Knives by Richard J. The Definition of Scary Sharp

wait till you see the folder i'm going to make from a broken necker. the m 4 holds a good edge but since these are made from brand new power hacksaw blades with an rc of 67, you have to be careful with them and not use them for prybars or a throwing knife.
 
Finally got my Richard J necker done! :D I used numerous thin coats of TruOil on the handle, then finished it off with some Ren Wax. I decided I wanted to blue it, thinking the blued steel would look drop-dead sexy with the Hawaiian Koa. Unfortunately, the Oxpho blue reacted very strangely with the metal, and it didn't turn out so great. Not sure why. It still turned out pretty good overall, and only in bright direct light can you see the strange patterns in the bluing. The chatoyance in this piece of Koa is unreal! :cool: Looks like highly polished Tiger's Eye. Just AWESOME!!! I love it!!!

Anyway, here are some pics. A couple different angles of both sides. I forgot to get a spine shot of the handle; I'll have to do that tomorrow.

RJ_Necker.jpg


RJ_Necker2.jpg


RJ_Necker3.jpg


RJ_Necker4.jpg


I've been using it a TON, especially for little things around the house. The thin grind is such a good slicer, especially with Richard's edge! Unfortunately, I messed it up when buffing with the Dremel. :( I slipped, and hit the edge with the chuck. Made a pretty nice chip, and chewed up about 3/4" of the edge up. Nothing I couldn't fix though, but my edge itsn't as straight as RJ's was. It wasn't my best day at the grinder, that's for sure, but it'll eventually get worked back to a straight edge. Still nice and sharp!!! :D

Cheers!
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Nice work. I bet that cuts like a laser.
 
This is the necker that Richard taught me how grind. The wax model below the knife is for one of the scales to go on the knife. The scales have a web pattern and a textured finish. They will be cast in sterling silver and probably have faceted stones.


Sorry for the horrible pic's.
 
Smithy said:
This is the necker that Richard taught me how grind. The wax model below the knife is for one of the scales to go on the knife. The scales have a web pattern and a textured finish. They will be cast in sterling silver and probably have faceted stones.


Sorry for the horrible pic's.
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That is going to be really cool. I can't wait to see the finished product.
 
sunday smithy came up and brought snow and steel with him. i had the chance to check out the first silver scale that he had cast earlier. it was still attached to a big blob of silver along with what looked like coiled springs to me but were actually links to a silver chain that he will cut up and make later. it will be interesting to see the wip he is making to show how he cast the sliver.
 
richard j said:
sunday smithy came up and brought snow and steel with him. i had the chance to check out the first silver scale that he had cast earlier. it was still attached to a big blob of silver along with what looked like coiled springs to me but were actually links to a silver chain that he will cut up and make later. it will be interesting to see the wip he is making to show how he cast the sliver.
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That's going to be interesting. Thanks.
 
It was fun meeting with you on Saturday. The casting of the scales came out good, but in talking about the contrast between the silver scales and the knife, I have decided to put a copper lining under the scales. I have taken a lot of pictures and this weekend plan to write a WIP (my first one) to show my progress to date. I plan to have the knife completed in a couple of weeks.

The one area I have not made a decision yet is whether I should use colored stones (red, white and blue) or just white stones. The stones will be 3 or 4 mm in diameter. Any opinions or suggestions?
 
I'm getting to spend a bit of time with one of Richard's knives: K2. I brought it out with the camp knife I just made myself, while spending some time at my sister's place near the Sacramento River Delta.



Richard's knife is differentially hardened, with a sweet convex chisel grind, and really comfortable neoprene handle scales. Mine is fully hardened, full flat ground. The blade is much thinner than Richard's but doesn't take as nice of an edge. Also after handling K2, I feel that I need to put some lateral contours on my handle scales, so it feels a little better in hand.

K2:









Mine:









The tip of my knife is much more fine. I think Richard's knife cuts better and would handle more "abuse" than my knife ever would.

Here I chopped at a dried out sycamore branch with the knives.



Richards knife popped out a nice chunk of wood. Mine cut into the branch, but stuck in it a little.









Here I chopped at the branch with both knives. Richards was able to make a better perpendicular cut- really did a number on the branch.







Of course, the edge on Richard's K2 is still shaving hair.

All in all, a nice afternoon of some cutting! It definitely has given me some ideas of where I can improve some features of the next knife I make.

 
Richard is getting me one he made a while back. I still haven't dulled the ones I have. His edges are insanely tough.

 
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I saw the video of him hittin' the edge with a hammer and it left dents in the face of the hammer.:)
 
I have managed to screw up postin' this video 2 times, hopefully 3rd time's a charm, sorry guys. :o :(

I'm posting this for Richard at Mack's request, hopefully this works guys :)

[video=youtube;6759BSQeG8Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6759BSQeG8Y&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
I have no doubt that Richard's edge is the toughest I've ever used. Thanks, Ted.
 
Richard just sent me the new, smaller skinner. This is the perfect partner to the other one. It's also the sharpest knife I have ever had.

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