Richard J's Knife Done - Finally!

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StretchNM

Joined
Dec 7, 2006
Messages
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Richard J, up in Ohio, made a knife for me almost 2 years ago. I played with it a little, but never scaled it because I just couldn;t decide on just the right wood for it. Finally, the other day I just decided on buckeye - the blade coming from Ohio and all.

I'm really not sure about the piece I picked out for this blade. I kindly wanted a little more "darkness", but as I brought the scale down to fit, it just kept getting lighter and lighter, and I had no clues given to me from the outside of the block. In the end, it didn;t turn out too bad, though.

Richard J puts a fine edge on these blades!!! This one will pop hairs (treetop) at any point along the edge! It will split and curl freehanging hair, too!

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I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to make a sheath for this knife. I'm open to ideas.
 
This is a single edge blade of (1095?) steel, I think. Now Richard calls this a "right-hand" blade, for use in the right hand. But, when holding it edge down, the convex grind is on the left, and the flat is on the right. That seems like a lefty's blade to me. I think I'll ask him to make another right-hander......but backwards. (:D)

Here's a detail shot or two:
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Again, with its extra wide blade, a sheath for this one is going to be tough....
 
I have long wanted one of Richard's blades. That one looks great and the scales are perfect for it.
Nicely done.
 
I think both, CZIV. It is an unusual profile, I admit, and I don;t have one like it. So.....for whatever use, I suppose.
 
StretchNM said:
I think both, CZIV. It is an unusual profile, I admit, and I don;t have one like it. So.....for whatever use, I suppose.
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Yep, I'd agree that it looks pretty all purpose like a pointed meat cleaver. With RJ's rep for sharpening, it's going through anything that gets in it's way I bet!

I like it btw and your handle looks really nice, just curious if it was "purpose built." :thumbup: :)
 
StretchNM said:
This is a single edge blade of (1095?) steel, I think. Now Richard calls this a "right-hand" blade, for use in the right hand. But, when holding it edge down, the convex grind is on the left, and the flat is on the right. That seems like a lefty's blade to me. I think I'll ask him to make another right-hander......but backwards. (:D)
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That turned out very nice. I think that is the way it's supposed to be. I'm a lefty and I've always had a hard time cutting straight with serrated kitchen knives designed for right handed people. Being ground on only one side, the blade tends to twist in use.
 
Thanks for the compliments, but Richard J deserves more of the praise, I think. The scales on this one are really just there to ease the transition between hand and steel. On some knives, the scales literally make the entire knife. On this one, they don;t, in my opinion.

It is more like a meat cleaver, or a general cutting board/kitchen use type, CZIV, though I'm not sure Richard and I were thinking that when the blade was ordered. I saw one that he did on the forums, and asked him to make one similar.

Now the right/left thing, Dan, is difficult for me to explain, and probably more of a personal preference if the truth be known. If I'm cutting say, some vegetables, using the knife in my right hand, then I'm holding the veggie in my left (this is pure science here :D ). So, I want the flat ground side of the blade against my left fingers, and against the largest part of the vegetable. Otherwise, with the convex side against the largest part of the vegetable, during the slice the blade wants to "push itself" to the right.... the convex edge is pushing against the greatest resistance. Capice? Well, me neither. But that's the only way I can think to explain it.

Now, I tried this a little on the bench. I took some 8oz leather - a strip about 6" long and 1/2" high - a scrap held on edge. Often I'll use strips like this to play with the edge after sharpening. A very sharp knife will almost glide down through the leather with little effort. So, I turned the blade backwards in my right hand.... holding it in the attack position (but now hari-kari style) and cut from the backside. Now the flat ground side is against the longest piece of the leather and the convex edge is near the small cutoff. It works better that way for me.
 
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A quickie Kydex fold would work well as a sheath, particularly since I at least don't expect you to carry that on a belt for it's purpose.

This reminds me that I really need to order up some Kydex and play with making my own. My drawer of kitchen knives without sheaths is truly becoming a hazard lately.
 
That's a good idea, but I'm not a kydex guy (though I've been hankering to try). You're right, something to slip over the edge - it needs no loop on it. I CANNOT put this thing in the kitchen drawer! My wife, with no concept of fine edges, will have it clattering around in there, with the edge banging up against every other of her knives that I just sharpened for her. It tortures me to think of that super-fine edge getting mistreated.... ((:D))
 
WOW!!! thats a sweet looking knife with some wood on it finally :D. i actually designed that blade for skinning but i guess you can use it for anything you need to cut. a buddy who is left handed said that a left hand knife to him has the flat on the left side. here is a link to the knife which is on my old website. http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/ress6fq6/id14.html

a sheath for that knife will not be that hard to make. i have made a few of these knives and sheaths but cjpgeyer has made several for me that are sweet.

dannyp, if you remove the serrations from the knives you are talking about and sharpen them like a normal knife, you'll be able to use them. i fix up a bunch of knives just like that for a friend who is left handed. now she can use them just like any other knife.
 
Thanks fellows. As I said, often the scales make the knife. In this case, the knife makes the scales. Cool blade design and........sharp!
 
Richard is a great guy. I went to him once for a sharpening and ended up spending some time testing his knives outside on some hard wood. several hard solid chops and they were still flinging hairs off my arm. pretty impressive stuff!
 
richard j said:
dannyp, if you remove the serrations from the knives you are talking about and sharpen them like a normal knife, you'll be able to use them. i fix up a bunch of knives just like that for a friend who is left handed. now she can use them just like any other knife.
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I like to use older carbon steel knives myself at home. The ones that I was referring to are either at work or at other people's homes. I don't think they would be too happy if I took their knives to the belt sander and removed the serrations.:D
 
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