D. Martell Gallery - Re-Handles
- Thread starter Dave Martell
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Here's a Shun bread knife, sold through Williams Sonoma, that's been modified a bit.
It was supposed to have had a simple handle upgrade by changing out the plastic for a burled wood but that all went south during the execution. Small poorly ground hollow bolster and soft wood forced my hand to poor craftsmanship so that coarse of action was scrapped. In it's place we went with grinding off the bolster and going for an octagonal wa design.
The customer requested African Blackwood, black buffalo horn, white bone, and a mosaic pin as the components....he got them all.
I hope you like it John!
It was supposed to have had a simple handle upgrade by changing out the plastic for a burled wood but that all went south during the execution. Small poorly ground hollow bolster and soft wood forced my hand to poor craftsmanship so that coarse of action was scrapped. In it's place we went with grinding off the bolster and going for an octagonal wa design.
The customer requested African Blackwood, black buffalo horn, white bone, and a mosaic pin as the components....he got them all.
I hope you like it John!
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Alright, this is kind of scary. I was just thinking/dreaming of a rehandled bread knife....not even sure why.
Nice, Dave -- very classy-looking Shun.
Glad to see some rehandle work pics.
Glad to see some rehandle work pics.
milkbaby
Well-Known Doofus
ABW against black horn is very subtle, very bling but still understated handle. Nice job!
Thanks guys!
A 3-pack of Watanabe knives in for rehandling!
cheflarge
Senior Member
WOW!!! Quit the trio.
Huh?
It's possible since Watanabe owners are bad people.
Here we have a 240 mm Sukenari ZDP189 damascus clad gyuto with a brand new handle made out of desert ironwood and an 11 spacer stack of copper, nickel silver, & G10 spacers.
What do you think?
What do you think?
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I really like that spacer combo Dave, looks great with the ironwood
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You nail it every single time with Ironwood. The shining reflections are drop-dead gorgeous!
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They’re super.
Thanks Jose
People night have picked up by now I have a bit of a thing for black and orange and that middle handle properly rings my bell.
Ironwood! That was my favorite of the bunch too.
So ...
A long time ago, I had Stefan make a handle for me out of a vintage piece of bakelite. It was amazing. I loved it. I left kkf thinking I'd never need another knife again ...
And then ... a month ago ... I came crawling back ... because ...
I FOUND A CRACK IN THE HANDLE!
I guess some water must have seeped in (we think between the horn and the spacer) and over time caused a problem. I sent it to Dave, begging for his help. Of course, it ended being a bit of a nightmare to fix apparently, but Dave did it! Just when I thought the handle was doomed, and the knife was never to be used again, it's now back in my hands, proudly showing off its CA "scar":
Many thanks to Dave and his excellent work. I know he was disappointed that it "wasn't perfect" - but in my mind, that's not the point. We go through all these lengths to get these knives and then use them. And over time, just like an excellent pair of raw denim, they begin to show off the wear unique to the user. It makes it beautiful. Thanks Dave, for saving the Stefan handle live to fight another day! It's not like I could easily find a Konosuke HD (1st gen) and Stefan Bakelite handle just lying around to make another of these!
(I also had him sharpen it for me - so it's basically like new!)
A long time ago, I had Stefan make a handle for me out of a vintage piece of bakelite. It was amazing. I loved it. I left kkf thinking I'd never need another knife again ...
And then ... a month ago ... I came crawling back ... because ...
I FOUND A CRACK IN THE HANDLE!
I guess some water must have seeped in (we think between the horn and the spacer) and over time caused a problem. I sent it to Dave, begging for his help. Of course, it ended being a bit of a nightmare to fix apparently, but Dave did it! Just when I thought the handle was doomed, and the knife was never to be used again, it's now back in my hands, proudly showing off its CA "scar":
Many thanks to Dave and his excellent work. I know he was disappointed that it "wasn't perfect" - but in my mind, that's not the point. We go through all these lengths to get these knives and then use them. And over time, just like an excellent pair of raw denim, they begin to show off the wear unique to the user. It makes it beautiful. Thanks Dave, for saving the Stefan handle live to fight another day! It's not like I could easily find a Konosuke HD (1st gen) and Stefan Bakelite handle just lying around to make another of these!
