D. Martell Gallery - Re-Handles

Dave Martell · Sep 30, 2020

This is a vintage Chinese vegetable cleaver that was the property of the customer's grandmother. It came to me with a cracked handle that was to be replaced but the customer also asked about refinishing the blade so I gave that a go as well.

The blade is pretty unique in a couple of ways from what I normally see as it's highly asymmetrically forged, it's also convex ground on the right side edge, and has two different patterns ground into lower sections of each side the blade. If you look closely at the pictures you can see the difference as I didn't change this appearance at all.

The customer designed the new handle, he went with an octagonal wa made from amboyna burl, blond buffalo horn, and added nickel silver/brass, & black G10 spacers.

My hope is that this cleaver can serve him as long as it did his grandmother and can then be passed down to the next generation.

PS - I forgot to take before pictures but I was lucky in that the customer had shot some himself and shared them with me.

Dave Martell · Oct 1, 2020

Today we have a brand new 240mm Yoshihiko Akitomo Kobuse Gyuto that came with a handle that was too small for the blade. The supplied handle was a very nice one it just wasn't wide enough to cover the spine and choil to tang intersections and allowed the user's hand to get rubbed from a sharp corner. The customer had the options of either re-working the blade to accommodate the handle or making a whole new handle, he chose the latter.

The new handle is made from African Blackwood and streaked blond buffalo horn. My youngest daughter picked out the horn for this handle and I think she made a nice selection. I do really like this simple combo, it just works.

The blackwood and blade are really nice looking and something to see in person yet I didn't manage to capture, in the least, their beauty within my pictures, sorry about that.

Anyway, here she is.....

juice · Oct 1, 2020

Dave Martell said:
The supplied handle was a very nice one it just wasn't wide enough

Did you get it off in a reusable form?

Dave Martell · Oct 1, 2020

juice said:
Did you get it off in a reusable form?

Yes! I had to beat the **** out of it though.

Dave Martell · Dec 21, 2020

Here we have a Sukenari Nakiri in ZDP-189 with a new handle upgraded to a stabilized figured maple with an ivory/blond buffalo horn ferrule.

daddy yo yo · Dec 21, 2020

Drop-dead gorgeous once again!!!

daveb · Dec 21, 2020

Keith Sinclair · Dec 22, 2020

Beautiful Dave how are you doing these days?

Dave Martell · Jan 9, 2021

This new handle is attached to a Shanghai made cleaver which is a stout little guy, thick like a meat cleaver. The customer requested an oval wa made from African Blackwood with a G10 ferrule. I shaped the handle a tad different than what a typical oval is normally seen as because some woods (African Blackwood being one of them) don't show very well on rounded parts so what I did was to flatten the sides to give the wood some subtle bling effect. I also shaped the taper a bit different in that I didn't flair it in all directions, well I did expect for the top which I left flat to the spine. You can notice this by looking at the rear end of the handle on the bottom side, it flairs out there. This gives a nice look when such a straight spine is found on a knife (like this cleaver) and also allows for a proper size fit up in both the front of the handle and for overall grip width. Sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest differences and I think this handle design shows this off well.

The customer requested a sharpening of the blade but asked me to leave all marks/patina alone to preserve it's history, I presume.

Dave Martell · Feb 25, 2021

Today I've got a 160mm nakiri to share that has a brand new handle I just made for it.

The handle's wood is a really nice piece amboyna burl that was selected by the customer and is attached to a buffalo horn ferrule along with nickel silver/copper/G10 spacers.

As you can see in the pictures the amboyna is some real nice stuff but it challenged me a bit as the block came with one half as one color and the other half another with the divider running nearly down the middle length. What challenged me is that I really didn't want to make two different colored sides so I stared at this block for quite some time trying to imagine what was inside. I decided to nibble away at all sides/ends until I came to the point that I was happy with what I was seeing and had the appropriate size required to get going with drilling and glue up. Well, it turns out that I likely make something like 9-10 cuts before I found that perfect middle section I was after. I realize this may sound stupid to talk about but it's a big thing for me when I look at the finished results as I feel it makes a positive difference and was worth the effort.

So what do you think about how the balance came out?

HumbleHomeCook · Feb 25, 2021

Absolutely stunning! I think you found a beautiful piece in there and it turned out astoundingly well.

cotedupy · Feb 26, 2021

Dave Martell said:
This is a vintage Chinese vegetable cleaver that was the property of the customer's grandmother. It came to me with a cracked handle that was to be replaced but the customer also asked about refinishing the blade so I gave that a go as well.

The blade is pretty unique in a couple of ways from what I normally see as it's highly asymmetrically forged, it's also convex ground on the right side edge, and has two different patterns ground into lower sections of each side the blade. If you look closely at the pictures you can see the difference as I didn't change this appearance at all.

The customer designed the new handle, he went with an octagonal wa made from amboyna burl, blond buffalo horn, and added nickel silver/brass, & black G10 spacers.

My hope is that this cleaver can serve him as long as it did his grandmother and can then be passed down to the next generation.

PS - I forgot to take before pictures but I was lucky in that the customer had shot some himself and shared them with me.

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Cool! I've done a couple of cleaver handles recently. I think they work well with octagons both functionally and aesthetically.

[EDIT - I just re-read your post and I think I misunderstood you.]

Anyway here's a picture of one I did this week with a noticeably asymmetric RH grind (it maybe slightly exaggerates the effect). I *assume* this is intentional as I see it quite often on what I would term 'caidao', but not on super skinny 'piandao' type slicers, or obviously on bone cleavers.

(Sorry to hijack your thread briefly there!)

Dave Martell · Mar 15, 2021

Here's a Hiromoto AS petty with a brand new handle I just made for it. The wood is maple burl and the pins are nickel silver.

Dave Martell · May 15, 2021

Here's a 270mm Mazaki Gyuto with a new handle made out of amboyna burl and buffalo horn.

The customer wanted something a bit different and selected a block of amboyna burl, that to me, is very unique in how it looks. He made a great choice in that the wood worked wonderfully and gave great results in all respects. I paired it with a streaked piece of buffalo horn that was a bit more streaky before it was sanded down but still shows some of what I hoped it would. The handle really pairs up well with this very nice knife even though my pictures don't due either justice.

daddy yo yo · May 15, 2021

Oh boy, what a handle! Absolutely stunning, once again...

Keith Sinclair · May 15, 2021

Nice Dave just horn and amboyna

Made me think of couple handles made few years ago. One went on culinary students knife.

The other same piece of amboyna kept almost forgot I had it, still looking for blade to put it on.

Dave Martell · May 15, 2021

Keeping it simple often provides great results.

tostadas · May 16, 2021

Dave Martell said:
Here's a 270mm Mazaki Gyuto with a new handle made out of amboyna burl and buffalo horn.

The customer wanted something a bit different and selected a block of amboyna burl, that to me, is very unique in how it looks. He made a great choice in that the wood worked wonderfully and gave great results in all respects. I paired it with a streaked piece of buffalo horn that was a bit more streaky before it was sanded down but still shows some of what I hoped it would. The handle really pairs up well with this very nice knife even though my pictures don't due either justice.

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Stunning work as always Dave. Very classy

Dave Martell · Sep 2, 2021

Today we have a Watanabe nakiri that's been completely overhauled to include edge damage repair, bevel thinning, kuroichi re-finishing, and a new handle installed that's been made out of exhibition grade koa and black buffalo horn.