Kitchen Knife Kith - summer 2016 (Sept. 5th Deadline!)

I'm thinking of making a honyaki funayuki. I had to look up how to write that, I got very confused. Anyway, I'm thinking of a 6-7 inch blade with hitachi white #2. Blade height around 40mm. I don't think I can get much more width out of the bars that I have. I going to water quench so if the blade cracks I might have to do something altogether different. We'll see. Oh, and hidden tang and western design handle.
 
Well, I've never done a WIP or a KITH, so here's my first go at both. I decided to make a 'chefs' knife, and I had a piece of 12c 27 that I had been given, already hardened, so that's what I decided to use since it was reasonably thin stock to begin with. I got the blade shaped and ground to my goals, and next I started the education and construction process for a Saya. I started with some thin veneer stock in walnut--found at Amazon:

Next step was to check the fit of my blade into the outline I cut out of walnut:
Next up was to cut the other side out of mahogany, so the Saya is Mahogany/Walnut/Mahogany:

Then I had to make the 'pin' for the Saya--here is the piece to start on my lathe:
It turned out to be a real picky rascal to get to final shape--here it is getting hand sanded on my granite block:


Next I fitted and checked some nice spalted pecan scales stabilized by KMG

:




Here's final shot of the Saya and both 'pins' I made for it-

-Now have to finish up the handles and put my mark on the blade. I'll post that next week or so as it happens--feel pretty good about this one--I'll be honest, I would like this one myself :)
 
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That looks great Fish thanks for posting photos. Love me some spalted pecan!
 
I've decided on a 7.5" 52100 Kirutsuke gyuto for the KITH. Got some decent progress on it today. I'm not exactly sure what wood but I'm thinking Ringed Gidgee and African Blackwood.

Just off the grinder:




I love the 400 grit stage:D

 
Man, I want to jump into this. Problem is I am moving in August or so and packing and what not. :\
Next time... Cool that you got this off the ground Tim!
 
I picked up some 1095 and 15n20 from Aldo at blade. I'm going to take a couple weeks off when I get home and then I'll get to work. Planning on making a Damascus chef's knife...


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Brett, I saw so many steel vendors at Blade Show, and they had pretty good pricing as well. Interestingly, the handle scale material I found was not as well priced, I saw several scale materials that I liked--(and I will pay premium prices for premium material) and when I asked the pricing I was knocked back. Overall a great show this year--I also saw a lot more 'not from the US vendors' this year--interesting....


Best--Don
 
Fish30114 said:
Brett, I saw so many steel vendors at Blade Show, and they had pretty good pricing as well. Interestingly, the handle scale material I found was not as well priced, I saw several scale materials that I liked--(and I will pay premium prices for premium material) and when I asked the pricing I was knocked back. Overall a great show this year--I also saw a lot more 'not from the US vendors' this year--interesting....


Best--Don
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Don, nice wood blocks are between $50.00 and $100.00. Is that the price range you saw? Steel is the cheapest part of the knife.
 
Yes Willie, there were a lot in those ranges which I get, but there was also some pretty plain looking Koa, a 4.5 x1" piece 1/2" thick for 100 for the pair- I also saw Kirinite in several form factors and it was just plain overpriced to me--I know it is a pretty simple resin cast into scales/blocks and it was running around 45$ for a small pair of scales, or 75-80 bucks for a 4.5-5" block -- I an a big believer in getting good looking stuff for you handles, and I do think this one thing that we can pick that sets our knives apart from mass produced stuff--so I keep my eyes open--always open for a lead brother!!

I love me some burly woods, and always am on the lookout for gnarly pieces!! Love me some amboina when I can find it!!
 
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If Stacy is ok with it, I would be happy to do special pricing for wood to be used on KITH blades.

I have a lot of wood that are perfect for the kitchen, like oily exotics and burls/ figured woods stabalized by K&G

I'll be leaving the dorms in a week and will have full access to my stock starting sunday. Shoot me an email with your name and username so I can check it against the list of KITH people.
 
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Fish30114 said:
Yes Willie, there were a lot in those ranges which I get, but there was also some pretty plain looking Koa, a 4.5 x1" piece 1/2" thick for 100 for the pair- I also saw Kirinite in several form factors and it was just plain overpriced to me--I know it is a pretty simple resin cast into scales/blocks and it was running around 45$ for a small pair of scales, or 75-80 bucks for a 4.5-5" block -- I an a big believer in getting good looking stuff for you handles, and I do think this one thing that we can pick that sets our knives apart from mass produced stuff--so I keep my eyes open--always open for a lead brother!!

I love me some burly woods, and always am on the lookout for gnarly pieces!! Love me some amboina when I can find it!!
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You should have come by my table. I had about 100 blocks of stabilized Koa. The high grade stuff topped off at $80.

Or maybe you did and didn't like what I had :-)

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As you now know, there are several guys on here who can hook you up with very nice wood for a fair price. You just have to be quick on the draw when they post the really good stuff.
 
Brett, I very possibly could have just missed you, or not seen your good stuff--I am handicapped, lost all the nerves in my feet, and I tire out pretty quickly, walked around all day on Friday, and for about 6 hours on Saturday and then I had to throw in the towel. I walked an up and down path through the entire show, but there were several items I wanted to check out that I didn't find--maybe my brain fogged out as I walked perhaps to much...If you could e-mail me some pics maybe I'll like something you have available--Greenberg I'm sending you a PM.

Good stuff folks==thanks--Don
 
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