(I also had him sharpen it for me - so it's basically like new!)
parbaked
Senior Member
Like
So ...
A long time ago, I had Stefan make a handle for me out of a vintage piece of bakelite. It was amazing. I loved it. I left kkf thinking I'd never need another knife again ...
And then ... a month ago ... I came crawling back ... because ...
I FOUND A CRACK IN THE HANDLE!
I guess some water must have seeped in (we think between the horn and the spacer) and over time caused a problem. I sent it to Dave, begging for his help. Of course, it ended being a bit of a nightmare to fix apparently, but Dave did it! Just when I thought the handle was doomed, and the knife was never to be used again, it's now back in my hands, proudly showing off its CA "scar":
Many thanks to Dave and his excellent work. I know he was disappointed that it "wasn't perfect" - but in my mind, that's not the point. We go through all these lengths to get these knives and then use them. And over time, just like an excellent pair of raw denim, they begin to show off the wear unique to the user. It makes it beautiful. Thanks Dave, for saving the Stefan handle live to fight another day! It's not like I could easily find a Konosuke HD (1st gen) and Stefan Bakelite handle just lying around to make another of these!
(I also had him sharpen it for me - so it's basically like new!)
I'm glad to be able to have helped Terry, thanks for the work!
Here's a Watanabe cleaver that was originally western handled, now converted to octagonal wa. The customer supplied the wood, wanted a slightly larger handle, and for it to be flush it to the blade. The wood is maple burl. I hope this works for you Ryan.
Looks great Dave! ThanksHere's a Watanabe cleaver that was originally western handled, now converted to octagonal wa. The customer supplied the wood, wanted a slightly larger handle, and for it to be flush it to the blade. The wood is maple burl. I hope this works for you Ryan.
View attachment 53434 View attachment 53435 View attachment 53436 View attachment 53437 View attachment 53438 View attachment 53439
This one is a slightly different handle than I normally do although I hope to do more of these in the near future.
The wa handle is made from figured maple and blond buffalo horn. The wood was provided by the customer who got it from his uncle. As you can see in the before and after shot the color of the maple was originally very natural (blond) yet the customer wanted color. Since I was fortunate to have him here in my shop for a class we were able to come up with a plan of attack for this as well as he picked out the horn that looked good to him.
What I did to achieve the look of the wood's end result was a several part process....
First I used nitric acid/iron to bring out the figuring quite a bit. This is an old technique used for hundreds of years in the rifle making industry of Pennsylvania, etc. Google it up, it's very interesting stuff.
The customer also wanted the wood to be burnt so I scorched it....lightly.
Then I dyed/stained it using 5 different types of products to get just the right look. We were shooting for some red tones and some flash of orange/gold/yellow and got pretty close to what we both were looking for.
In person this handle has crazy movement and flash but in the pictures looks sort of blah in comparison but at least the customer should be pleased when he gets it in hand.
The knife is a Fujiwara something or other that's been thinned by the gents down at District Cutlery with the spine and choil rounded/polished by myself for comfort.
I hope it serves you well Nick!
The wa handle is made from figured maple and blond buffalo horn. The wood was provided by the customer who got it from his uncle. As you can see in the before and after shot the color of the maple was originally very natural (blond) yet the customer wanted color. Since I was fortunate to have him here in my shop for a class we were able to come up with a plan of attack for this as well as he picked out the horn that looked good to him.
What I did to achieve the look of the wood's end result was a several part process....
First I used nitric acid/iron to bring out the figuring quite a bit. This is an old technique used for hundreds of years in the rifle making industry of Pennsylvania, etc. Google it up, it's very interesting stuff.
The customer also wanted the wood to be burnt so I scorched it....lightly.
Then I dyed/stained it using 5 different types of products to get just the right look. We were shooting for some red tones and some flash of orange/gold/yellow and got pretty close to what we both were looking for.
In person this handle has crazy movement and flash but in the pictures looks sort of blah in comparison but at least the customer should be pleased when he gets it in hand.
The knife is a Fujiwara something or other that's been thinned by the gents down at District Cutlery with the spine and choil rounded/polished by myself for comfort.
I hope it serves you well Nick!
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You are an artist, Dave!
