OK - NO machines used in the production of this one. It was ALL done with hand tools...kind of a New Year's Self Challenge. Gave me a good chance to play with my new English Hand Drill to drill the bolster. Good item.
The blade on this one is really interesting. It's like the old JR's ad thing where someone discovers old but perfectly maintained crates of cigars under a tarp in the back or an old warehouse. I'm sure you know the drill. Same here. The blade is hand forged carbon steel blades from 1930's made by Kustaa Lammi (1901- 2001). The guy is a legend in Nordic knifemaking and his family found a cache of blades, all finished, in one of his workshops. Nice. So now they're being sold off. Obtained out of Finland, they're about fifty bucks a pop, depending on size.
The handle is mainly copper and Blue Stabilized Masir Birch with the front spacers being Morta and Jade Green Poly with a rear cap of Desert Ironwood Burl.
The final buffing on this was not done with a wheel. I took a Fabuluster cloth and hit it like a shoeshine boy. The Fabuluster cloth is impregnated with Red Rouge on one side with a soft poly buff on the other. First you use the Red side, then buff it like crazy with the other. After eleventeen grades of other abrasives it works pretty well and instead of the mirror finish of a wheel and white diamond compound you get a soft glow...one that you can easily maintain. So that's cool.
I have to say that I wa very impressed with the Birch. The grain patterns are nothing short of stellar, perhaps the best I've ever seen. And the contour I carved on the handle fits the hand to perfection. Overall, I like this one very much.
And of course, it's as sharp as a razor.
The blade on this one is really interesting. It's like the old JR's ad thing where someone discovers old but perfectly maintained crates of cigars under a tarp in the back or an old warehouse. I'm sure you know the drill. Same here. The blade is hand forged carbon steel blades from 1930's made by Kustaa Lammi (1901- 2001). The guy is a legend in Nordic knifemaking and his family found a cache of blades, all finished, in one of his workshops. Nice. So now they're being sold off. Obtained out of Finland, they're about fifty bucks a pop, depending on size.
The handle is mainly copper and Blue Stabilized Masir Birch with the front spacers being Morta and Jade Green Poly with a rear cap of Desert Ironwood Burl.
The final buffing on this was not done with a wheel. I took a Fabuluster cloth and hit it like a shoeshine boy. The Fabuluster cloth is impregnated with Red Rouge on one side with a soft poly buff on the other. First you use the Red side, then buff it like crazy with the other. After eleventeen grades of other abrasives it works pretty well and instead of the mirror finish of a wheel and white diamond compound you get a soft glow...one that you can easily maintain. So that's cool.
I have to say that I wa very impressed with the Birch. The grain patterns are nothing short of stellar, perhaps the best I've ever seen. And the contour I carved on the handle fits the hand to perfection. Overall, I like this one very much.
And of course, it's as sharp as a razor.
