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- Oct 16, 2010
- Messages
- 5,628
For your consideration is this chopper named Moby Dick - I designed it to perform chopping well and artistically look like a whale. When you look at the primary photo, you'll envision a large sperm whale with his curved belly, tapering down to a tail at the handle butt. Moby Dick weighs 1 lb 7.4 oz.
In order to keep a heavy mass up front, distal taper was minimized, the hump of the forehead was added to the blade and the width is 2" at the head, tapering down to 1 7/8" at the ricasso. Blade geometry: The .250" thick W-2 stock is very lightly hollow ground on a large diameter platen to the cutting edge which is left at .060" thick. Since the sharpest part of an edge is a curve, Moby Dick has a slight belly. The hair splitting convex primary edge was ground to 9 micron and buffed with green matchless. This results in a Moran type, apple seed primary edge - very robust with great penetration due to the lower resistance of the hollow grinds.
The 11 1/4" blade was hand forged to shape, triple normalized, differentially heat treated with clay and double tempered. This is Don Hanson III recipe for a tough blade that holds an edge. Finally hand rubbed to 1200 grit (phew!) and etched - there is a lot of activity and ghosting in this hamon - it's some of Aldo's new W-2. A full tang design was selected for strength - the double guard slot was machined .005" under size, driven on, double pinned then soldered. An additional lanyard hole is in the ricasso for safety - lots of the competition cutters incorporate this safety feature. The bottom of the ricasso is sized and chamfered to comfortably choke up on the blade. The top of the spine starts out square for two inches then tapers to a rounded configuration for two reasons - the square section may be used to strike your fire steel on - the rounded portion is for battoning.
The tapered tang aids in keeping the mass forward, plus it looks cool. The 5 1/2" handle is oversized to match the mass of this large chopper......I do not recommend this knife for a user with small hands. Premium stabilized English Walnut with red liners was chosen for durability and beauty....the unpigmented section has flame figure and transitions to marble cake - my favorite wood! The scales are set with four stainless pins and a mosaic pin. Thank you for viewing my work and your comments are welcome.
V/R,
TK
.250" W-2 stock
HT to Rc 60-61
1 lb 7.4 oz weight
16 3/4" OAL
11 1/4" Blade - 2" Wide - Vivid hamon
Hollow ground blade with Moran edge
Premium stabilized English Walnut scales
Tapered tang with red liners
416 Stainless furniture
Squared/rounded spine
Pinned/Soldered double guard
8-10 oz leather sheath (R or L)
In order to keep a heavy mass up front, distal taper was minimized, the hump of the forehead was added to the blade and the width is 2" at the head, tapering down to 1 7/8" at the ricasso. Blade geometry: The .250" thick W-2 stock is very lightly hollow ground on a large diameter platen to the cutting edge which is left at .060" thick. Since the sharpest part of an edge is a curve, Moby Dick has a slight belly. The hair splitting convex primary edge was ground to 9 micron and buffed with green matchless. This results in a Moran type, apple seed primary edge - very robust with great penetration due to the lower resistance of the hollow grinds.
The 11 1/4" blade was hand forged to shape, triple normalized, differentially heat treated with clay and double tempered. This is Don Hanson III recipe for a tough blade that holds an edge. Finally hand rubbed to 1200 grit (phew!) and etched - there is a lot of activity and ghosting in this hamon - it's some of Aldo's new W-2. A full tang design was selected for strength - the double guard slot was machined .005" under size, driven on, double pinned then soldered. An additional lanyard hole is in the ricasso for safety - lots of the competition cutters incorporate this safety feature. The bottom of the ricasso is sized and chamfered to comfortably choke up on the blade. The top of the spine starts out square for two inches then tapers to a rounded configuration for two reasons - the square section may be used to strike your fire steel on - the rounded portion is for battoning.
The tapered tang aids in keeping the mass forward, plus it looks cool. The 5 1/2" handle is oversized to match the mass of this large chopper......I do not recommend this knife for a user with small hands. Premium stabilized English Walnut with red liners was chosen for durability and beauty....the unpigmented section has flame figure and transitions to marble cake - my favorite wood! The scales are set with four stainless pins and a mosaic pin. Thank you for viewing my work and your comments are welcome.
V/R,
TK
.250" W-2 stock
HT to Rc 60-61
1 lb 7.4 oz weight
16 3/4" OAL
11 1/4" Blade - 2" Wide - Vivid hamon
Hollow ground blade with Moran edge
Premium stabilized English Walnut scales
Tapered tang with red liners
416 Stainless furniture
Squared/rounded spine
Pinned/Soldered double guard
8-10 oz leather sheath (R or L)
