It's been a busy summer/fall at my normal job, so the knifemaking side of things has been slower. I have done over 400 hours of OT on top of my normal shifts since July and am usually working 2-3 shifts of OT each week, so it really limits my shop time.
I am making some improvements to my shop in the mean time! I picked up a 36" radius platen, so I will be able to do S grinds on knives! Really looking forward to trying this out!! I also built up a AC/DC Electro Etch machine, so I can put my logo on knives now or etch peoples names, short phrases, etc with it! I got a CriCut machine so I can cut out custom stencils as well to use with the etcher.
Quick picture of the first run of my logo. I modified it slightly to have the hook of the J come up more and be thicker overall, so you will start seeing this on my knives!
First Logo:
More finalized logo:
Notice something different about this blade? Look at the handle that is cord wrapped. Its 1080 steel and all hand forged and heat treated by me! I forged this at a class a couple of weekends ago with Mace Vitale (Forged in Fire Season 1, ep 8 winner!). It was the first knife I forged and the hammering didn't mess with my hands. Loved the process!
Which leads me to this update:
Now that I have an anvil, I am working on getting a forge, hammers, tongs, etc so I can start forging blades and doing my own simple carbon steel heat treating! Forging blades is a bit different, so I am looking forward to this journey once I get caught up on some of my orders! I want to be able to do san mai, damascus and some other stuff with the forging process. There is a new carbon steel being released this Spring called Apex Ultra that is designed for forging and for thin, hard edges like in kitchen knives, so I want to get some to try out! I can HT with the forge or go to a local knife shop and use their HT oven like I did with the White #1 San mai blanks from CKTG.
I got this order out this past week for the customer:
3" Alabama Damascus blade with the customers last name etched on both sides of the blade, black/red G10 guard/spacer and snakewood handle. Snakewood isn't stabilized, but I had no skin allergies to it!! So I can work with Ironwood and Snakewood non stabilized woods!! Next up is some walnut for a 50100 170mm gyuto for a forum member!
Speaking of orders, I have a pretty full plate right now! I have 11 fillet knives in various stages (Nitro V and MagnaCut), and will have some leftover 1/16" CPM-154 if someone is looking for a flexible fillet knife or boning knife. I have a CPM 3V bushcraft style knife in the works for an order and 3 more 3V blades that will be available coming up. A 50100 170mm gyuto and walnut handle is on order, as well as some of my tuna bleeding knives.
I am in a lull right now since the heat treaters I usually use are either shut down from Dec 6th to Jan 17th for the Holidays, or not taking new orders until mid January, so many of my orders are sitting waiting to ship out for heat treating. I have the 6 fillet knives for a special order ready to grind out, just haven't gotten the shop time yet
I have 2 gyutos in MagnaCut going to HT once they re open, as well as some 52100 and 50100 to cut down into kitchen knives, all 3/32" stock. I have one 50100 170mm gyuto on order, but I still have 5' more of 50100 and 6' of 52100 to cut up if anyone wants to order something! The 50100 is 2.75" wide, so it would be good for a taller nakiri or taller/longer knives and is similar to 1095. The 52100 is 2" wide bar stock, around 50mm wide, so it would be nice for a 240mm gyuto or a shorter height 270mm gyuto, or suji.
If you guys want to see any kitchen knives in 52100 or 50100, let me know! I have lots of steel I can blank out, or I can do some generic profiles.
I am working on a CPM20CV (Crucible version of M390) Kosher butchering knife with a 17.75x2.4" wide blade; it is going to be a beast!
I have AEB-L, 80CRV2 and MagnaCut bars in 1/8" thick, 1.5" wide for hunting/EDC type blades, or Honesuki.
I have 1/16" CPM154 for fillet knives or shorter height gyuto's. Bar stock is 1.5" wide.
I have 2" wide, 1/8" thick CruWear, 3' bar. I am thinking of doing a S grind gyuto with this to give it more weight and more hollow up the sides for food release. CruWear is a very fine grained carbon tool steel with excellent edge retention.
I have a 180mm and a 210mm White #1 San Mai blank from Mark here that are ready to grind is anyone is interested! I think I am going to try out my radius platen on these!
Last big update, I am closing on a house! We have been renting the house since August 2020 and are buying it in January it looks like! We have been conditionally approved for the mortgage, so we are pretty far along in the process. Once we buy it, I will most likely be moving my shop from the garage to a shed in the back yard so I have more room in there and can keep the forging area in the garage with the cement floor. This will give me some more room and less dust in the garage, so the wife will be happy with that!
Thanks all for a great 2021 and I am really looking forward to 2022!!
Shop update 2021 year end!
Moderator: Marko Tsourkan
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