Updates from Metal land.

[zitangy]

There coming along really well Will, nice one. The stand out piece for me looks like it's going to be the butterflies suji. If it looks this good now, god knows how stunning it will look when fully handled and polished.

My preference is still the feather design.. ( design; structured and organised to have that pattern.. The butterfly wld be great/Perfect for The " electro- man" or for one with the randomness taste; but beneath it there still should be a pattern if one looks hard enough; imaginative or otherwise adn isn't that what a piece of art is subject to?

hv a nice week-end

rgds
d

 

[WillC]

Thanks Guys, Mark you can be my pattern tester, if you start to hum white rabbit and go bleary eyed, Pattern = Good
Aphex, your Gyuto will be pretty too, just not the type of pattern that shows much before grinding the bevels. These are all heat treated and tempered now. And all is well.

I also got some handles glued up today for some other bits I need to get out. Davids test piece Stainless. And a test piece Suji and Petty which have been snaffled. I still have to etch/ fit the handles for those, but they will be out next week.

Thanks All, have a great weekend.:biggrin:

 

[El Pescador]

I'll test the butterfly pattern if you don't mind...

 

[ejd53]

The Butterfly pattern sort of reminds me of the "Id" monster from Forbidden Planet, one of my all time favorite Sci-Fi movies.

 

[El Pescador]

Judd Pattern sneaky peak.

Its softened nicely. This is a variation of a W's pattern. I'm sure many similar things have been done before. But I think I'll call my version of it Butterflies.
I gave a portion a buff on the wheel and it will look super yummy polished.

I think this looks great. You figure out the handle yet?

Pesky

 

[WillC]

Thanks Pesky. Either nickel silver or ali-bronze spacer and butcap, wenge ferrule and your lovely wood. Subject to your approval. But handles will be next week Judd. Got the grinds to get done, then I'll confirm everyones handle materials and sizes.:biggrin:

 

[WillC]

Not any of this particular batch, but this was on the to do list.
This is one of a pair of test knives I made for the purposes of testing core steels. They caught someone's eye, so these are now finished, just gluing up the handle on a blue core petty.
This one is a 300mm Suji, Damascus san mai with 01 in the middle. Not as deep as my current Suji profiles but will hopefully be very useful to the new owner.
The handle is Walnut with a maple ferrule from Burl source.
Petty to follow shortly.

Hard to catch the san mai on camera after polishing but its nice and close and even, right to the tip.

I've cut allot of stuff with this knife already as it was a tester and I does perform very nicely.

Got some grinding done today to. Have some more forging to do tomorrow for the carving set then back to the grind stone.

 

[WillC]

Well got a bit held up on these this week but progress is being made. Got a couple of the feather pattern ones ground, took one home to sharpen and test it on dinner. The feather pattern Gyuto's will be quite sturdy, fully convex, but thin in the right places. About 3mm above the choil, 2mm centre and just under 1mm an inch behind the tip. This one performed very well prepping this evenings dinner. I like to give the blades a trail run on food before doing the final finish so I can make any adjustments.
Grind shots.

Sharpened up to test on dinner

 

[Andrew H]

That looks very nice, Will.

 

[WillC]

All these now ground, From the right David's Gyuto and Suji, Aphex san mai Gyuto, and Sean Feather Gyuto. And the carving set on the end.

I had an accident with Judd's lovely Butterflies pattern during re-heat treating, (it had a bit of a kink after tempering) Unfortunately lost an inch off the end
Bad day at the offfice.
We have a new plan for Judd's Suji now and the broken tipped one I will finish as a 270mm which will be available.
Tomorrow I am on Damascus and forging down the last feather blank for Matt's 270mm Gyuto
Then I'll start hand finishing and thinking about handles.
Thanks All:biggrin:

 

[zitangy]

Not too bad... If it had been in the centre. No suji at all or no knife at all. So there is a short story to the knife....
Have fun..

 

[PierreRodrigue]

Well done Will. Looks really good!

 

[El Pescador]

So sad...

 

[Deckhand]

You really do amazing work, truly a master craftsman. The 300mm sujihiki you posted a couple days ago. Wow

 

[WillC]

Thanks Guys, true it could have been worse. It was a silly thing really. I saw the tip starting to curve just a touch after quenching. There are a few seconds where the metal is still soft after the quench, If your quick a little tweak can be made before it becomes fully hardened. I overstepped the window a little and.... ting.
If I'm on the ball I can feel the difference in the metal while correcting with scroll tongs and know when to stop, but not that day.:cheffry:
Oh well, we wouldn't want to do it if it was easy.

