro kitchen and that takes time.

There are Western handle knives in works - 3 gyuto and 1 suji. As this is a new territory for me, I have to move slowly, and there might be weeks before they are finished. However, you will see Western handle knives regularly offered in the near future (with a metal bolster and Coca Cola shaped handle). Forged integral bolsters knives will come later in the fall.

There is a hybrid of two styles of knives that people have asked me to make for a long time, but until now I haven't committed. Giving it a try, and depending on reviews, might offer it as a new type.

I will probably discontinue offering custom handle/saya/accessories work, to concentrate on knives.

Planning a pass around for 52100, most likely with a wa handle. For those who participate, there will be a condition attached - you will be asked to compare my knife with one of your knives (pick the best of course) for sharpness, ease of sharpening, food release, edge retention, and anything else they feel like comparing. The pass around knife will be available in early to mid September.

Lastly, I am going to offer an option to test the knife before I proceed to finishing and handle making (I will send it with a generic handle). This way, if anything needs to be addressed, it can be addressed before the knife is finished. Plus a customer will get a sense of performance, profile, balance, etc. This way, you will know exactly what your are getting. I will split the shipping cost with the customer.

M
 
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Thanks for the update Marko. You've been a busy, busy "boy". Your trial option underscores the importance you place on customer satisfaction. As for hybrids, there's an old saying: "The man who stands in the middle of the road gets hit by cars going both ways". Don't know if this applies here, but if it ain't broke, don't break it. JMHO.
 
Well, I am not reinventing a wheel here, just tweaking (conservatively) a popular type, namely making either a tall suji, or narrow gyuto. In part because of the requests, in part because it makes sense - more height will give a comfortable knuckle clearance over the cutting surface and many use sujis as prep knives.
 
Thanks for the clarification. Now the "hybrid" makes sense to me.
 
Marlo,

Does this mean you will be starting the second group of pre orders from last year? I hope this means I will get to test my own out soon.

-Chuck

-Chuck
 
The second group of preorders, those that were confirmed by me, but no deposits taken, will be combined with recent orders.
I will do my best getting those out. I am getting more efficient with Wa, but I am also working on Western handle type, and these slow me down a bit, due to unfamiliarity with process. I am a fast learner, thought.

M
 
Exciting stuff! You've approached this knife making with the methodology of a scientist and the passion of an artist. I submitted an order for an integral bolster as soon as I saw that it was an option on the site.
I'd be REALLY interesting in participating in the up-coming pass-around.
 
The forged integrals are a few months away, but peened bolster western should be available much sooner. Eventually I will weld the bolster to the blade and grind it similar to forged integral.

The passaround knife will be a wa handled version.

M
 
Quick updates.

Working on a batch of knives in 52100, Wa and Western. Most are rough ground, at this point. Once all are ground, I will proceed to finishing stages.

New heat treatment for 52100 has been well received, though I am still getting feedback from users for details. The new geometry has also been well received.

New carbon steel shows promise, but more hours in a pro kitchen is needed to come up with a final verdict.

Doing some experimental heat treatment of stainless steels to maximize wear resistance. Good results so far on conventional stainless and will be starting on a powder stainless soon. Once all parameters are met (hardness, edge stability, sharpness), the knife will go out for testing.

Lastly, with a gentle nudging from a forum member and a friend, I made some changes to my production process to increase efficiency over time. I purchased some new equipment last week and will be purchasing some new equipment by the end of the year. This will allow me speed up my process while continue doing all work in-house - there will be no subcontracting of any work. I am an one-man operation, so every knife I make is a sole-authorship knife.

I also decided to discontinue offering custom work and narrow my focus to knives. I am considering hiring somebody and training them in making accessories, but at this point it is just a thought and nothing concrete.

Thanks,

M
 
Thanks for the update, Marko. Looking forward to hearing about the new carbon steel and profile. Saving my pennies for one of your knives!
 
Thanks, Mark -

I should see some efficiency improvement very soon and that should translate into more knives out.

M
 
A quick update. as of 9/14/2012

- Started on a passaround knife, should have it finished by mid next week.

- Contemplating offering two new types of knives - kiritsuke shaped gyuto and honesuji/petty hybrid. The latter will be single-beveled, with a hollow back. I have made both of these knives and they are currently being tested. I will think of other types I would like to make, most likely knives shorter than 210 or longer than 270mm (most likely slicers).

-Integral bolster knives and western handles knives are coming in the fall of 2012

- Got more feedback on the grind and D handle. As both are still in experimental stage, I request feedback, but no changes were asked for at this time, so I take it as a sign that I might have a design I will stick with.

- Got some new equipment to make my work more efficient, however don't have enough electricity, so will have to work on bringing more power in shortly.

- By the end of the year, I am planning on switching to molted salts heat treatment. There should be some improvement to the knife permanence over the current method.

- As of Sept. 20, I am taking 3 weeks off to visit my family in Ukraine. While there, I am planning on finishing my website and thinking through what I need to do next. Up to this point, I have been treating knife-making as a hobby, but after the trip, I would like to run it as a part-time business, with all cons and pros that come with it.

- Will be putting remainder of my practice knives for sale for one last time. All will come with complementary strops, however most need to be reground to my latest grind, so they will have to be done after I return.

- Should be done with a drop-point hunter in the coming days as well.

- I am stopping taking orders for 2012 effective immediately, thought I will be offering ready made knives for the rest of 2012 and particularly for holidays season. A price increase in 2013 is very likely, as heat treatment, grinding and hand-finishing (62.5-63.5RC hardened steel with increases wear resistance) a blade is pretty time and labor intensive and I didn't factor the latest developments in HT and geometry into 2012 prices.

