Some of my work

D

Daniel van Leen

Joined
Mar 20, 2018
Messages
2
Hey all,

Figured I’d finally sign up and post on here. I’ll introduce myself before getting to the good stuff... I’m Dan, I’ve been rehandling knifes for a little over 5 years now. I’ve recently got into making my owns blades after building my forge about 4 months ago. Full time chef/cook for just about 15 years, currently working for Dogfish Head at their seafood restaurant Chesapeake and Maine as a Culinary Lead (junior sous) running the rawbar program.

Now for the fun stuff! I’ll try to post these in order of completion because you can definitely see the progressions I’ve made from my first rehandle till now. All wood besides the first three knives (before I built my vacuum chamber) I stabilized myself most of the wood used is maple burl other then then curly maple I used on the fillet knife.

First up, first rehandle I attempted, Tojiro santoku



Rehandle Shun petty



Rehandled Sujihiki (Forgot the maker)


Glestain Petty


Henckles Pairing, first attempt at modifying a blade for a Wa style handle


Henckles Fillet


Unsui Nakiri


Misono Boning Knife


Kikuichi 9” Chef


Shun 6” chef with matching steel


Kitaoka Santoku


This guys special for me, First knife to come out of the forge. 7.5” k-tip chefs, wrought iron San mai, 1095 core


Second Knife out of the forge, 4.5” Nakiri, wrought iron San mai, 1095 core


And some utensils I’ve done

This was my first attempt at Damascus, 4.5” Damascus chopsticks, 10” total length. Box is made from two pieces of 100yr old barn wood


Offset spatula set


Oyster Knives




And because burps can be expensive as is the dye and stabilizing resin I can’t justify throwing out little scraps so I cane up with a solution, cake testers.


Please forgive if these images are too small, I did this from my phone because my computer is down.
 
Thanks, first few, weren’t so clean. But luckly after a making a couple more handles I was able to see the errors I made and fix them the best I could.
 
Hi Daniel!

Much respect for coming on here and showing your stuff.

Be real interested in speaking with you about pro cooking when you have a minute....Nope, not looking for a career change, been there done that, have the stained apron to prove it....

I'm not a big fan at all of color stained woods, with the possible exception of black stained maple. To my eyes, they look garish and unnatural enough that I would actually prefer Kirinite (Mother of Bowling Ball) over the bright colored staining because Kirinite is fairly tough, and would resist soaking in a sink if it happened, a lot better than the wood would, even stabilized wood.

REALLY like your oyster knife design....do you make them for sale or personal use?

I've been talking with Tim Wright a lot in the last two years. He made me a kitchen utility knife two years ago, so good that it has become indispensable....never handled any that are better, it's S30V, stainless fittings and African Blackwood. If you want to get some valuable feedback from an experienced and brutally picky maker, Tim Wright would be my go to.

My other "stars" are a 6 1/2" blade Devin Thomas damascus short Chef's by Tom Krein, a slicer in damascus and carbon core by Devin Thomas that is one of my most cherished gifts and another fine gift, a Henckels Damascus 8" Chef's from Bob Kramer.

Those should sort of demonstrate my taste in kitchen knives....maybe a bit conservative, maybe not...depends...anyway keep posting and learning and getting better...you are off to a fine start!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top