Weekend in the workshop.

[WillC]

T.B London came to visit me this weekend to collaborate on some Kitchen knives. :biggrin:
Tom brought a great collection of knives for inspiration. This was great and gave me a chance to have a really close look at some other makers knives as well as some commercial ones.

On the first day Tom helped me cut and clean some steel for the Damascus,. Then spent some time sketcking ideas and profiles on the table, we settled on a big Suji and a 270 Guyto.

While I got a billet together in-between taking pics and video Tom managed to get a wee sai mai billet together for a Paring knife.
I managed to get the knives forged up, ready for the next day.

In the morning after a bit of a grind then thinning and tapering in the hammer, we got them HT’d and I started a rather long grinding session.
Tom got the handle assemblies sorted ready for glue and shaping. We realized at this point we were going to run out of time but I got the Gyuto fully ground, I’ll have to come back to my Suji another time.
Tom fell in love with the Gyuto and took it home with him to get it polished , etched and handled. I’m looking forward to trying to use the Suji without putting holes in the kitchen wall.
Here are the few pics I took, i'm rubbish at remembering to take pics in the workshop, but Tom took hundreds, and video too So there will be some sort of slideshow when their sorted.
Thanks for the company Tom I had a great time and i've a feeling we both learned a fair bit.:biggrin:

 

[WillC]

Suji 310mm, Gyto 270mm and a 200mm Santoku for scale

Profile comparison shot

Gyuto with my Bano Bocho

Suji with my 150mm petty

Handle blocks

Some of Toms knives

Tom arrived on the train with this whole bag, full of knives

Evidence of late night honing:laugh:

Sneaky pattern peak, 300 layers 15n20 and en42J, not as contrasty as other steels I have put with 15n20 it seems, but should be good after hand rubbing etc.
300 layer forge fullered for ladder type effect

The sexy Burls are from Mark, looking forward to seeing them shaped up.

 

[Aphex]

Looks like you had a very productive weekend, the profile of the gyuto looks pretty good for a kitchen newbee. I can't wait to see the finished product with that beautuful piece of maple attached.

 

[HHH Knives]

Great stuff, It looks like you all had fun! Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[WillC]

Cheers Man, Tom sketched the profiles and was invaluable when it came to grinding as I would hand him the blade so he could see how the profile would hit the board cutting in different places, little bit off here, etc. I have finished up the grind on the Suji today, with a slight convex from the middle, (blended thinning from the centre) I've hand rubbed it down to 180 gt, rounded the spine and the choil. I'm going to put an edge on it in a bit, and do some more poiishing tomorrow and an etch.
The Suji spine dimensions are now 3mm at the back, tapering to 2mm before the tip. The edge thick/thinness is 0.2mm at the back tapering pretty evenly to just over 0.1mm. I'll aim for a 7/8 degree bevel on that with a microbevel.
I'll pop some pics up in a bit, just doing the utube jobby.

 

[WillC]

Thanks Randy, always good to have some company in the workshop.:happymug:
Here is a compilation of Tom photos of the making, sorry about the slightly odd soundtrack, maybe square-pusher wasn't the best choice:laugh:
[video=youtube;Fbd-Fl_1Fy4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbd-Fl_1Fy4[/video]

 

[WillC]

Suji Progress

 

[JMJones]

Cool stuff. That press looks awesome. Also what type of hammer is that, Stiker, Anyang, something else...

 

[WillC]

Cheers Man, its an Anyang, I bought the first one that John at Massey imported about 8 years ago. It doesn't miss a beat

 

[HHH Knives]

Thats a cool video. You guys did good! Man thats some great equipment you have there..

 

[WillC]

Cheers Randy, yeah I've been lucky with getting bits and pieces over the years at a good price. Most of it is a luxury for knife making.....but essential for my architectural work.

 

[Eamon Burke]

That looks like a hell of a time.

You know the earmuffs work better on your ears, right?

 

[WillC]

Speak up John, I cant hear you.....:laugh:
Yeah your right, bad habits and all that:O
But it was a fun weekend, i'm now struggling to hone the Suji, its a new experience honing something so long, getting there...:biggrin:

 

[TB_London]

Just got around to putting some of the vids up on youtube

Using Power Hammer to forge Gyuto to shape

[video=youtube;F1VmVYhK0Io]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1VmVYhK0Io[/video]


Normalising the Suji

[video=youtube;w9CllLoUQPc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9CllLoUQPc[/video]

The handle is just drying, when it's on i'll put up some cutting vids too

Heat treating the Suji

[video=youtube;0AtqL-cm3K4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AtqL-cm3K4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL[/video]

 

[WillC]

Cool, thanks so much for doing that Tom. Can't wait to see the Gyuto all finished.

 

[TB_London]

Handle is being shaped, but the stabilised wood is much tougher to work, my block plane seems to be in constant need of sharpening
Is a really good fit though, going to leave it friction fit so that it can be removed if needs be
Once it's shaped i'll play with the balance point and will probably put a Mokume endcap on to give it some bling.

Sharpened it up and it passes HHT and every other sharpness test i tried, it just needs it's handle on...

How's the Suji coming along?

 

[WillC]

Got some brass and Ally round to play with in place of a dowel, but I got 12mm, its a bit slack, was it a 1/2" drill?

 

[TB_London]

Yeah just checked was 1/2", can you flare the rod out once the slot is cut?

 

[WillC]

Ah i'll get some more, it was cheap enough and I can use the 12mm for something else.:biggrin: