parbaked
Senior Member
I like everything about that knife!
The shaping of the handle is just sexy...
The shaping of the handle is just sexy...
225mm Aogami super Gyuto.
- Thread starter John N
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HRC_64
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Looks amazing... +1
This pic gives an idea of the grind. Im basically taking them to 'zero' now on the wet grinder before sharpening.
@parbaked - Thanks ! bog oak is just amazing stuff for handles. Costs next to nothing if you have a good supplier, looks great and is durable. wipe of oil and it looks like new again. Got a bit of depth to it.
I freehand the handles on the sander, try and 'balance' them individually to suit the blade. Good fun but kind of frustrating when you recon an hour for a handle and it takes 4 !
I freehand the handles on the sander, try and 'balance' them individually to suit the blade. Good fun but kind of frustrating when you recon an hour for a handle and it takes 4 !
Just stumbled on this thread since it was linked in the new posts area of KKF. There's a town called Didsbury not too far from where I live in Alberta Canada, so I got all excited that there might be a knifemaker not too far from where I am. I see from your IG that you're in England though, so clearly a different Didsbury.
None of that takes away from the fact that you're making gorgeous knives! Beautiful stuff.
None of that takes away from the fact that you're making gorgeous knives! Beautiful stuff.
@half_hack cheers for the nice words ! you can be my Didsbury Canadian sales agent when my productivity improves 
- Over here in the UK, Didsbury is a nice suburb of Manchester, The bee in my stamp is the official symbol of Manchester, representing work.
- Over here in the UK, Didsbury is a nice suburb of Manchester, The bee in my stamp is the official symbol of Manchester, representing work.samuraistuart
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Thanks so much for the reply, John. Great looking blades. Just amazing work. Would you mind sending me a link to the Takefu supplier you mentioned in the UK? I've used Takefu V-Toku 2 stainless clad (410 I think)....billets offered by Bill Burke here in the states. Great steel. Seems to be like Hitachi Blue 2, but with Swedish iron ore that is claimed to be even more pure than Hitachi! I was impressed. I hardened/tempered those V-Toku 2 blades to ~64HRC, and the one my father has had for 2 years of hard use still had an impressive edge on it this Thanksgiving. I am a sucker for good quality steel! [email protected]
Stuart, pinged you a message. I have heard, but can not confirm, that some of the Takefu core steel is manufactured by Hitachi. There is still a bit of mystery around the subject.
I will ask Andrew at 'Twosticks' forge next time I speak with him, I know he met up with the guys from Takefu when they were in the UK a couple of months ago.
On a more exciting note, I have just agreed to buy a decent sized rolling mill (20hp, single stand), So next year I will be able to really kick it up a notch on output and quality!
I will ask Andrew at 'Twosticks' forge next time I speak with him, I know he met up with the guys from Takefu when they were in the UK a couple of months ago.
On a more exciting note, I have just agreed to buy a decent sized rolling mill (20hp, single stand), So next year I will be able to really kick it up a notch on output and quality!
samuraistuart
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Got the PM John! Thank you so much. Reply sent. I had no idea about the Hitachi relation with Takefu steels, but honestly I am not that knowledgeable about either company, really. All I know is that Hitachi will not sell on the international market to makers or distributors, unless they were trained in Japan to use, and more importantly, heat treat their steels. At least that is what I have been told. Hitachi is proud of their steels, and don't want shoddy heat treatments give their steels a bad rep. To which I cry foul. The steels are good steels, but nothing special at all, and some of the heat treat practices I've seen done by Japanese smiths, while adhering to the "old ways", aren't necessarily the correct, or "best", method, and can be improved upon. Congrats on the rolling mill! Wow! That's quite interesting, and I hope it is a boost to your craft!
@samuraistuart no worries on the steel sources.
The rolling mill will be quite amusing. I really don't need it, agreed to swap it for something when I was 'compromised' after a drink, and am now pondering what I will do with a 7 ton machine (never mind getting it from a different country), as a bladesmith with an output of maybe 25 knives a year.
Hopefully I will win the 'most toys when they die' competition, if nothing else
The rolling mill will be quite amusing. I really don't need it, agreed to swap it for something when I was 'compromised' after a drink, and am now pondering what I will do with a 7 ton machine (never mind getting it from a different country), as a bladesmith with an output of maybe 25 knives a year.
