PICO CHOPPER

[justin carnecchia 67]

Hi, here's one I just finished up. Camp chopper in small form.

Blade is w2, fittings heat blued damascus and copper, and the handle is some really lovely maple. Almost stained it, but really liked the natural color. Almost white it's so pale.

Really happy with the hamon on this one, tons of chatoyant activity. Still not the choji I seek, but I get a little closer with every blade. 

Thanks for looking, Justin

[Clifford Brewer 357]

Dat's purty........

[Vern Wimmer 472]

Nicely done. I have a sneaking admiration for your ability to resist the temptation that 99% of us would give into regarding staining the handle.

[Zeb Camper 780]

Beautiful! Just curious, why did you choose that name? (I think I know)

[Wes Detrick 487]

That is an attractive knife!  Nice work Justin; that hamon is crazy

[justin carnecchia 67]

Thanks guys.

My original choice was to stain it, I'm still up in the air, a nice golden color would look good.

I called it a pico chopper because I've heard the word pico refering to something small.. In saltwater reef aquariums, pico is a size smaller than nano, and two smaller than micro.. Now that you mention it I'm not sure I've heard it used like that elsewhere.. I have to look into that.

 

[Zeb Camper 780]

Oh, well I was wrong.

I thought it to be the nursing acronym, Practice Intervention Controlling Outcome or stand for Pulaski Iron Co. My shop is located on PICO *********. Lots of old iron mines around. I thought maybe they stretched a few states over as well.

Sorry for getting off topic. 

It looks great!

Edited July 9, 2018 by Zeb Camper

[Vern Wimmer 472]

I hope, if you decide to try to stain, you consider a very light, perhaps thinned, "golden oak". Just a very light coloring to highlight the rays and the contrast in the wood the way the hamon does it for the steel. I wouldn't want to let the handle overpower the blade in the eye of the beholder. Striking a balance is a good thing.

[Joshua States 1,657]

On 7/8/2018 at 8:38 PM, justin carnecchia said:

My original choice was to stain it, I'm still up in the air, a nice golden color would look good.

You might want to look at either a little Danish oil or plain petroleum jelly. Either one does a lot to highlight the grain in light wood. Do you have any scrap left over to use as test pieces?

[Kris Lipinski 136]

Wow. I love the hamon - so cloudy.... Does it seem to moove when turning the knife in hand?

[Brian Dougherty 1,091]

On 7/8/2018 at 11:38 PM, justin carnecchia said:

Thanks guys.

My original choice was to stain it, I'm still up in the air, a nice golden color would look good.

...pico is a size smaller than nano, and two smaller than micro.. Now that you mention it I'm not sure I've heard it used like that elsewhere.. I have to look into that.

 

Yep, the next two steps are atto and fempto.  Micrometer, nanometer, attometer, etc...

Cool knife.  I'm envious of the hamon.

[justin carnecchia 67]

Thanks guys.

My current choice is to leave it natural. I know the pics suck, but the figuring pops really nicely as is. It's chatoyance matches that od the hamon nicely.

If it doesn't sell, or if a buyer request it, then I'll stain it. I'll be using the same wood on another blade I finished polishing today, and will definately be staining it for that project.

Thanks again, Justin