Bob Ouellette

Thanks! They're not too difficult if your forge has enough room. They're definitely good choppers! I shredded some "leather herbs" after I put the rough edge on it and it was fantastic. It was also great for making a long, straight cut. I'd never heard of them before I was asked to make it. The grinding wasn't difficult at all. The bigger pain was getting the curve deep enough in my very space limited forge set up. That's an idea! Now I have to make one big enough to slice the frozen pizzas I get!

I definitely want to make one for myself. Also, I've been corrected on Facebook that it's mezzaluna and they can have multiple blades. I'm thinking of making one with a variable number of blades. So they just go on or come off if you need 1, 3, 5, or 7. It would certainly make for easier cleaning and sharpening too.

The messaluna is very interesting. I didn't think I'd like using it or want to make one for myself. I think the difference between an ulu and a messaluna other than the handle/handles is the size of the blade. I think I'll have to make another for myself.

Hey all, these blades have been in the works for some time now, but my job has kept me plenty busy. With work slowed down and 4 days off in a row for Thanksgiving, I lit a fire under my ass and got to finishing some projects. Both of these blades are forged from 1084. First, is a mezzaluna that is about 9 in wide and a 1.75" tall. It took a bit of ingenuity to get that much curve in my 3-in diameter forge. Especially with the tangs poking out the way they do. I used some medium sized file handles on it, along with a mustard patina. This one went to a student at a local culinary sch

If you have access to a small mill and a lathe, that wouldn't be a terribly difficult project.

Very clean forging! Thanks for the process pictures as well.

Looks good, Rob!

Very nicely done!

This is the oldest picture I could find on my phone (2006). And here's a new guard and handle I put on the same blade just a few months ago. Here's another knife that is completely new that I made a few weeks ago.

Good luck on the staking, Rob. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it finished.

Thanks @JeffM! I'll give that a shot on the next run as well.

To add on to this: it's a common way to hold hardware in place called staking. I've used it plenty of times to close up gaps where I filed away too much. If you use a narrow rectangular punch, you can move a little bit of metal from a wider area and minimise the visual effects of the staking.

Alan, I'll have to try it and see. I try to use as much of the metal I buy, so I tend to forge it as much as possible. It's also cheaper to buy one size to make whatever I want. The next time I run the oven I'll have to try a piece of the bar untouched. I'll also see if I can break a piece of the unhardened bar as well (wish me luck on that one). Also, if anyone's interested, I found all the pieces and reconstructed the blades most recent blades.

Hey all, I thought I'd share an experiment I did after having the second AEB-L blade I forged snap at the tang. Following that failure and the slightly enlarged grain I noticed, I decided to break the third blade I forged to see if the grain was similar. I'm glad I did it because it was worse! This weekend I forged a pair of blades for some destructive testing. I think part of my problem with the previous two blades was too many attempts to achieve optimal hardness. My first attempt was a 15 minutes soak at 1950F followed by a plate quench and a night in the freezer. Both blades w

Thanks! I drew up my initials the same way that I write them and it turned out pretty fantastic. And it was only $84 for a 3/8" wide stamp.