Santoku O1 Tool Steel Moabi wood

samuraistuart

samuraistuart

Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
3,158
A big shout out to Matthew Gregory for sending me this piece of stabilized Moabi. It looks pretty good on this Santoku, and I love the tiger stripe effect. It has chatoyance...as you turn the handle in the light, the stripes look as if they "shift" in the wood. The lady this is going to is right handed, and so I did a "D" handle shape, with the front and rear slightly chamfered. The steel was from Flatground.com. It is 5/64" O1 Tool Steel, hardened to 61-62, and one of my best "files" to date. Full flat grind, to a zero edge, and then 13° per side at 4K finish. Bevel finish is 800 grit, then polished. The spine and choil are not completely rounded, but "de-fanged" I guess you could say, and fully mirror polished. I cut the fingerprint off of one of my fingers on accident while wiping the blade down after an oiling. Didn't even notice it until it started bleeding....so yes...this one has already drawn blood! The handle is two pieces, and one side was routed out to accept the tang, which has a couple hidden pins, and then epoxy holes on the inside walls, so I don't imagine that handle ever coming out. The two halves were then glued using wood glue. Last time I used epoxy....and the seam wasn't as tight as it could have been. The wood glue does a much better job. Anyways....I hope you like it! Want one?

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I like how the blade almost disappears in that last shot.
 
I love this wood, and you've certainly done it justice on this piece, man. This stuff is pure evil to grind and shape. Nastier than anything else I've used, even lignum vitae. Just seems to eat up belts and sandpaper. It's strange, as there's lots of wood with higher Janka hardness ratings that I use all the time, but this stuff is crazy. I can cut it and mill it like aluminum. Doesn't have the outrageous chatoyance of really really good maple, but the curl is so tight and uniform, and has such a great tone... Definitely one of my favorites. You certainly nailed it on this piece.


Gorgeous, clean work, and a great blade shape!
 
Thank you....and....Thank you!!! I must say that I enjoyed working the wood. Definitely harder than most others I use, but not too bad. Both of you guys, your compliment means a LOT!
 
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