That's all.

M -
 
Wow, you've been busy! Looking forward to seeing all the new developments. What does "There should be some improvement to the knife permanence over the current method. " mean? What do you mean by "knife permanence"? Is that the same thing as edge retention?

Enjoy your vacation!

Thanks,

Mark
 
There will probably be 5-10% (estimated) improvement in heat treating metal in molted salts over convection over, as a result of a more uniform heating, as told to me by Devin. This is a relatively small improvement, but I would like to move in this direction as it a faster and more efficient method, and cheaper too - using nat gas is cheaper than electricity.

Also want to add that all orders placed through my website are locked in 2012 prices and whatever arrangements or discounts I offered, I will honor every and each of them. Just remind me if I forget - too many things to keep a track of.

Some didn't received a confirmation after they placed an order, but I have them all on the web site and will go through them in the next 3 weeks and respond.

Heat treatment is responsible for edge stability, sharpness and wear resistance. Any improvement in HT will result in improvement in performance, however small it may be.
Thanks,

M
 
I filled out the custom form a little while back and have yet to hear back from you... I'm presuming its due to work load. No worries on my end. But I'll just ask here... Chuka bochos?
 
brainsausage said:
I filled out the custom form a little while back and have yet to hear back from you... I'm presuming its due to work load. No worries on my end. But I'll just ask here... Chuka bochos?
Click to expand...

Every order placed before 10/14/2012 is in.

Chuka bochos? Probably not, as it is one of the knives I am not interested in using myself.

Kiritsuke shaped gyuto
Honesuki/utility hybrid
Garasuki (single beveled)
Yanagi (single beveled)
Miroshi deba
Integral bolster knives
Various shape slicers

along these lines...
 
Gah crap!! Was I supposed to fill out an order form?!! Damnit we started talking about this knife like months ago!!! I could punch myself right now. /sadface
 
ThEoRy said:
Gah crap!! Was I supposed to fill out an order form?!! Damnit we started talking about this knife like months ago!!! I could punch myself right now. /sadface
Click to expand...

Don't worry, you are in. We talked about your knife for some time now. You will get to check one out on a passaround.

I need to get a grip on the orders placed before accepting any new once.

M
 
Soooo... Are you doing set measurements on those profiles? Or is there a little wiggle room in regards to heel to spine height, spine thickness, taper, etc. ?
 
Looking forward to seeing you take it part time Marko, it's almost hilarious thinking about you doing this as a hobby, your knives don't look like a hobbyists work. I guess Marko being a hobbyist knifemaker is like an olympic athlete being an amateur athlete? Not exactly amateurish, looking forward to seeing more and different knives from you Marko, good luck and have fun on your time off.
 
The hobbyist will end on Oct 12, 2012.

Some profiles are tweaked tried-and-true profiles, some are exact copies. For instance yanagi, garasuji, and miroshi will be exact copy. Slicers, kiritsuke shaped gyuto, and honesuki/petty hybrid are tweaked.

I will do them as ready-made at first, and then I might add them to custom orders.

M
 
You seem to have a knack for getting profile shapes right, atleast in my eye. I'm looking forward to some of the new style blade shapes, good luck and have fun.
 
Want to clarify that when I say hobbyist, I mean my approach to work (and not the quality of my work) - work at your spare time, at a comfortable pace and capacity, etc.

It can't go on like this, as it leads to missed deadlines, long backlog of orders, and stress. These are the areas where I need to improve and it will have to come from increasing efficiency - optimizing processes, adding new equipment, and put more time in. So I will allocate 25-40 hours a week to this as of mid October. If it can grow into self-sustained business, I will go into this full-time.
 
I wish you luck with getting into it more, just remember when it's a fulltime job to keep having fun with it. I'm sure everyone around here would just love to keep you busy :knife:
 
I am in it up to my ears, just need to do things more efficiently. :) Thank you..
 
Hehe, i was only kidding, I can imagine no difference between some of the guys on heres workload, and some fulltime custom knife makers. The standard of maker around here from hobbyist, to professional is pretty ridiculous, some real talent lying around these boards.
 
A quick update.

I took some time off to think about the direction I would like to take, namely what kind of knives I would like to make, what my objectives are for a next year, next three years, next five years.

The knives I make now are quite labor intensive, and some manufacturing processes are not likely to improve even as I continue to innovate. On the bright side, this is what will set my knives apart and I like how my knives perform, and the performance is the main reason I started making knives. So, I will try to find little efficiency where possible, but have to accept that my output will stay low.

I narrowed down to 3 steels, one carbon and 2 stainless, that consistently offer outstanding performance and until anything better comes around, these will be the steels of choice.

I am going to discontinue offering buffalo horn as handle ferrule material, as I find it difficult to secure a supply of quality horn. The substitute will likely be a natural material. Still working on it, so will make an update when I know more.

Western handled knives and single-beveled knives are coming soon. Prototypes will be done parallel to my custom orders, and once I reach a level of quality I am satisfied with, they will be offered as choices.

Shopping around for molted salt furnaces.

In addition to 52100 pass-around knife, I will also pass around a gyuto in PM stainless steel. I will have details soon.

This will be all for now.

Thanks,

M
 
Marko, you don't take DT damascus custom order any more??
 
I still do, in fact I am very excited about Devin's 52100 damascus steel (see latest chevron pattern gyuto).
 
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