What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

Wow, I bet that took some pretty careful alignment! I really like the pattern the pins create, very nice Cahoon!
 
Here's my latest. Still got to put an edge on it but I couldn't wait to show you guys.

A 80crv2 drop point hunter edc type knife... somewhere in the 61-63HRC range. Tempered it for 62HRC but my hardness testing files only go in 5HRC increments. So it's definitely harder than 60HRC and softer than 65HRC. Definitely chomping at the bit for a heat treat oven, better tempering oven, and hardness tester. I don't like 80CRV2 at 58-59 so I am hoping this performs better. It's a thin grind - cuts paper already (albeit not cleanly of course). If I don't like how this one performs I may just completely switch to 15N20 for the time being until I am better equipped.

Black linen micarta with black and white liners - a look completely inspired to me by Stromberg Knives Stromberg Knives - so I wanted to give a shout out. Stainless pins (god were those a bear to peen compared to the brass I am used to)

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/\ /\ /\ Nailed it allenkey allenkey that's a sweet package. the blade shape reminds me of an old Gerber I've been carrying around for decades.
 
Cushing H. said:
Stefan - are you willing to reveal how you produced those nice uniform serrations?
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Absolutely!

I do them freehand on a 40 mm (~1.6”) small wheel in vertical mode. I start with a heat treated blade and grind the bevels as I would normally do.

Then I mark out the spacing between the serrations with a sharpie and freehand them at about a 20 degree angle. I start with ceramic 120 grit and run my grinder wet and slow. Then I finish up with AO 240 and 400 grit.

Finally I take the burr off the back side by hand and then slowly strop the serrations with a leather belt on the grinder. The serrations get very sharp and I’m happy with how they look and perform.

This whole procedure will take me about 15 minutes.
 
Stromberg Knives said:
Absolutely!

I do them freehand on a 40 mm (~1.6”) small wheel in vertical mode. I start with a heat treated blade and grind the bevels as I would normally do.

Then I mark out the spacing between the serrations with a sharpie...
Click to expand...
That is really amazing consistency for freehand, even with the marks). Good work! Ihave a very old bread knife, complete with broken handle, that i have been thinking of replacing... i might give this approach a try. Thanks!
 
You know you had a busy/chaotic day when the shop looks like this lol. Do not pay attention to my redneck papr system lol20200120_184745-800x450.jpg
 
Scaniaman said:
What Storm W said. And I really enjoy seeing makers this skilled taking the sanding to a normal kind of level.
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yes this Zwear is so difficult to grind and sand, I can't (won't) do more than this or I can't recover my time/costs and I have to make a meager living :D. Mirror polished and high grit finishes are nice... but not for me, well past my point of diminishing returns.

Storm W said:
I always love your knives. Clean and simple.
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thanks, I appreciate that.

here's another just finished that I will list shortly
Gyuto, laminated steel, mango and kingwood

442TyRz.jpg
 
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HSC /// said:
yes this Zwear is so difficult to grind and sand, I can't (won't) do more than this or I can't recover my time/costs and I have to make a meager living :D. Mirror polished and high grit finishes are nice... but not for me, well past my point of diminishing returns.


thanks, I appreciate that.

here's another just finished that I will list shortly
Gyuto, laminated steel, mango and kingwood

442TyRz.jpg
Click to expand...
Do you have any tips for finishing the ZWear? I am working on some from Warren that he ran hard and its eating belts like crazy. I have a older blade from him that was a bit easier to finish. These eat a brand new 120g ceramic belt so fast it's hard to finish both sides in a even scratch pattern. I was hoping for at least a 220 finish but I'm struggling for a clean 120. One of the worst things is that it eats belts so fast that they stop cutting all at once and its easy to burn a blade if I don't catch it in time.
 
Storm W said:
Do you have any tips for finishing the ZWear? I am working on some from Warren that he ran hard and its eating belts like crazy. I have a older blade from him that was a bit easier to finish. These eat a brand new 120g ceramic belt so fast it's hard to finish both sides in a even scratch pattern. I was hoping for at least a 220 finish but I'm struggling for a clean 120. One of the worst things is that it eats belts so fast that they stop cutting all at once and its easy to burn a blade if I don't catch it in time.
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sorry about that....:oops:
 
Scaniaman said:
What Storm W said. And I really enjoy seeing makers this skilled taking the sanding to a normal kind of level.
Click to expand...

i won’t hand sand that steel either. What comes off the grinder is what it is. I might try silicon carbide die maker stones, but not really seeing the point. I find a 120 grit finish on a kitchen knife minimizes stiction.
 
Storm W said:
Do you have any tips for finishing the ZWear? I am working on some from Warren that he ran hard and its eating belts like crazy. I have a older blade from him that was a bit easier to finish. These eat a brand new 120g ceramic belt so fast it's hard to finish both sides in a even scratch pattern. I was hoping for at least a 220 finish but I'm struggling for a clean 120. One of the worst things is that it eats belts so fast that they stop cutting all at once and its easy to burn a blade if I don't catch it in time.
Click to expand...

Run your grinder belt speed slow, I mean really slow it down.
If you run it like you normally do on easier steel, the belt just glazes over the Z wear.
Run it SLOW and it starts to cut like small chips.
You will see the material coming off the belt when you slow the grinder down.

I start with a 10" contact wheel and 50 grit VSM ceramic.
I cut grooves (hollow grind) with the round wheel lengthwise across the blade.
I think I use 3 of these belts for a large chef's knife.

Then flat to convex grind out the high spots.
Then a 100 grit VSM ceramic. Maybe 2 of these belts

I have a long platen and try to get lengthwise scratches on the belt grinder,
As far as finishing, I use the 3m microfinishing paper roll with honing oil, I use an old 1" wide file with leather glued on.
100 micron, then 60 or 50 and stop at 40 micron.

I takes about an hour to 90 minutes to grind a Z wear blade roughly.
Another 1-2 hours to finish it.

I don't get all the scratches out and the customer knows this up front.
Getting all the scratches out is another 2 hours....Z wear laughs at sandpaper
 
I FINALLY finished up what was supposed to an Anniversary(July), then a Christmas present kitchen knife for my wife. She’s quite the cook, and we’ve been using a Victorinox Forschner for about a decade now. So I figured it was time for an upgrade and for me to stretch myself as a maker.

My first kitchen knife.
10” 80crv2
Dyed claro walnut handle, blaze orange g10 liners, jade g10 pins and copper corby bolts.
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