Steel 80CRV2
Grind: Flat (and ground freehand)
handle material: stabilized bright orange paracord knotted for a right-handed cook/chef hit with some 400 grit sandpaper to prevent any hot spots.
Wrap style: west county whipping
overall length: 13 inches
widest point: about 1 3/4ths inch
brut de polish finish (differential polish): flats spine and what little of the ricasso was done was polished with a Shapton 120 grit splash and go Waterstone well the bevel was polished up to 600 grit edge pro stones and then finished with 600 grit paper.
Patina: not thinking I cut some Limes with it before taking photos.
Note: I chose not to pull out the core strands of the paracord as I wanted a bit of thickness to the handle if that makes sense.
Flaws that I can see the handles paracord is not flush to the ricasso tang junction, which can be fixed if I put a second tsukamaki wrap over the current one. it also could use a second coating of epoxy resin to better fill in the gaps. the plunge grinds well the same size are not visually identical. this came from how I was polishing them as was going over the plunge with on at least one side in order to polish that area.
Not sure of: the flats are not strait and mirror the shape of the tapering.
Thank you all for your time.
Note: i currently feel my work is not yet good enough to be in the form gallery.
I am taking you at your word you want a real critique.
first, the choice of paracord sealed or other wise is not something I would use on a kitchen knife. I am not going to say it is wrong but I think you need to be Very sure there is not area detritus can catch and form a breading ground for bacteria.
the shape is a little off to me , the curve or the cutting edge is good but the rising point and dropping handle will both force the hand position higher and into the cutting board when using the tip and heel of the knife. This is partly ascetic, I will admit this shape something I have a instant dislike for. partly because i associate is with uncontrolled forging, but mostly it is because when I see it, it generally stems from students not listening to me in classes. ( can be frustrating) that how ever is a Me issue.
the plunges/grinds definitely need work. the grind is pretty uneven, with a saber grind like this (one that falls short of the spine) the height of the grind needs to stay consistent. I can see several areas where the high changes. it also appears to be highest near the plunges. that can be a sign of 2" itus (where in trying to even the plunges you grind higher or deeper with the other side of the belt.)
the taper on the spine looks good and seems pretty straight. how ever the edge seems a little warped, This tells me the blade is probably twisted blades with rising points are a huge pain to sight and to grind evenly straightening the line of the spine or curving the other way would make sighting and grinding far easier and get rid of some of the issues I mentioned earlier. from what I can tell the cutting geometry seems ok, though it would likely cut better with the grind all the way to the spine.
two things that bother me the very sharp corners on the edge of the choil and the spine, those would drive me nuts using this, and a quick and easy to at least champher. the heel of the choil seems unfinished, it needs something a radius and angle something to resolve it.
I cant tell if it is just the angle , but the handle seems to be both twisted and coming off at a slight angle from the blade.
all and all this is a huge improvement from what i have seen from you in the past, I would say you still have some work to do , but you are improving. I commend you for asking for a critique. take what is said and learn from it. I know how hard that can be, The instinct to be defensive about our creations is so strong. but try to listen and take in what is said.
last year I was planing on standing for master smith at blade I passed the performance test, submitted my intention to test. I finished my set and was just not happy with my dagger I didn't want to pass with it, i didn't want it to be my Masterpiece, so I brought every thing to blade and showed it to every single smith I could, JS and MS and some guys that are just excellent makers with no rank. I asked to be ripped apart, and I was it was humbling , it was painful at times but I learned so much from it and I would do it again.
MP
|quoted:
I am taking you at your word you want a real critique.
first, the choice of paracord sealed or other wise is not something I would use on a kitchen knife. I am not going to say it is wrong but I think you need to be Very sure there is not area detritus can catch and form a breading ground for bacteria.
the shape is a little off to me , the curve or the cutting edge is good but the rising point and dropping handle will both force the hand position higher and into the cutting board when using the tip and heel of the knife. This is partly ascetic, I will admit this shape something I have a instant dislike for. partly because i associate is with uncontrolled forging, but mostly it is because when I see it, it generally stems from students not listening to me in classes. ( can be frustrating) that how ever is a Me issue.
the plunges/grinds definitely need work. the grind is pretty uneven, with a saber grind like this (one that falls short of the spine) the height of the grind needs to stay consistent. I can see several areas where the high changes. it also appears to be highest near the plunges. that can be a sign of 2" itus (where in trying to even the plunges you grind higher or deeper with the other side of the belt.)
the taper on the spine looks good and seems pretty straight. how ever the edge seems a little warped, This tells me the blade is probably twisted blades with rising points are a huge pain to sight and to grind evenly straightening the line of the spine or curving the other way would make sighting and grinding far easier and get rid of some of the issues I mentioned earlier. from what I can tell the cutting geometry seems ok, though it would likely cut better with the grind all the way to the spine.
two things that bother me the very sharp corners on the edge of the choil and the spine, those would drive me nuts using this, and a quick and easy to at least champher. the heel of the choil seems unfinished, it needs something a radius and angle something to resolve it.
I cant tell if it is just the angle , but the handle seems to be both twisted and coming off at a slight angle from the blade.
all and all this is a huge improvement from what i have seen from you in the past, I would say you still have some work to do , but you are improving. I commend you for asking for a critique. take what is said and learn from it. I know how hard that can be, The instinct to be defensive about our creations is so strong. but try to listen and take in what is said.
last year I was planing on standing for master smith at blade I passed the performance test, submitted my intention to test. I finished my set and was just not happy with my dagger I didn't want to pass with it, i didn't want it to be my Masterpiece, so I brought every thing to blade and showed it to every single smith I could, JS and MS and some guys that are just excellent makers with no rank. I asked to be ripped apart, and I was it was humbling , it was painful at times but I learned so much from it and I would do it again.
MP
thank you for the critique
and I am glad I am improving. i need to admit i did not have any plan other than french style chefs knife when I made this as I mainly made it to test out 80CRV2. looking at it ya the choil is unfinished and the next one I will do something with it. bacteria growth simply did not cross my mind at the time, so thank you for bringing it up, I think i can prevent any possible growth by doing more than one coating of epoxy in order to fill in any gaps that could be a potential growth site and will be doing that tomorrow with this guy. to me the handle configuration is great but i do choke up on the blade a by two fingers for better control of the blade so i will keep in mind that not everyone would like said handle configuration.
PS: I went with paracord with this guy because I do not currently have any synthetic handle material at this time other then paracord.
