My first knife "order"

Greg, the 120 grit SiC stone is about $10. :p

What are you using for a lubricant? Do not use oil... I use water after I wipe a thin layer of dish soap into the stone.

Did you mention what angle you are using?

Lastly, are you using any of the mods (table magnets, drill stop collar, etc...)?

Knives are looking fab, but I would really love to see the ivory work out. I don't mean to keep offering you stuff, I know I just offered some strop leather in the other thread (and at some point it starts to seem a bit weird :D ), but I have a few ivory keys that were given to me. If it would help cap an ivory bolster (I'm *really* unfamiliar with how this all works), I could send one your way.
 
Strigamort said:
What are you using for a lubricant? Do not use oil... I use water after I wipe a thin layer of dish soap into the stone.
Click to expand...

On the Edge Pro Apex, water with dish soap. On the Norton Water Stones, just water (squirted on about every 30 seconds to rinse away the steel bits that are ground off).

Strigamort said:
Did you mention what angle you are using?

Lastly, are you using any of the mods (table magnets, drill stop collar, etc...)?
Click to expand...

Angle of the bevel was about 10 degrees on the bog oak blade. About the same on the Amboyna blade, but since that one is coming from both sides it will generate a 20 degree edge. Incidentally, the 10 degree angle is a bit tough on the hands using the stones. My thumb knuckle took a beating and I ended up bleeding all over the 4000 and 8000 grit stones. I also managed to slice open 3 finger tips (one at a time). I also put a tiny microbevel on each one as well. with a few extra degrees of edge.

No mods are being used.


Strigamort said:
Knives are looking fab, but I would really love to see the ivory work out. I don't mean to keep offering you stuff, I know I just offered some strop leather in the other thread (and at some point it starts to seem a bit weird :D ), but I have a few ivory keys that were given to me. If it would help cap an ivory bolster (I'm *really* unfamiliar with how this all works), I could send one your way.
Click to expand...

If I were you, I'd turn those piano key caps into spacers. Maybe layer them with vulcanized paper or some nice contrasting material like G10 spacers or copper/brass plates. Never know when they can be integrated into a stacked handle. For myself I have several pounds of ivory of various colors, shapes and sizes. I went on a buying spree a couple of years ago. ;)
 
Nearing the time for final assembly. Both blades are sharpened now and the handles are close enough to final shape to contemplate glue-up. A few sniggling details to handle first, but I expect to have these completed before the end of the week.

On my wife's recommendation I have decided to leave the steel bolsters off.

DSCN8948s.JPG

DSCN8949s.JPG
 
Thanks! I'll pass along to her that the decision met with approval. :)

I have done final assembly on the Amboyna knife, and it's about ready to go. I'd sanded the handle to 2000 grit and it's nice and smooth, but I still want to polish it a bit more.

The Bog Oak knife still needs a minor adjustment before I complete the assembly, but it's very close. I hope to get that done this evening.

Of course now that I've got all this African Blackwood I've started thinking about making the third knife in this series (the 6 inch chef's knife the guy requested after I started on these) using that wood. But I still need to get some appropriately wide steel before I can even start that one.
 
I happen to be working on a blackwood handled kitchenknife at the moment (having lunch now)
The wood has a subtile beauty, but ohw, what a beauty!
 
Hengelo_77 said:
I happen to be working on a blackwood handled kitchenknife at the moment (having lunch now)
The wood has a subtile beauty, but ohw, what a beauty!
Click to expand...

I agree totally. I have long been fascinated by this wood. Some of the pieces I got yesterday seem to have inky swirls in the dark depths of the wood. It will be fun seeing what develops from those pieces.
 
I finished the tweaks to the Bog Oak knife, and now it is in the clamp letting the glue set up.

Here is the more or less final state of the Amboyna knife.

DSCN8950s.JPG


DSCN8952s.JPG


As an aside, the Amboyna knife is the one that was beveled the same on both sides. Barring any unfortunate circumstances I should be done with the Bog Oak knife by tomorrow.
 
An addition to all of the good advice you are getting, since you initially had asked about center of gravity/balance:

Make the knife as light as possible. This will mean some real distal taper, and not to chunky or bulbous of a handle. I find as long as the blade is good and thin and tapered, and the overall package below 8-9 oz, it feels good and generally will balance right around or just in front of the ricasso depending on blade length. An added benefit of a thinner handle is that the relatively tall, oval-ish cross section will help to control the knife. Round handles tend to let the wrist roll and detract from edge location.

ETA: Gee I hate it when I reply to the first page of a thread without noticing it's 6 pages long... but perhaps you'll use what I've said on kithcen knives in the future. I definitely think you should make more, you did good work on these.

Did you ever weigh them? I'll bet +/- 7 oz. each?
 
Well, Salem, I appreciate the advice just the same and will put it to good use for the future blades.

Your question got me curious, so I put them on my postal scale. The Amboyna knife comes in at 4.5 ounces, and the Bog Oak knife is right at 4.0 ounces.
 
Great work, Those sure will be handy and beautiful!
 
Really great job, Greg. I reserve my bog oak for sgian dubh and dirk knives normally, but may reconsider and make a gyuto from some. The handle you did is really nice looking.

My only critique is not a real complaint, but merely an observation.
The G-10 bolster looks slightly out of place. It seems that it would be better if it was matching bog oak, as the lack of grain and the solid color is a bit incongruous with the coarser grained and variegated color oak. I realize there was probably a length issue in your bog oak block, and the effect is still quite nice, but that was something that jumped out to me in reviewing the photo.
 
Very nice Greg. I have been watching this thread closely. I have only piddled with kitchen utencils but yours, to me, look terrific.

I agree with Stacy to a degree, but at the same time it really resembles a pool cue I used to have. Was black dyed ash with some kind of black synthetic shaft and butt secion with white spacers. Really classy and it looks great on your knife.

I may have to buy some bog oak now... :)

-Eric
 
Interesting comment, Stacy. My first inclination was to use the cut-off of the end of the bog oak piece. One issue I had was the grain mismatch, since it came from the butt end of the handle piece. When I investigated the Wa handles (online and at Epicurean Edge) I noticed most of them had contrasting darker material at the front, which helped me decide on the G10. If I had thought to cut the bog oak beforehand and had the right grain pattern for the front, I think I would have used that instead of the G10.
 
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