 

[Aphex]

Look's like your making good progress on these, can't wait to see them all polished up. Very pleased with the profile on mine btw, seems like you really nailed it.

 

[Bulldogbacchus]

How did the feather go?

Matt

 

[WillC]

I haven't forged it out yet Matt, my neck has gone and ceased up on me, it does this sometimes and I can't do allot for a couple of days until it eases off. I'll be back on it next week. :biggrin:

 

[WillC]

My neck/upper back, is pretty bad just at the minute. Its a bit like a trapped nerve. I've had it before and it eases off eventually. At the moment I've just got to sit it out with lots of pain killers. I was supposed to help my Girlfriend move her stuff this weekend as she is moving in with me, but lifting anything is out of the question.
Anyway sorry about that, I will probably be off for a few days maybe a week. I will go and see my back lady on monday.

 

[WillC]

Right some progress.:biggrin:
Mat's monster Feather Gyuto, with the feathers going the other way.

And here it is shaped and ready for HT, next to my 270mm Masamoto. My ks is actually 280mm, Mat's is presently 290mm:eek2:
If thats too big let me know, seems a shame to make it smaller.

Judd, pattern development. This is after doing a billet of W's and forging to about 30mm square 50cm long.
Notice the silver lines are finer for this version of the butterfly pattern, I think it will work better.

That bar was cut to 9 and will be restacked 3 x 3. Then folded a few times to get the compression right....... The rest of the plan is a secret, lets just say Judd knows how to set a challenge.

Michael, I've forged out your damascus clad/blue 250mm Gyuto too, its pickling clean overnight before a final work down in the hammer.

 

[El Pescador]

I approve of this thread and any contents herein!

 

[jmforge]

Will, when you cut and bundle them into 9, how do you orient the bars?

Right some progress.:biggrin:
Mat's monster Feather Gyuto, with the feathers going the other way.

And here it is shaped and ready for HT, next to my 270mm Masamoto. My ks is actually 280mm, Mat's is presently 290mm:eek2:
If thats too big let me know, seems a shame to make it smaller.

Judd, pattern development. This is after doing a billet of W's and forging to about 30mm square 50cm long.
Notice the silver lines are finer for this version of the butterfly pattern, I think it will work better.

That bar was cut to 9 and will be restacked 3 x 3. Then folded a few times to get the compression right....... The rest of the plan is a secret, lets just say Judd knows how to set a challenge.

Michael, I've forged out your damascus clad/blue 250mm Gyuto too, its pickling clean overnight before a final work down in the hammer.

 

[WillC]

For this pattern with the W's all running the same way. It sounds daft like you may as well have just used more layers in the W's but the effect is quite different.

 

[Bulldogbacchus]

Will, that is awesome. I agree it would be a shame to make it smaller. I hope HT goes well.
How's your neck?

 

[jmforge]

Not daft. i twisted a bar of W's, which, in theory, unlike cutting into the long axis to make firestorm, should have made much difference in the end grain pattern, but it did.

For this pattern with the W's all running the same way. It sounds daft like you may as well have just used more layers in the W's but the effect is quite different.

 

[WillC]

Cool, it will be left a biggie then Matt. Neck much better thanks as long as I do my stretches morning and evening.


I changed my mind on the Butterfly pattern in the end and have the middle row going the other way, mix it up a bit. Have a look what it looks like tomorrow.

 

[WillC]

Those two big damascus blocks are now this........

The inch square bold W's is for ferrules in general and 3 of the Feather blades.

And here we have "Judd Mascus" Judd I changed it slightly and we have the middle W's going perpendicular to the blade.

Out of that big block, which I continued to fold and compress a little more, we have 3 and a half lumps which will forge out to about the same length as the one I have drawn out and test etched and about a half inch in thickness.

These billets are a little short for a 300 Suji I hear you cry:laugh: Well I will need two of the lumps forged to about 150mm by 50mm by 7mm for Judds final blade construction. The pattern is still over compressed and this is to plan. As it will be forged out allot more. Can you guess what it is yet? Brownie points for anyone who can guess

 

[WillC]

I'm thinking maybe the bold W's might be a bit strong with the Feather pattern blades. I might do a simple high layer tight twist billet for ferrules too to give some choice. For the endcaps I have the same billet as the last damascus fitted blades.

 

[Bulldogbacchus]

That end cap is awesome

 

[JMJones]

Thanks for the pics, very impressive.