Hopefully I will win the 'most toys when they die' competition, if nothing else
On a more knife making note, I got the wind in my sails and knocked out, and heat treated this little batch of petty's last weekend, and got them ground and ready for handles yesterday. These are blue2 core suminagashi. It was a joy to work compared to my own clad steels.
They sold in no time on Instagram. I will try and do some more before Christmas. Its nice to be working on 'low stress' knives
They sold in no time on Instagram. I will try and do some more before Christmas. Its nice to be working on 'low stress' knives
@samuraistuart - take all my comments about steel manufacturers, and who supplies who with a pinch of salt. Its 'Chinese whispers'. I really don't know!
The Blue2 steel I have bought in the past from 'Workshop Heaven' (Europe) was sold, and labelled as Hitachi Blue2. So it is sold outside Japan. (my eyes watered when I paid for it though)
The Blue2 steel I have bought in the past from 'Workshop Heaven' (Europe) was sold, and labelled as Hitachi Blue2. So it is sold outside Japan. (my eyes watered when I paid for it though)
samuraistuart
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Ha! BTW...good looking Blue 2 knives. Yeah, Workshop Heaven and Dictum are the only two places that I know of that will sell "Hitachi" steels. And how they managed that...I haven't a clue! I made a petty out of the White 2/wrought iron san mai billets they had some years ago prior to when I had a good heat treating oven. I sent it out to a pro company here in the USA, and that knife NEVER held an edge worth squat. Turns out, I later found out the hardening temp they used. 1575f, which is a full 100f hotter than it should have been!!! No wonder that knife underperformed badly! Way too much retained austenite for White steel, too much plate martensite. The edge just would sort of crumble in light use. Now I have a kiln that holds an extremely tight temperature, but only reaches 1775f, so I am limited to A2 and under if I want to keep heat treat in house.
One of our main steel suppliers here, Aldo Bruno the New Jersey Steel Baron, actually managed to acquire some Hitachi Blue 2 a few years back (mono steel, not clad). I made quite a few knives out of it, and still have a little bit left over. Good steel, seemed to be. Some guys got part of the batch that had SUPER wicked alloy/carbide banding. The blades looked like folded steel, in a way, just massive banding. I don't care for that much, preferring a better homogeneous structure, but it looks cool, and I've heard doesn't seem to affect performance.
One of our main steel suppliers here, Aldo Bruno the New Jersey Steel Baron, actually managed to acquire some Hitachi Blue 2 a few years back (mono steel, not clad). I made quite a few knives out of it, and still have a little bit left over. Good steel, seemed to be. Some guys got part of the batch that had SUPER wicked alloy/carbide banding. The blades looked like folded steel, in a way, just massive banding. I don't care for that much, preferring a better homogeneous structure, but it looks cool, and I've heard doesn't seem to affect performance.
valgard
Stones Addict (terminal case)
Very nice!
Had a few weeks layoff from knifemaking due to some insane work commitments, but eased myself back into it on sunday with this Takefu blue2 core petty, for a member on here. Blades about 140mm ish, from memory!
Long was to go until its a finished knife, but quite pleased with it so far! I have improved my finishing, time and quality wise a lot on this one.
Long was to go until its a finished knife, but quite pleased with it so far! I have improved my finishing, time and quality wise a lot on this one.
managed to get an 'infocus' shot of one of the petty's im working on. Too thin ? Its measuring about .2 mm, about 1.5 mm to 2mm up from the edge (0.008") - not sharpened yet.....
Overall height of blade is about 32mm at heel, to give a reference to the pic!
Overall height of blade is about 32mm at heel, to give a reference to the pic!
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This is the first 'Wide bevel' Japanese knife I have worked on, as a refurb for a local chef.
Quite a satisfying project, made me realise I have a lot to learn! - The finish is from a 2000 grit synthetic stone, I could have got a better finish, eventually......, but the law of diminishing returns was coming into play and the knife had eaten a lot of time already!
Quite a satisfying project, made me realise I have a lot to learn! - The finish is from a 2000 grit synthetic stone, I could have got a better finish, eventually......, but the law of diminishing returns was coming into play and the knife had eaten a lot of time already!
