Massdrop III: Kamon

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One comment - the knife we envisioned with Ben is going to be designed and constructed for one primary purpose - superb performance and fit and finish. Other things are secondary- custom handles, etc.

We are also featuring smiths who are recognized as “masters of the craft” who have an insane dedication to their trade - Dalman, Jannis, and now Ben. And whose waiting lists are long, if you can get on the list.

We also give them full freedom to create what they are passionate about for the forum - so it’s not a mass “custom order” at all. It’s having them create an awesome cutting blade in a style that is their own, and by their own choosing. snd that”s why they like working with us - full artistic freedom to create.

they are definitely not doing this for publicity as they are already well known.

we have not yet approached new, emerging talent, but may do so. I think it’s a great idea.

but the other masters we are thinking about and in discussions with, if we can make it happen, it will blow your mind
 
KAMON Knives said:
I finally made a little video walking you guys through my shop. I wanted to do this for some time but I needed a little push from the mass drop guys @RockyBasel, @nakiriknaifuwaifu and @alterwisser to get it together and present you with my accent free flawless English speaking talent.

Believe it or not... This is the fast version. I believe I easily could make a 3h long video just talking about all the details. No joke... Sadly 🙈😂.

Here it is. If you got any questions, let me know.

Click to expand...


Thanks for this! It's cool to see all of this explained in a non-Japanese language. And your accent is fine (speaking as an American living in Europe). As a still-newbie to the world, I have no idea about the details, but it's really amazing to see how much thought/organization/passion goes into the process!
 
Is this still open!! If we're making a list I've been nice, I promise!
 
KAMON Knives said:
I finally made a little video walking you guys through my shop. I wanted to do this for some time but I needed a little push from the mass drop guys @RockyBasel, @nakiriknaifuwaifu and @alterwisser to get it together and present you with my accent free flawless English speaking talent.

Believe it or not... This is the fast version. I believe I easily could make a 3h long video just talking about all the details. No joke... Sadly 🙈😂.

Here it is. If you got any questions, let me know.

Click to expand...

Loved the video Ben! It’s very obvious why your knives are of such a high caliber.
 
5k3rej.jpg
 
RockyBasel said:
One comment - the knife we envisioned with Ben is going to be designed and constructed for one primary purpose - superb performance and fit and finish. Other things are secondary- custom handles, etc.

We are also featuring smiths who are recognized as “masters of the craft” who have an insane dedication to their trade - Dalman, Jannis, and now Ben. And whose waiting lists are long, if you can get on the list.

We also give them full freedom to create what they are passionate about for the forum - so it’s not a mass “custom order” at all. It’s having them create an awesome cutting blade in a style that is their own, and by their own choosing. snd that”s why they like working with us - full artistic freedom to create.
Click to expand...

I haven’t managed to make the cut yet on one of these drops, but this is what I love about what you guys are doing - asking the maker for what they do best, and what they’re passionate about. On this forum the recommendation is always, “buy the smith, not the steel”. These massdrops are an opportunity to experience what the smith does best, their sweet-spot if you will. But most importantly, it’s eliciting that decision on what’s “best” directly from the smith, not arbitrarily defining parameters as consumers.

And honestly the collaboration is more than half the fun; where I might pass on a random Kamon on BST, here I’m crossing my fingers to make the list.
 
rstcso said:
Agreed. My day job is suffering due to trying to type with my fingers crossed.
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Seriously... NKW, I know you said there's no need to F5, but my 12 daily checks for Kamon newsletter openings for custom orders now also includes about 80 checks a day on this thread. Kinda like waiting to see if you got what you wanted for Christmas as a kid. :)
 
If you are starting to accumulate the list of want ins. Put me on please.
 
I too want in before any solicitation for names has been posted, and before any price has been set! However, if it is less than $2000 I may reconsider. I only buy really expensive knives nowadays. $$$$$=quality. 👍



Joking aside, I bet they’ll turn out great. 😍
 
I'm trying to decide whether to continue trying my luck for an opportunity to potentially buy a Kamon, or just spend the money on lottery tickets. Without any Massdrop details, I wouldn't know how many lottery tickets to buy 💰, so I shall wait... with the rest of the world.
 
rstcso said:
I'm trying to decide whether to continue trying my luck for an opportunity to potentially buy a Kamon, or just spend the money on lottery tickets. Without any Massdrop details, I wouldn't know how many lottery tickets to buy 💰, so I shall wait... with the rest of the world.
Click to expand...
I'm still finalizing the announcement with pricing and further details, but for the sake of stopping any rumors you don't need to pay money to enter.

Folks, please look through the past massdrop with Jannis to see how sign-ups were done, it will be very similar.
 
I want to give you guys some technical insights and details of those mass drop knives and my knives in general.

The big objective for me as a knife maker is to build knives that are fun to use, to build knives that perform. So everything I do is either to reach that aim or at least to not compromise it.

I fully forge my blades with a heavy distal taper starting at ~6mm thickness of the tang near the handle. The taper is important for several reasons. For one it centers the mass close to the hand making for a very agile knife. It also makes for a lot of comfort where the hand sits in the choil and on the spine due to its thickness. Last but not least I accomplish to have a laser like front part of the blade combined with a workhorse in the back. So those are the main reasons for why I forge my blades. I'd otherwise have to grind them out from 6mm stock material if I was to make the same taper happen in stock removal technique.
Forging is not a romantic thing to me just to be able to say I'm a blacksmith, but more the most efficient way to accomplish those characteristics of the blade.

For blades that size I start out with a rectangular piece of steel. I use 1.2519 tungsten alloyed high carbon steel with the dimensions of 5mm thickness, 157mm lenght and about 42mm (for the smaller) and 45mm (for the bigger) of width.

First I forge out the tang with the help of a little slot I cut into the blank. I've made a first person video that shows that process using the hand hammer and the powerhammer.



After that I forge out the blade. For that I mainly use half round dies of the power hammer to draw the steel in the desired direction. This process is best shown in this video.



After that process I apply the denty texture to the surface which makes for improved food release and a lighter blade.

My heat treatment is done using an atmospheric temperature controlled kiln for normalizing and soft annealing and a fluidized Sand bed for austenitizing. I quench in a special martempering oil at 200°C and then put the blades into an aluminum clamp reaching 65hrc +-1hrc tempered. Right after the quench I let my blades sit in dry ice to make sure any retained austenite is converted to martensite. That makes for less burr building while sharpening and more wear resistance.

After heat treatment my blades are ground fully water cooled to make sure the steel isn't damaged by any grinding heat and accidentally tempered/softened. I grind convex bevels to 0 with very thin edges sharpened by hand on a shapton pro 5k.

My handles are take down meaning they can be taken off of the blades. The main reason for that is that all the important info is stamped into the tang. Therefore such details as production date, steel grade, hardness and details about the heat treatment will always stay on the knife and never be forgotten. Even in decades one will know what he's dealing with.

Hope you guys liked the technical stuff too and let me know if I need to explain anything a little deeper.
 
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