Thank you for the background insight Evan, this makes it even more worthwhile to get one of those knifes, also thanks to @nakiriknaifuwaifu and @RockyBasel. just an amazing amazing idea!!Hey everyone! Sorry for my delay in posting, I started making a way too long post about both the story of these knives we are commissioning, as well as a bunch of info in general about wrought iron (WI), but I'll keep this one short and make another post going into more detail about WI later - its history, how it differs from other ferrous metals metallurgically and production-wise, why the WI we sourced is among the highest quality, and some general fun factoids about WI that not many people are aware of, and so on (please note that I am not trained in metallurgy, this is all from my fairly recent research which could be incorrect; if so let me know).
Anyways, I am super excited to be a part of this project, and I appreciate all the interest everyone has expressed. It has been a pleasure working with @RockyBasel, @nakiriknaifuwaifu, and our connections in Japan and England to try and get this little project together. We went through a lot of ideas for possible knives, some that were a bit wild, and some a bit tame. After much deliberation we settled on what I think is a really nice compromise of sorts. There will be the familiar, and always spectacular, B1 from Tanaka-san of which he is renown for, but with the interesting wrought iron (WI) cladding and somewhat unusual dimensions. We inquired with Daisuke Kawamura of Kawamura Hamono (Sakai Kikumori) about such a construction and our hope to work with Tanaka-san specifically. Honestly we did not know what to expect since Tanaka-san had never/rarely ever worked with WI before. Surprisingly, and to our delight, Tanaka-san responded with enthusiasm about the idea precisely because he has worked with WI so little but has always wanted to work with it more/wanted to take on a challenge to test his limits and unknowns. But his excitement was tempered by the fact that he had no source for WI. Daisuke-san and I spent some time tapping possible sources to no real avail.
It took a lot of time to secure the WI. There are users on here, and smiths elsewhere around the world, that have a bunch of WI accessible to them, but it is fairly uncommon in Japan, and we needed at least 25kg of it in bar stock to fulfill the quantity we wanted. There are of course some smiths that have access to WI, but generally inconsistently, with varied levels of quality and quantity, and typically of great expense. After a bunch of research I stumbled across Topps & Co in England. They do ironwork for some of the most prestigious and historically significant buildings, palaces, parks, etc., and their designs and build quality are breathtaking. Not only is their work impressive, they also are (likely) the only producers of re-rolled wrought iron in the world (technically their subsidiary, 'The Real Wrought Iron Company,' makes it). As I mentioned, they also make WI for themselves for WI preservation and restoration projects of historically significant sites and properties, as well as for new builds around the world. So we're talking about the quality control of one of the best ironwork companies in the world, the kind of quality they themselves use to preserve history in its most accurate and beautiful manner.
We ordered the WI in bar stock according to Tanaka-san's requests. They were freshly rolled in the end of April. Tanaka-san is in possession of them and has inspected them favorably. Although it is more work, Tanaka-san is excited to forge weld the B1 and the WI. WI can actually be fairly "easy" to forge weld with thanks to its unique metallurgical composition and inclusion of physically fused siliceous slag (more on that next post), which acts somewhat like a natural flux in a sense. That being said, given the hearty dimensions, working with that much novel material can be a bit more difficult. As mentioned, we do not know the price yet because Tanaka-san has to do a test run to determine the cost of the added labor and difficulty/ease of the forge weld; so please understand that even with a possible discount these may still have a sizable price tag. We also do not know the sharpener partly because we want Tanaka-san's input on a possible sharpener he thinks would do well with the material and dimensions after he had some time handling and working with the WI. As mentioned, please note that some craftsmen, particularly sharpeners, do not want to be disclosed to the public for an array of reasons. If the identity of the sharpener can be mentioned, we will do so, but please respect their wishes if they desire to remain secret. I can assure you the sharpener will be one of the highest quality given the special nature of this project, it is more a question of who it is exactly. The interesting thing is that it is during the sharpening/grinding process where things can go awry if the iron is of poor quality/condition. Pockets of impurities, rusted out bits, etc.
I will do my best to get some media of Tanaka-san working with the WI, but again, we must respect the makers' possible wishes of focus and privacy. But I will post progress of the production as best I can. I will try and be available for questions if anyone has any. I will do my best to respond to this thread, but the best way to reach me is through email or IG DMs. Please excuse me if I miss a message from you. As I mentioned, I will attempt to make another post going into more detail about WI and why it is special. Thanks again for all your excitement, I hope everything turns out well for everyone.
I also want to make a quick, cautious remark about comparing synonymously to/calling these WI knives, "Kaiju (whatever)". Kaiju is for Konosuke and I do not want to step on their toes. We are simply looking for a true workhorse grind. Perhaps the Kaiju is the most familiar and similar knife, but this is not an attempt to overshadow or imitate the Kaiju. Thank you for your understanding.
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