New style of paring knife

[BloodrootBlades]

Hey all, Just thought I'd share some pictures of a new style of paring knife we've been building. I really like integral bolster knives due to the seamless feel in your hand, but typically do them on big knives for some reason. They're also fun to build and more challenging than most styles. I've been playing around testing out a lot of old Volkswagon parts for their steel characteristics and interestingly they use(d) some really awesome stuff. Much more overbuilt in the alloy department than American car manufacturers. For instance Superbeetle swaybars are at or over the eutetic point and are a really nice steel, clean, fine grained, nice hardenability, grain size, workability, sharpenability and toughness in the mid/low 60's HRC. I've been playing around with the coil springs as well which are very different than most- thinner in diameter with more wraps and a much higher carbon alloy than the usual 9260/5160, clean, gets very fine grained and scary sharp while being nice and tough. I've been building integral paring knives out of this stuff lately and I LOVE them. Love any feedback. The wood on these is some spalted pecan we cut up and had stabilized.

~Luke

 

[VonB]

Wow Luke, they look amazing! And the handles/ bolster look super comfortable particularly for in hand work

 

[KingKoma]

If I could have it any way I wanted all my knives would have integral bolster and hidden tang.

 

[Chris Larrikin]

They look beautiful. The ergonomics look interesting; do you find that it gives you more control?

 

[BloodrootBlades]

They look beautiful. The ergonomics look interesting; do you find that it gives you more control?

It's hard to say without comparing it against another specific design, but I think of these 4 the thinner handled ones are a little more comfortable to me, but I tend to like scalpel-like thin handles for some reason.