Damascus integral with Desert Ironwood.

[erik markman]

An integral I am making for one of my knifemaker heroes, Claude Bouchonville.
14 cm laddered W's blade and Desert Ironwood.
It needs a little more buffing on the damascus but it was getting dark.

 

[BenR.T.]

Love your integrals Erik, and that Ironwood is out of sight!! :thumbup:

 

[peterinct]

I like that too! VERY much.

Peter

 

[Kevin Jones]

Very stout and nice piece, Erik.

 

[Jos]

Very nice Erik!

And I presume that Claude will be making a knife for you now... ?

Kind regards,

Jos

 

[remy b]

Gorgeous knife Erik !

Claude is such a cool guy...

 

[Toni Oostendorp]

Great piece Erik.

 

[Burl Source]

Beautiful knife Erik.
You are starting to get the reputation of being the knife maker who makes knives for knife makers.

 

[erik markman]

Beautiful knife Erik.
You are starting to get the reputation of being the knife maker who makes knives for knife makers.

I guess so! LOL!

 

[athanor]

butifull knife Erik !
Dirk

 

[Big Rick]

Eric, very nice, I like it a lot!!

 

[Salem Straub]

Damn! Stunning.

 

[Calhoon]

Sweet Eric...:thumbup:

 

[Berno]

Nice one, it's funny i'm waiting a Sam with the same wood !!!

 

[betzner]

Erik, that's a beautiful piece of ironwood, is it stabilized?

 

[erik markman]

No, it is not stabilised. It is rockhard as it is. Claude provided the block.

 

[betzner]

Just wondering. Gorgeous pieces of wood like that usually only come around from a materials dealer, who probably would have nothing but stabilized materials. But when the customer provides it, it becomes a non-issue, actually, particularly when the customer is a knifemaker himself.

Best,

Bob

EDIT: Although I try to stay far away from damascus pieces, this is one that really caught my eye, a fine piece all the way around.

 

[The Amazing Virginian]

Erik, that's a beautiful piece of ironwood, is it stabilized?

Do you think ironwood needs to be stabilized?

 

[betzner]

Do you think ironwood needs to be stabilized?

Kinda depends on the ironwood, the location it's at, whether it's aged, how, where it is destined for, etc - the answers to which are usually not known in advance. So the obvious answer, at least if I'm going to have a knife made of it, is to protect the investment with stabilized wood.

 

[The Amazing Virginian]

Kinda depends on the ironwood, the location it's at, whether it's aged, how, where it is destined for, etc - the answers to which are usually not known in advance. So the obvious answer, at least if I'm going to have a knife made of it, is to protect the investment with stabilized wood.

Interesting. The reason I asked was that your statement that "gorgeous pieces of wood like that usually only come around from a materials dealer, who probably would have nothing but stabilized materials," did not conform to my experience at all. I have purchased a fair amount of ironwood from major dealers and none of it has been stabilized. Two of the largest dealers in ironwood of which I am aware (don't want to mention tem for fear of accidental advertising) sell ironwood unstabilized pretty much exclusively.

Well, now you have given me, and I suppose a lot of others, something to think about. Probably better for me to start another thread on that, though, rather than further derailing this one.

Thanks!