Search the Community

As the title says, first knife I have really been able to make for myself. Before I just took too many requests for friends and family and never had the time to make myself one. Recently finished a full kitchen set for my parents and had some extra damascus and a spare piece of mokume, so I decided to make myself a cooking knife as I do a lot of it but I have never had a good kitchen knife to work with. It's not the fanciest one I've done, but the octagonal handle is very comfortable in my hand and the blade is very thin towards the edge making it cut better than any kitchen knife I've gotten to use before, so I am really happy I made the time to make it. Blade is 1095/15n20 damascus run through 4 hardening cycles. Handle is amboyna burl.

I am about to finish up a master's degree in physiology, after which I will be moving to start dental school. Because of this I won't have space for a workshop and likely won't have the time for knife making, so I decided to work hard to finish these up before the move. A kitchen set for my parents. All triple-quenched high-carbon damascus, mokume bolsters, and snakewood handles. Hope you enjoy.

This was done for a restaurant here in Louisville called Mirin, an amazing ramen house where everything is made from scratch. It is high carbon damascus with a flat grind and differential hardening. The hamon is pretty high up but the transition can be seen as the etch fades closer to the forge mark and on the last picture in the same area. The blade has a solid distal taper and is the lightest knife I have made by size. The handle is bloodwood with a mosaic pin and a nickel/copper mokume gane bolster. The grain on the mokume is very tight and can barely be seen in person along the side, but it can be seen on the flat in the first picture. Feedback welcome.

Built this from Bloodwood, mokume, silicon bronze and forged 1095, Blade is 1095, 11.5" OAL16.25"

Seems like these come up every 3 or 4 months. I recently had a request for one of these pendants, and so I made two just for the sake of variety and insurance against failure, because I usually try something new every time. First up, the more ambitious attempt - a twisted bar of 5 dimes. First fused, then forged out to a blunt square nail shape, I hot-twisted it gently, and when shears started, I gently hammered it square and got it hot enough to re-fuse the joints. Can't do that with Damascus steel, and it saved me twice in the process. While I was hoping to see stars, what I ended up with was just as good - they look like long dunes to me, seen from space. For the second one, I kept it simple, just a flat laminate, but went to the drill press and tried to hit it with a raindrop pattern. It's not as stark as the steel I treat this way, but it still made an interesting pattern I think, and almost looks like hidden faces peeking out - I see eyes and some noses, with my whimsical eye. Thanks for looking!

I woo'd two women today. Young enough to be my daughters. In front of my wife. Young women who serve as LDS missionaries, they've been over quite often lately, mostly checking on Carla. Upon discovering my talents out in the shop, they wanted to make time to see the magic happen. They get one day a week to attend to personal issues and have a little "free time" not focusing on church work, which was today... so I went ahead and took the day off, since I have 1000 other things to do in the shop as well as holidays approach. We made necklace pendants, fusing 5 dimes for each, disrupting the surface with a rotary tool and forging back to flat. A little hammer work, a little grind, fold the top over to capture a 2mm leather cord, and finished by hand with paper and fine stones. I used a Liver of Sulphur patina to color the materials once finished. The look on their faces was one their future boyfriends should be so lucky to see. You're welcome, young men of the world, I just raised the bar on you.